As the 2024-25 Western Collegiate Roller Hockey (WCRHL) season is set to dawn in early November, coaches and players can look back on the 2023-24 campaign as a watershed moment in the 21-year history of the organization.

All tallied up, two WCRHL teams won national championship titles: Grand Canyon University (Division 1) and University of Arizona (Division 2).

Additionally, CSU Fullerton (Division 2) advanced as far as the semifinals while Cal Poly Pomona (Division 3), Arizona State (AA Division) and Arizona (AA Division) made it as far as the quarterfinals.

Overall, WCRHL teams posted a 9-7 mark in 16 playoff games.

To add drama to the exciting mix, GCU won its national championship title in triple overtime over two-time defending national champion Lindenwood University.

“GCU and U-of-A were unreal, also with Fullerton being in the (Final Four), it was great,” National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association executive director and WCRHL director Brennan Edwards said. “The Lindenwood versus Grand Canyon Division 1 championship game was one for the ages. Even if that game were 2-1 in regulation, it would have been great. But going to triple overtime was out of control. The fans were loving it, as it wasn’t just a chess match, it was a good game with quality scoring opportunities throughout.

“You can see by the stats (55-20 shot advantage for Lindenwood) that it was obviously LU dominated, but the GCU goaltender Maxim Currie (54 saves) was out of his mind, keeping them not just in the game, but energized enough to keep on battling with a shorter bench and up against a team that is accustomed to winning.

“I think overall it is good for the league, not so much that GCU beat LU, but that the game was that close.”

GCU’s Nick Ettlebrick, who scored the game-winning goal at the 9:13 mark in the sixth period, earned the MVP award in Division 1 while Curie (1.02 GAA, 0.944 save percentage) was named the division’s most valuable goaltender.

Arizona’s Dylan Smith was honored as the Division 2 MVP after tallying five points (four goals, one assist) in the Wildcats’ 7-2 national championship game victory over Michigan State and two points (one goal, one assist) in a 2-0 semifinal win over WCRHL rival Fullerton.

Fullerton’s Kurt Yano (3-1 record, 2.50 GAA) was the division’s MVG while Arizona’s Hudson Fox (three assists in the national championship game and two points in the semifinal win) received the division playmaker award.

For Golden State pride, Lindenwood’s Division 1 runner-up squad included four California players on the roster, including No. 2 top scorer Jackson Wozniak (Cypress) and No. 3 top scorer Nathan Durrans (Belmont). Wozniak earned further recognition as the Division 1 playmaker award-winner.

Christian Acosta (San Jose) and Jack Wedoski (Brentwood) also helped lead the Lions in this year’s national championship tournament. Acosta had Lindenwood’s lone goal in the championship game.

Eastward, ho!

The 2024 National Roller Hockey Championships took place April 17-21 in Auburn, Maine. Nine WCHL teams took part in the annual event, including two teams in Division 1 (Grand Canyon and Arizona State), three teams in Division 2 (CSU Fullerton, Arizona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), two teams in Division 3 (Cal Poly Pomona and UC Santa Barbara) and two teams in the AA Division (Arizona State and Arizona).

Considering the cross-country travel involved, WCHL teams were well represented among the 43 total teams that participated in the northeastern Atlantic Coast tournament.

With teams playing mostly regional schedules throughout the regular season, matchups in a national-level tournament aren’t always certain.

“It is hard to say each year how they will do when they get to Nationals, because they aren’t exposed to the other conference’s teams all season long,” said Edwards, who also serves as WCRHL director. “So, they have to contend with different styles, different officiating, time zone differences, etc. GCU and U-of-A, we knew going in that they would have good shots. Fullerton was a little bit of a surprise, but only because first semester they didn’t have all the players that they had second semester. But that happens to a lot of teams, so you really can’t tell until you get there.”

Getting there included 16 games in regular season league play (November through February) and a conference championship tournament (March 2-3 in Corona).

Nine teams participated in four divisions in the conference championship event.

Division 1: GCU defeated Arizona State 6-3 and 6-5 in a best-of-three series.

Division 2: CSU Fullerton defeated Arizona, 5-3, in the championship game.

Division 3: Cal Poly Pomona defeated UC Santa Barbara 16-1 and 13-1 in a best-of-three series.

AA Division: ASU defeated Arizona 3-2 and 4-3, both in overtime, in a best-of-three series.

Cat’s meow

Fullerton finished the 2023-24 regular season with a 7-7 mark with two overtime losses to finish 11 standings points behind division leader Arizona (13-2-0-1). Ryan Tuckwood led the Titans in scoring with 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 16 games — ranking fifth in goals and in a tie for fourth in assists in the division.

Mason Pilkington was next up on the Fullerton scoring chart with 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in nine games, followed by Ezra Gale with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 12 games and Brayden Magness with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 12 games.

Arizona’s Hudson Fox (29 goals, 52 points), Dylan Smith (28 goals, 46 points) and Jack Sapra (18 goals, 36 points) swept the top three point-getter slots in the division while Cal Poly SLO’s Joe Shields placed fourth overall with 28 points.

Kurt Yano ranked second in regular season goaltending with a 4.24 GAA and 0.829 save percentage to Arizona’s Ethan Valentine (3.36 GAA, 0.841 save percentage). Fullerton’s Samantha “Kat” Reyes ranked third behind the two netminders with a 4.32 GAA and 0.798 save percentage.

Valentine led the division with a 13-3 record, Yano posted a 5-7 mark while Reyes went 2-2. Cal Poly SLO’s Luke Kyne finished 5-8 with a 5.48 GAA and 0.716 save percentage in 13 game appearances.

The playoff format for the conference finals included a round-robin between the three teams, with the top two teams squaring off in the division championship game. The Wildcats entered the round-robin as the top seed, the Titans were the second seed and Cal Poly SLO (5-9-0-2) was the third seed.

Arizona skated past Cal Poly by a score of 8-3 and topped Fullerton, 5-2, while Fullerton eliminated Cal Poly from championship contention with a 6-2 victory.

Fox and Sapra each tallied five points (two goals, three assists) in the win over Cal Poly while Sapra (two goals, two assists) and Fox (one goal, three assists) each had four points in the round-robin win over Fullerton. Valentine stopped 42 of 47 shots (0.894 save percentage) in the two wins.

That set up the division final between Arizona and Fullerton, the top two seeds, with the Titans enacting a bit of revenge with a 5-3 victory.

The Titans swept all three stars of the game. Gale scored four goals as the game’s No. 1 star, Kelley Murphy was the game’s No. 2 star with one goal and Yano was the game’s third star with 22 saves on 25 shots (0.880 save percentage).

Gale scored twice in the first period for a 2-1 Fullerton lead. Gale and Murphy each scored in the second period to boost the Titans to a 4-1 lead. Fox scored the opening goal in the third period to narrow the Fullerton lead to 4-2, but Gale closed out scoring late in the game for the 5-2 final.

A total of 13 teams comprised the Division 2 tier in Maine, including all three WCRHL conference qualifiers (Arizona, Fullerton and Cal Poly).

The Wildcats (21-3-0-1 on the season) ran the table (6-0) with victories over Cortland (8-7), Massachusetts (7-3) and Neumann (7-3) in pool play, a quarterfinal playoff win over Northeastern (9-1), semifinal win over Fullerton (2-0) and championship game victory against Michigan (7-2).

The semifinal game between WCRHL rivals was hotly contested. Arizona out-shot Fullerton 21-11 but the score was 0-0 heading into the final period thanks to the effort of Yano while back-stopping the Titans between the pipes.

Fox and Smith scored the decisive goals while Yano stood tall with 19 saves on 21 shots (0.905 save percentage). Valentine posted an 11-save shutout.

The Wildcats would not be stopped in the national championship game by out-shooting the Spartans 32-14 in overcoming an early 2-0 deficit on the scoreboard. Arizona closed out the game with seven unanswered goals, ballooning their lead to 5-1 with a four-goal rush in the middle period.

Another three-star sweep featured Smith (four goals, one assist) as the No. 1 star, Sapra (two goals, one assist) as the No. 2 star and Fox (three assists) as the No. 3 star. Valentine (a top performer in the Anaheim Ducks Inline Scholastic League) stopped 12 of 14 shots between the pipes.

Fullerton (12-10-0-2 on the season) finished 3-2 in Maine with a 2-1 pool record (4-3 win over Michigan State, 4-1 win over Northeastern and 3-2 loss to Slippery Rock) and a 6-4 win over Cortland in the quarterfinal playoffs.

The Titans swept the three-star awards in the win over Michigan State: Pilkington (one goal, one assist) as the No. 1 star, Magness (one goal, one assist) as the No. 2 star) and Caden Dance (one goal, one assist) as the No. 3 star.

Yano made 36 saves on 37 shots (0.973 save percentage) to earn top star billing in the win over Northeastern, followed by Gale (two goals, one assist) as the No. 2 star and Dance (one goal, one assist) as the No. 3 star.

Fullerton rolled to its third consecutive win in the tournament as Gale (No. 1 star) collected five points on three goals and two assists in the playoff win over Cortland and Magness (No. 2 star) contributed one goal and three assists.

Gale (three goals, one assist), Dance (two goals, two assists) and Tuckwood (one goal, three assists) keyed the Titans in round-robin scoring with four points each.

Yano was near perfect in two round-robin games with a 2-0 record, 2.00 GAA and 0.932 save percentage while Reyes posted a 3.00 GAA and 0.903 save percentage in one game.

Cal Poly SLO (5-9-0-2 on the season) finished 2-3 in Maine but with a two-goal loss and a one-goal loss to its credit.

The Mustangs defeated Robert Morris University, 5-4, and Quinnipiac University, 3-2 in overtime, and dropped decisions to Endicott (8-4), Boston (3-1) and Cortland (7-6).

Robin Young and Joe Shields each collected two goals and one assist in the win over Robert Morris while Shields notched the game-winning goal in the second overtime period against Quinnipiac.

Ethan Vernik had two goals and two assists in the loss to Cortland.

Young led Cal Poly on the scoresheet with five points (four goals, one assist) in the five tournament games.

First team all-tournament selections included Fox, Smith and Sapra from Arizona and Fullerton’s Yano as the division’s Most Valuable Goaltender.

Second team all-tournament honors went to Arizona’s Theoren Hannah and Valentine while honorable mention selections included Arizona’s Kevin Bird and Michael Pena and Fullerton’s Gale and Pilkington.

Division 3 rewind

Cal Poly Pomona proved to be the class of the WCRHL’s Division 3 regular season with a record of 12-3-0-1 (overtime loss) with 111 goals scored against 63 goals allowed. UC Santa Barbara finished runner-up in the division standings with a 6-10-0 record while San Jose State finished 5-11.

Pomona’s Brayden Fleming topped the division in scoring with 52 points (25 goals, 27 assists), followed by Santa Barbara’s Reyes LeGrande with 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists), Pomona’s Matthew Augustine with 46 points (25 goals, 21 points), Santa Barbara’s Brad Price with 36 points (22 goals, 14 assists) and Pomona’s Ronald Espino with 35 points (17 goals, 15 assists).

Augustine and Fleming tied for the division lead with 25 goals while LeGrande and Fleming tied for the division lead with 27 assists.

Goaltending leaders included Pomona’s Cameron Jeffrey with a 3.90 GAA and 0.806 save percentage, San Jose State’s Diego Rosales with a 6.73 GAA and 0.740 save percentage and Santa Barbara’s Brendan Bruyere with a 7.35 GAA and 0.649 save percentage.

Jeffrey topped the division with nine wins while Bruyere logged six wins between the pipes.

The conference playoffs consisted of a best-of-three series between Pomona and Santa Barbara won convincingly by the Broncos by scores of 16-1 and 13-1.

Fleming topped the scoring chart in Game 1 with eight points (three goals, five assists) as the game’s No. 1 star while Augustine (three goals, two assists) earned second star honors. Peter Lupercio (two goals, three assists) received the third star award.

Pomona out-shot Santa Barbara 33-8 with Jeffrey and Jake Peterson combining to stop seven of eight shots.

It was another three-star sweep for the Broncos in Game 2: Fleming (three goals, three assists) as the No. 1 star, Augustine (three goals, one assist) as the No. 2 star and Espino (two goals, two assists) as the No. 3 star.

Pomona finished with a 29-7 advantage in shots. Jeffrey and Peterson combined for six saves on seven shots.

Fifteen teams across the NCRHA landscape, split into five pools for preliminary-round play, competed in the Division 3 tier at the national tournament. Santa Barbara emerged on top of its pool with a 3-0 record while Pomona finished 1-2 in its pool. Both teams qualified for the playoffs.

Santa Barbara extended its win streak to four games with an 8-0 win over Temple University in the playoff opener but ended its run with a 6-1 loss to Oswego in the ensuing Round of 16.

LeGrande and Price keyed the Gauchos with two goals and an assist apiece in the playoff win over Temple while Bruyere posted a 25-save shutout.

Santa Barbara (10-13 on the season) faced off pool play with consecutive wins over Rochester Institute of Technology (5-2), Vermont (4-2) and Colorado State (8-1).

LeGrande (two goals, one assist) and Price (one goal, two assists) each collected three points in the win over RIT while Price notched four points (three goals, one assist) in the win over Vermont. Price upped the ante with five points (four goals, one assist) in the win over Colorado State while LeGrande contributed four points (two goals, two assists).

Price finished runner-up among Division 3 top scorers with 12 points (eight goals, four assists) while LeGrande followed on the team scoring chart with nine points (four goals, five assists).

Bruyere helped close the door on defense with a 3-0 goaltending mark in pool play with a 1.29 GAA and 0.909 save percentage.

All-tourney elections for the Gauchos included Bruyere, LeGrande and Price.

Pomona (16-6-0-1 on the season) posted a 2-3 record in its five tournament games, including wins over Kennesaw State (6-4 in pool play) and Montclair State (9-0 in the playoffs) with setbacks to Oswego (5-1 in pool play), Yeshiva (8-4 in pool play) and Hofstra (6-2 in the playoffs).

The Broncos collided with Yeshiva and Hofstra, the two national championship finalists, during their memorable stay in Maine. Yeshiva defeated Hofstra, 5-4, in the Division 3 final.

Pomona swept the three-star awards in bettering Kennesaw State: No. 1 Espino (two goals), No. 2 Fleming (one goal, one assist) and No. 3 Lupercio (one goal, one assist). The Broncos did the same in besting Montclair state in the Round of 16 playoffs: No. 1 Espino (three goals, one assist), No. 2 Fleming (three goals, one assist) and No. 3 Augustine (one goal, five assists).

The Broncos ended their run with a 6-2 loss to Hofstra in the quarterfinals.

Espino paced Pomona with four goals in pool play.

“The WCRHL did very well at nationals and had a great shot at sweeping Divisions 1-3,” Pomona coach John Paerels said. “For Cal Poly Pomona we were at the top of our game at the end of the regular season and at regionals (14-3-0-1 record), but after a six-plus week break before going to Maine, we couldn’t seem to consistently find our game at nationals.

“All four of the teams in our pool made it to the quarterfinals, two to the semifinals, so we had a tough draw. We were competitive with the eventual D3 national champion Yeshiva other than a breakdown in the last two minutes of the first period (three goals against). Definitely a disappointing result; we thought we had a good shot at going further.”

New horizons

The 2024-25 season is scheduled to face off Nov. 2-3 in Corona, followed by a second regular season event Nov. 16 in San Jose and a third regular season event Nov. 23 in Peoria, Ariz., to round out the first semester. A preseason event is scheduled Oct. 12 in Irvine.

The WCRHL welcomes back Northern Arizona University and UCLA for the upcoming season while Loyola Marymount University is the league’s newest member.

Three teams will compete in Division 1 for the 2024-25 season: Arizona State, Arizona and Grand Canyon University.

Two teams will compete in Division 2 for the 2024-25 season: Cal Poly SLO and Fullerton.

Five teams will compete in Division 3 for the 2024-25 season: Cal Poly Pomona, Loyola Marymount University, UC Santa Barbara, Northern Arizona University and UCLA.

Three teams will compete in the AA Division for the 2024-25 season: Arizona State, Arizona and Grand Canyon University.

The WCRHL held a preseason event Oct. 12 in Irvine. Santa Barbara (Division 3) went undefeated at 4-0 while GCU (AA Division) finished 3-1, Arizona (AA Division) finished 2-2, Pomona (Division 3) finished 1-2 and Cal Poly SLO (Division 2) finished 1-3.

Photos/WCRHL

— Phillip Brents

(October 30, 2024)