The Anaheim Ducks Inline Scholastic League (ADISL) will face off regular season play on Sunday, Oct. 29.

The fall/winter edition of the long-running inline scholastic league features 22 teams — one more team than last season.

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League coordinator John Paerels said the league has added two teams out of Corona (Norco and Crossroads Christian high schools) and another out of Huntington Beach (Cypress High School). Irvine High School, which played during the 2017 spring season, makes the jump to the fall/winter schedule as well.

Paerels said the league has lost Canyon and Marina (II) and that Newport Harbor and Northwood are playing as a combo team this season.

“At this point, all teams are looking pretty solid,” Paerels said. “There are lots of new coaches and team managers, too, as some of the old guard (Tina Olinger, after 20 years at Newport Harbor) ‘retired.’”

The ADISL’s division alignment for the 2017-18 season features three divisions, though Paerels said sub-divisions will likely be created for the championship playoffs.

The Division 1 (varsity) lineup includes Beckman (I), Edison (I), El Toro, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Laguna Hills Combo, Marina and Santiago (I).

The Division 2 (JV-A) lineup includes Beckman (II), Crossroads, Edison (II), Mater Dei, Mission Viejo, Newport-Northwood Combo, Villa Park and Woodbridge.

The Division 3 (JV-B) lineup includes Cypress, Edison (III), Eleanor Roosevelt, Norco, Pacifica and Santiago (II).

Preseason play began on Oct. 1.

“All teams now appear to have goalies, but Mater Dei is still working on filling out a full roster,” Paerels explained. “There were mixed results on the first night of the preseason, but that’s to be expected.”

Paerels further noted the ADISL has added the Irvine Junior High League under its umbrella.

“We’re working on developing stronger connections between the junior highs and the high schools they feed into,” he noted.

ADISL alumni

Many ADISL graduates have gone on to play at the next level in the Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League (WCRHL).

Many names on current and past WCRHL rosters are immediately recognizable:

•CSU Fullerton goaltender Ron Best played for Canyon High School.

•Troy Yano (Canyon), Brandon Olinger (Newport Harbor) and Anthony Squirek (Capistrano Valley) join Best at Fullerton, which won last season’s National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) Division II national championship.

•Jack Matthews (Brea Olinda/Irvine Combo) and Kyle Mooney (Mission Viejo) both played for UC Santa Barbara, last season’s WCRHL Division I regional champion.

•Ian Bast (Fountain Valley) is currently on the roster of Arizona State University’s Division I team.

•Dylan Evans (Pacifica) and Kasey Kunichika (Marina) both return to Long Beach State this season; Alex Green (Marina) and Matt Dunton (Marina) both previously played for the Forty-Niners.

•Cole Euell (Villa Park) has been a key contributor at Chico State the past four seasons.

•Taylor Paerels, who played on Irvine Combo JVA/Varsity teams that won State Cup varsity championships in 2012 and 2013, is the club president of Cal Poly Pomona’s Division II team.

•Matt Tietavainen (Los Alamitos), who played for Pomona the past two seasons, is now an assistant coach.

•Cal Poly Pomona’s Division III team features ADISL grads Rebekah Paerels (Irvine Combo JVC) and Nathan Jimenez (Eleanor Roosevelt).

•Cal Berkeley’s Kristina Slezacek (Mission Viejo) was a member of the Bears Division II WCRHL team before graduating in May 2017.

•Shannon Smith (Trabuco Hills) and Michael Uno (Laguna Hills) are members of UC Santa Barbara’s Division III team.

•Chandler Littley (Newport Harbor) and Anders Hultgren (Villa Park) are both attending Northern Arizona University. NAU scoring star Trevor Riffey played on a combo team for one year when the ADISL was known as the Interscholastic Hockey Federation (IHF).

Preseason roll-out

The WCRHL faced off its 2017-18 season with a preseason event Oct. 7 at The Rinks-Irvine Inline.

Seven teams participated. Eleven games in total took place; none of them counted in the regular season standings.

Participating teams included defending national champion CSU Fullerton (now in Division I), Cal Poly Pomona (Division II), Long Beach State (now in Division II), UC San Diego (Division II), UC Irvine (Division II), CSU Fullerton (Division III) and Cal Poly Pomona (Division III).

Cal Poly Pomona (Division II) finished with a 3-0-1 record. All other teams each played three games. Fullerton (Division I) finished undefeated at 2-0-1, UC San Diego finished 2-1-0, Fullerton (Division III) finished 1-1-1, UC Irvine (Division II) finished 1-2-0, Cal Poly Pomona (Division III) finished 0-2-1 and Long Beach State (Division II) finished 0-3-0.

“Cal Poly Pomona had a great showing and CSU Fullerton looked good,” WCRHL director Brennan Edwards said in recapping the event. “Long Beach had a small squad, with only seven skaters early in the day and six later. The preseason event is difficult to use as an indicator as it is not mandatory and teams can take it how they want, meaning from fun to serious. We will really see what each team is about in San Jose at the kickoff event.”

Regular season play faces off Oct. 28-29 in San Jose for teams in all divisions. The schedule is posted at http://wcrhl.com/schedule.php?event_id=1894.

Sneak peek

Cal Poly Pomona’s Division II team faced off the slate of 11 preseason games with a 3-3 draw against defending national champion Fullerton.

Pomona’s Derick Rosas earned first star honors with a goal and assist. Best made nine saves on 12 shots for Fullerton, while Garrett Griffin stopped 20 of 23 shots for Pomona.

Stefan Jovanovic collected two goals and one assist to pace UC San Diego in its 5-3 win over Long Beach State and had two goals and two assists in the Tritons’ 5-0 shutout win over Pomona’s Division III squad.

Fullerton’s Division III team swept all three star awards in its 5-2 win over UC Irvine. Alex Kowalski (two goals, one assist) received first star honors, while Alec Simpson (two goals, one assist) received second star honors and goaltender Brooke Hernandez (20 saves, .909 save percentage) received third star honors.

Best stopped all 17 shots he faced to backstop Fullerton’s Division I team to a 4-0 shutout win over Long Beach State.

Rosas (three goals, one assist) was the high point scorer as Pomona’s Division II team doubled up Fullerton’s Division III team by a score of 4-2. Rosas also picked up first star of the game honors in the Broncos’ 3-1 win over UC Irvine in a matchup of Division II teams.

Dylan Kammer’s hat trick propelled Fullerton’s Division I team past UC San Diego 11-3.

Fullerton and Pomona’s Division III teams skated to a 2-2 standoff. Aivar Kaskla led the Broncos with one goal and one assist as the game’s first star.

In a Division II matchup, Pomona topped Long Beach State 4-2 behind two goals from top star Ian Duffy and two assists from third star Rosas. Matt Korn scored a pair of goals for Long Beach State to earn the second star of the game award.

Rosas finished Pomona’s four games with 10 points (four goals, six assists).

It was a big day overall for the Broncos.

“After making the regional playoffs last season, our goal this season is to make it to nationals,” Pomona’s Taylor Paerels said. “We’ve added several new players to our six returning Division II skaters and the preseason event showed that we have what it takes to achieve this goal. We’re also glad to have bolstered our Division III roster after a disappointing season last year. Their goal this year is to make the regional playoffs for the first time.”

In the final game of the day, UC Irvine skated past Pomona’s Division III team by a score of 9-3. The Anteaters swept the three star awards. Yawar Chaudhry tallied four goals and one assist to earn the first star award, while Alex Bernardino collected three goals and one assist to earn the second star award and Keisi Takaya received the third star award by chipping in with a goal.

Takaya helped lead Westview High School to last season’s CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship.

For more information on the WCRHL, visit www.wcrhl.com. The ADISL’s webpage can be found on Facebook.

— Phillip Brents

(Oct. 20, 2017)