The Anaheim Ducks Inline Scholastic Hockey League (ADISL) held its winter championship playoffs Feb. 9-11 at THE RINKS-Irvine Inline.

The three regular season groupings of 22 teams were split into six divisions for the playoffs.

All teams participated in the playoffs.

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“Overall, we saw some very exciting, competitive games in the playoffs,” ADISL coordinator John Paerels said. “With nearly all teams coming back for the upcoming spring season, along with some of the high school ice teams coming in, we should have a great spring season as well.”

Given the spate of comeback wins, the 16 playoff games certainly delivered exciting finishes and memorable moments.

Three of the six semifinal games on Feb. 9 featured comeback wins. One semifinal game on Feb. 11 was decided in overtime.

“Some great high school action,” Paerels noted.

Playoff field

Seedings were based on regular season finish and any necessary tiebreakers.

The Division 1 field featured four teams: top-seeded Beckman I (12-0-0), second-seeded Santiago I (9-3-0), third-seeded Marina (8-3-1) and fourth-seeded El Toro (8-4).

The Division 2 field featured four teams: top-seeded Fountain Valley (3-8-1), second-seeded Laguna Hills Combo (3-8-0-1), third-seeded Edison I (2-9-0-1) and fourth-seeded Irvine (2-10-0).

The Division 3 field featured four teams: top-seeded Beckman II (11-1-0), second-seeded Woodbridge (8-4-0), third-seeded Mission Viejo (7-5-0) and fourth-seeded Crossroads Christian (5-6-0-1).

The Division 4 field featured four teams: top-seeded Villa Park (9-3-0), second-seeded Newport-Northwood (3-8-0-1), third-seeded Edison II (3-9-0) and fourth-seeded Mater Dei (2-9-0-1).

The Division 5 field featured three teams: top-seeded Pacifica (12-0-0), second-seeded Norco (8-4-0) and third-seeded Cypress (5-6-1).

The Division 6 field featured three teams: top-seeded Santiago II (5-6-1), second-seeded Eleanor Roosevelt (3-9-0) and third-seeded Edison III (2-10-0).

During regular season play, Beckman I finished atop the first grouping of teams while Beckman II finished on top of the second grouping of teams and Pacifica finished on top of the third grouping of teams.

Parade of champions

Both Beckman I (14-0) and Pacifica (13-0) completed undefeated seasons with playoff sweeps.

In the Division 1 championship game, top-seeded Beckman I (pictured at top) raced past third-seeded Marina, 11-3, to secure rights to its undefeated season. Beckman’s Hayden Maxwell (four goals, one assist) and David Gardner (three goals, two assists) topped all scorers in the game with five points apiece.

Maxwell ranked second in overall ADISL scoring during the 2017-18 campaign with 49 points (27 goals, 22 assists) in 14 games, including two playoff matches.

Evan Stapleton registered a goal and assist for Marina in the title game setback.

Top-seeded Pacifica defeated second-seeded Norco, 5-2, in the Division 5 championship game as Matt Cornish racked up four goals and Tyler Belthuis (one goal, one assist) and Dylan McFall (two assists) each picked up two points.

Cornish piled up 60 points (44 goals, 16 assists) in 13 games as the ADISL’s top scorer in 2017-18, including playoff games. He notched seven game-winning goals in the 13 games for undefeated Pacifica.

Liam Culligan had both goals for Norco in the championship game setback.

In the Division 2 championship game, top-seeded Fountain Valley doubled up third-seeded Edison I by a score of 8-4. Blake Tallas led Fountain Valley with four goals and one assist while teammate Kyle Barrett contributed one goal and three assists. Steven Stewart also scored twice for Fountain Valley.

In the Division 3 championship game, top-seeded Beckman II defeated second-seeded Woodbridge, 8-3, to finish the season with a near-perfect 13-1 record. Andi Tavallai led Beckman with two goals and two assists, while teammate Brayden Fleming contributed a hat trick.

Brian Wong led Woodbridge with a hat trick in the loss.

In the Division 4 championship game, top-seeded Villa Park shut out third-seeded Edison II by a score of 4-0. Bradley Parker scored twice to lead Villa Park while Sean Jansky and Alex Nichols each chipped in with single goals.

In the Division 6 championship game, third-seeded Edison III posted a 6-2 upset win over top-seeded Santiago II. Kyle Davenport powered underdog Edison with three goals and one assist while Lukas Sire added two goals in the winning effort.

Playoff picture

Six playoff games took place on Feb. 9 – all semifinals in Division 3, Division 4, Division 5 and Division 6.

Ten games were played on Feb. 11, including finals in all six divisions, plus four preliminary semifinal games in Division 1 and Division 2.

Beckman I defeated fourth-seeded El Toro, 7-4, in the Division 1 semifinals to advance to the championship game. Alex Altman led Beckman with four goals while Christian Huynh contributed two goals and one assist.

In the other Division 1 semifinal, third-seeded Marina pulled out a dramatic 5-4 overtime win over second-seeded Santiago I in what Paerels described as the best game in the semifinal round.

Down 4-2 late in the game, Marina scored with three minutes to play on a goal by Gareth Keeler, then added the game-tying goal with four seconds to play by Blake Christiano to force overtime. Marina then won on a power play goal by Frank Albano in overtime. Albano led Marina with two goals in the game.

Top-seeded Fountain Valley defeated fourth-seeded Irvine, 12-4, in a Division 2 semifinal encounter. Barrett led Fountain Valley’s scoring parade with seven points on four goals and three assists while Stewart collected five points on three goals and two assists. Macade Hansen tallied four points on three goals and one assist to further buttress Fountain Valley’s offensive attack.

Bryce Cussen led Irvine with two goals and two assists.

Meanwhile, third-seeded Edison I pulled out a 7-4 upset win over second-seeded Laguna Hills in the other Division 2 semifinal. Joey Mataviesko powered Edison with a hat trick while Sammy Jagiello added one goal and two assists for three points. Zack Gilbert also scored twice for Edison I.

Tyler Shetland picked up three goals and one assist in the loss.

In the Division 3 semifinals, Beckman II edged Crossroads Christian, 2-1, while Woodbridge eliminated Mission Viejo 7-3.

Fleming scored both goals for Beckman, including the game-winner in the third period. Ty Murchison tied the game, 1-1, with a second-period goal.

Wong led Woodbridge with four goals in the semifinal win while teammate Charlie Kennedy recorded a hat trick. Ben Wallace scored twice for Mission Viejo.

In the Division 4 semifinals, Villa Park outlasted Mater Dei, 7-6, while Edison II upset higher-seeded Newport-Northwood 6-2.

Villa Park rallied from a 6-3 deficit by scoring the final four goals of the game. Colin McCray led Villa Park with three goals and three assists in the comeback victory. Noah Lachance had two goals and one assist for Mater Dei.

Ralph Bosalet led Edison II with a hat trick while teammate Lyjah Vaatete scored two goals.

Norco defeated Cypress 6-3, in the Division 5 semifinals while Edison III upset higher-seed Eleanor Roosevelt, 4-2, in the Division 6 semifinal.

Culligan led the charge for Norco with four goals and one asssst while teammate Tyler Talbot scored two goals.

Top individuals

A total of 264 games were played during the regular season. Ten of the 22 teams finished with winning records. Thirteen of the 22 teams posted at least five wins during regular season play.

Pacifica’s Cornish led all regular season scorers with 40 goals and 56 points in 12 games, followed by El Toro’s Jake Sujishi with 33 goals and 45 points.

Beckman I’s Maxwell finished third in the regular season scoring table with 43 points (23 goals, 20 assists), followed by teammate Altman with 35 points (28 goals, seven assists).

Mission Viejo’s Tucker Abel tied Altman for fourth place in overall scoring with 35 points (19 goals, 16 assists) while Mission Viejo teammate Wallace finished sixth in league scoring with 32 points (24 goals, eight assists).

Fountain Valley’s Tallas finished seventh in overall scoring with 31 points (26 goals, five assists) while three players tied for eighth overall with 30 points to round out this year’s top 10 ADISL regular season scoring leaders: the Marina tandem of Chris Bosterya (23 goals, seven assists) and Stapleton (21 goals, nine assists) and Culligan ( 21 goals, nine assists).

Cornish led the league with six game-winning goals and averaged 4.67 points per game. Sujishi and Beckman (I)’s Grayson Yada both finished runner-up with four game-winning goals

Tallas averaged 4.43 points per game while Maxwell averaged 4.30 points per game.

Max Dei Rossi and Danny Tasigeorgos proved to be ironmen between the pipes for Beckman’s two teams in the league

Dei Rossi racked up a perfect 13-0-0 regular season record during duty for both teams while Tasigeorgos finished 10-1-0.

Dei Rossi finished 7-0-0 with one shutout and a 2.14 goals-against average for Beckman I and finished 6-0-0 with a 3.39 GAA for Beckman II.

Tasigeorgos finished 5-0-0 with a 3.00 GAA for Beckman I and 5-1-0 with a 1.83 GAA for Beckman II with two shutouts.

Beckman I allowed a league-low 30 goals during the regular season while Beckman II ranked second best with 35 goals allowed.

Pacifica’s Bradley Henke (8-0-0) and Tyler Kitchen (4-0-0) combined to brace Pacifica to its perfect 12-0-0 regular season finish. Kitchen posted a 2.25 GAA with one shutout while Henke recorded a 3.75 GAA with one shutout.

Santiago I’s Molly Burks finished with nine wins and two shutouts in regular season play.

Beckman I topped the league with a +79 goal-differential, scoring a league-best 109 goals. Pacifica ranked second with a +69 goal-differential while piling up 108 regular season goals.

Student-athlete of the month

Pacifica’s Belthuis earned recognition as the ADISL High School Student-Athlete of the Month for January 2018.

Tyler has been playing hockey since he was 7. This season, he is an alternate captain for Pacifica and has six goals and 11 assists in 10 games. In addition to his high school team, Tyler also plays for the HB Militia inline tournament teams and was a member of the Southern California State Wars team that competed in Michigan last year. Tyler is also a team captain for the Los Alamitos High School ice team in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League (ADHSHL).

At Pacifica, Tyler is a member of ASB and AVID, and is also on the volleyball team, all while maintaining a 3.8 GPA. When not at hockey practice, Tyler enjoys playing video games, off-roading on his dirt bike, and hanging with friends. He is looking forward to going to college and continuing to play hockey with his friends.

Spring forward

The 10-game ADISL spring season is scheduled to start March 4, with playoffs scheduled May 18-20.

The California State Cup tournament is scheduled March 10 at Irvine Inline. The event is open to all scholastic teams, high school and middle school, public and private, through California. Contact tournament director John Paerels at JPaerels@The-Rinks.com for more information.

Photos/ADISL

— Phillip Brents

(March 2, 2018)