The Anaheim Ducks Inline Scholastic Hockey League (ADISL) put a wrap on its 2017-18 season following the conclusion of its 35-team spring championship playoffs at THE RINKS-Irvine Inline.

Titles in seven sub-divisions were decided in the high school division May 18-20, including Division 1 Tier 1, Division 1 Tier 2, Division 2 Tier 1, Division 2 Tier 2, Division 3 Tier 1, Division 3 Tier 2 and Division 4.

The ADISL’s junior high school division wrapped up play June 15 by crowning champions in two sub-divisions.

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Prep parade

A total of 28 teams completed regular season play in the ADISL’s high school circuit. All teams qualified for the championship playoffs.

It took 21 playoff games – quarterfinals, semifinals and finals – to sort out which teams won championships in the seven sub-divisions.

“What a weekend it was,” ADISL league coordinator John Paerels exclaimed. “Although we started off with two six-goal wins and finished with two eight-goal wins, we had some great games in the middle.

“In two different time slots (on the final day of competition) we had three games going on at the same time all with one- to two-goal deficits in the third period. The hardest thing for me was to try to watch from in-between two games while I knew there was a close game taking place on the third rink that I couldn’t see.”

Two playoff games were decided in overtime while four more regulation games were decided by one goal. Overall, nine playoff games were decided by two goals or less.

“The tightest competition was in Division 3 Tier 1, where the average goal-differential in regulation was 1.33, and in Division 2 Tier 2, where the average goal-differential in regulation was 2.00,” Paerels noted.

The ADISL competition year consists of two separate seasons: a fall/winter season and a spring season. Typically, the spring season features a larger lineup of teams as ice hockey teams that have finished their season transition to inline hockey.

Over the course of the two seasons in 2017-18, Paerels calculated the ADISL had nine different schools win championships, with Beckman and Edison (three each) leading the way, along with another seven schools as finalists.

“Thanks go to all players, coaches, managers and fans for a great weekend of playoff hockey to wrap up the 2017-18 high school seasons,” Paerels underscored. “Good luck to all of our seniors — you will be missed next year.”

Division 1, Tier 1

Beckman High School finished the spring season with a 6-3-0-1 regular season record – seven standings points behind the undefeated Santiago Sharks (10-0-0-0). But the Patriots returned to championship form with an undefeated showing in their playoff games.

After defeating top-seeded Santiago I, 5-4, in overtime in the semifinals, fourth-seeded Beckman I went on to roll past second-seeded Villa Park I, 11-3, in the championship game. Patrick Gardner led the way for the Patriots with six goals and one assist while teammate Hayden Maxwell chipped in with one goal and three assists.

Beckman, which led 4-1 at the end of the first period and 6-3 after two periods, secured the win with five goals in the third period.

Alex Nichols led Villa Park with two goals and one assist in the championship game loss.

Christian Huynh supplied the overtime game-winning goal in the semifinal win over Santiago while Maxwell and teammate Alex Altman each notched a goal and assist. Huynh had a goal and assist in the game.

The championship was the fifth consecutive in seasonal play for Beckman.

Villa Park (8-2-0-0 during the regular season) advanced to the championship game with a 6-4 win over the Orange Lutheran/Fountain Valley combo team in the semifinals. Cory Mater netted a hat trick while Nichols scored twice as the Spartans rallied from an early 3-1 deficit on the strength of four unanswered goals to end the game.

Orange Lutheran/Fountain Valley had finished regular season play with a 7-3-0-0 record.

Division 1, Tier 2

This three-team sub-division featured a semifinal playoff match between second-seeded Damien I and third-seeded El Toro, with El Toro winning 9-4.

El Toro then met top-seeded Marina I in the championship game, with El Toro winning 6-5 to complete its run of upset wins.

El Toro held a 6-3 lead in the third period in the title game but Marina made it close with two late goals, though the Vikings couldn’t notch the equalizer. Tyler Verna (three goals, one assist) and Jake Sujishi (one goal, three assists) led El Toro with four points each in the championship game while Chris Mauger topped Marina with two goals and one assist.

Sujishi scored five times in El Toro’s semifinal victory.

Division 2, Tier 1

Edison I finished regular season play 9-0-1-0 with a five-game winning streak to earn the top seed in the sub-division playoffs. Two more wins in the playoffs extended that winning streak to seven games and a final 11-0-1-0 record to cap the team’s championship season.

Edison defeated fourth-seeded Damien II by a score of 5-3 in the semifinals, then cruised past third-seeded Laguna Hills, 9-1, in the final.

Easton Laird paced Edison in the championship contest with five points (three goals, two assists) while teammate Ryan Osterkamp scored four goals.

Tyler Shetland scored the lone goal for Laguna Hills, which upset second-seeded Beckman II by a 7-4 score in the semifinals.

Shetland paced Laguna Hills with four goals in its semifinal win while Clay Bozanich collected a goal and assist in Edison’s semifinal victory.

Division 2, Tier 2

Second-seeded Mission Viejo edged top-seeded Santiago II by a score of 6-5 in the championship game after a four-goal third-period comeback by the Sharks fell short. Ben Wallace led Mission Viejo with six points in the title game (one goal, five assists) while teammates Bryce Cussen (two goals, one assist) and Tucker Abel (one goal, two assists) each contributed three points.

Aiden Flores paced Santiago with a goal and three assists while Bryce Lorenz scored two goals.

Mission Viejo sped to a 4-2 lead through two periods before Santiago began to bite away at the MV lead. Lorenz scored twice in the third period while Flores and Noah Shoemaker each added goals to make it close.

Mission Viejo eliminated third-seeded Santa Margarita, 5-4, in the semifinals while Santiago eliminated fourth-seeded Crossroads Christian, 6-2.

Abel and Cussen each scored two goals in the win over Santa Margarita while Shoemaker racked up two goals and two assists in the win over Christian Crossroads.

Division 3, Tier 1

Paerels termed the Division 3 Tier 1 final between Marina II and Mater Dei “the game of the night, maybe of the season” for its dramatic twists and turns.

It was easy to see why.

Marina II trailed, 5-3, in the waning moments of the game before engineering a dramatic rally with two goals in the final 2:30 of regulation play to send the game into overtime. Then, in overtime, Blake Christiano scored a shorthanded goal with just 3.4 seconds left in the extra period to complete Edison’s championship comeback with a thrill-packed 6-5 victory.

Christiano finished the game with three goals while teammate Michael Tanzo scored twice.

Nicholas Smith had two goals and two assists for Mater Dei in the setback.

Marina II defeated Irvine, 3-2, in the semifinals while Mater Dei out-scored Woodbridge, 12-9, to each advance to the championship game.

Joseph Cano scored the game-winning goal for Marina in its semifinal win while Josh Hyden and Nick Andruss each tallied three goals and two assists in Mater Dei’s high-scoring semifinal victory.

Woodbridge, which received six points (five goals, one assist) from Takeo Kuno in its semifinal loss, had led the sub-division with an 8-2-0-0 regular season record while Marina II was 7-3-0-0, Mater Dei was 5-5-0-0 and Irvine was 4-5-1-0.

Division 3, Tier 2

Fourth-seeded Edison II upset top-seeded Norco, 9-3, in the semifinals and then topped second-seeded Newport-Northwood, 5-2, to claim the sub-division championship. Tyler Green paced Edison with three goals and one assist in the final after scoring four goals in the semifinal.

Newport Harbor-Northwood defeated third-seeded Villa Park II by a score of 8-2 in the semifinals behind a hat trick by Christopher Chua.

Division 4

Second-seeded Cypress defeated fourth-seeded Damien III by a score of 6-2 in the championship game behind two goals and one assist from Jacob Fisk while teammates Luke Benavente and Maxim Alayev each picked up a goal and assist.

The teams were tied 0-0 through the first period before Cypress opened up a 2-1 lead at the end of the second period and ended the game with four goals in the third period.

Cade Gunstream led Damien with one goal and one assist in the championship game loss.

Damien eliminated fifth-seeded Santiago III by a score of 8-4 in the quarterfinals to reduce the playoff field in the sub-division to four teams.

Damien proved it was not ready to end its season there by eliminating top-seeded Edison III by a 7-5 score in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Cypress topped third-seeded Orange Lutheran II by a score of 11-8 in its semifinal matchup to advance to the final.

Damian Garcia scored four goals in Damien’s quarterfinal win while Henry Gardner powered Damien in its semifinal victory with three goals and two assists.

Top individuals

Brayden Kohler of Santiago I led all point-scorers during the regular season with 40 points on 22 goals and 18 assists. Santiago teammates Cody Vadeboncoeur and Max Reeves finished in a tie for the runner-up position in the ADISL point table with 36 points, both with 22 goals and 14 assists.

Marty Torres of Villa Park I finished fourth in regular season scoring with 34 points (25 goals, 9 assists), followed by Irvine’s Zach Esposito in fifth place with 30 points (28 goals, 2 assists).

El Toro’s Sujishi finished sixth in the ADISL’s spring season scoring table with 29 points (20 goals, 9 assists), followed by Laguna Hills’ Shetland in seventh place with 28 points (22 goals, 6 assists).

Rounding out the league’s top 10 regular season scorers with 27 points each were Mission Viejo’s Wallace (23 goals, 4 assists), Orange Lutheran II’s Aidan Hanson (23 goals, 4 assists) and Edison III’s Lance Erskine (22 goals, 5 assists).

Kohler, Vadeboncoeur and Torres each recorded three game-winning goals.

Justin Lakin of Santiago I recorded the most goaltender victories during the regular season with an undefeated 9-0-0-0 record. Diego Torres of Villa Park I and Woodbridge’s Corey Hickson both posted 8-2-0 records.

Seven goaltenders recorded shutouts during regular season play: Torres, Hickson, Newport Harbor-Northwood’s Olivier Caballero, Norco’s Miles Gurrola, Orange Lutheran II’s Nathan Burger, Edison I’s Ralph Bosalet and Beckman I’s Danny Tasigeorgos.

Bosalet posted the lowest goals-against average (3.33) during the regular season.

Including playoffs, Kohler (41 points) finished three points ahead of Sujishi, Vadeboncoeur and Reeves, all tied with 38 points, for the scoring lead.

Team USA

Kohler, Vadeboncoeur and Reeves all received international recognition after being selected to compete for the United States junior men’s team in the upcoming 2018 International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) inline hockey world championship tournament July 14-21 in Roana, Italy.

The three Sharks were among 12 Californians named to the Team USA roster, six of whom have played in the ADISL. Other SoCal selections to the U.S. junior men’s national team roster included Tustin’s Grayson Yada and Maxwell, both from Beckman I, as well as Yorba Linda’s Noah Auerlich, who suited up for Santiago during the fall/winter season.

Paerels, of course, was elated by the selections.

“I think it really shows the strength of the top division of the ADISL,” he said. “From what I’ve seen, top teams in the other California high school leagues are competitive with the second or third tier of the ADISL, but the top ADISL squads — especially in the spring season when the ice players return — are on a different level.”

Junior High Division

Orchard Hills/Pioneer (OHP) defeated Lakeside Middle School I by a score of 6-5 to capture the Tier 1 title while Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate School (RSM) blanked Jeffrey Trail Middle School, 6-0, to win the Tier 2 championship.

OHP battled back from a 3-1 deficit after the first period and a 5-4 deficit after the second period to record the game-winning goal with 2:35 to play in regulation.

Talen Garcia and Nick Amato each scored two goals for OHP while Chase Stefanek notched the game-winning goal.

Lakeside I built its early lead on a pair of goals by Phillippe Lalonde in the first period and another goal by Lalonde in the third period. Luke Butler and Francois Devilliers also scored goals in support of Lalonde’s hat trick.

OHP and Lakeside I tied with 7-3-0-0 records during regular season play. OHP defeated Hewes Middle School, 11-1, in a semifinal matchup as Stefanek piled up five points on four goals and one assist and Amato recorded a hat trick.

Hewes finished regular season play 6-4-0-0.

Rancho Santa Margarita won its first championship title after placing runner-up in the fall and winter seasons. Nick Woods led the Roadrunners with a hat trick in the final while teammate Marcus Kammerer collected three assists. Ethan Schryver also chipped in with two goals for RSM.

The Roadrunners finished regular season play with a 5-5-0-0 record while Jeffrey Trail finished 5-4-0-1. Both teams won semifinal playoff games to meet in the championship game.

RSM edged Isaac Sowers Middle School, 5-3, as Woods notched three goals while Jeffrey Trail topped Lakeside II by a score of 7-2 behind four goals from Ryan Le.

Sowers finished regular season play 3-7-0-0 while Lakeside II finished 2-8-0-0.

OHP’s Garcia led the spring season in scoring with 34 points (23 goals, 11 assists) in nine games, followed by RSM’s Woods with 25 points (22 goals, 3 assists) in 12 games.

Devilliers (9 goals, 13 assists) and Lalonde (17 goals, 3 assists) followed in the scoring table with 22 and 20 points, respectively.

Hewes’s Ethan Valentine led all goaltenders with two shutouts while RSM’s Pete Gonzalez and Lakeside I’s Timo Schmitt each recorded one shutout.

Valentine led the league with a 2.00 GAA in eight games while OHP’s Chance Legaspi led all goaltenders with eight wins during the season, including playoffs.

Photos/ADISL

— Phillip Brents

(July 2, 2018)