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Roller Hockey Makes Final Four for First Time in School History

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

After completing a Regular season record of 17-1, and taking second place in the regional championships, UCSD headed into Nationals April 10-13 in Colorado Springs, CO. The five day, 20 team tournament started with three round robin games, in which UCSD prevailed as #1 in their pool defeating University of Saint Louis 4-2 and University of Tampa 11-2, while tying Westchester University of Pennsylvania 3-3.

Going into elimination games UCSD held a number three overall ranking and a number two ranking in their bracket. Saturday morning the team faced a tough Albany team who was 11-4 on the season. UCSD started off slow, trailing 2-0 after the first period but didn’t panic and fought back with goals from Kenny McCubbins and Ben Yeaton. Still down by a goal heading into the third period, the guys finished strong with 4 goals to prevail with a 6-4 victory.

With this win UCSD moved into the elite eight for the third time in three years. Facing a rematch with a Saint Louis team UCSD had already defeated in pool play, the team was confident. The game was largely played on the special teams with 13 penalties called against UCSD and 7 against Saint Louis. Despite the questionable officiating the Tritons won the game through a stellar team defense and incredible goaltending performance by fourth year Brandon Chew. Facing 42 shots and stopping all but 2 of them “Chewy” helped to carry the team to their first Final Four appearance in school history.

In the Final four UCSD faced a Westchester squad they had tied earlier in the tournament. Playing with only six players due to questionable suspensions to senior Brian Keefe and junior Lafe Ball in the Saint Louis game, the Tritons put up a hard fight. Down a goal with two minutes left, sophomore Kenny McCubbins made a phenomenal play, stick handling through two defenseman and passing the puck across the slot to freshman Steven Lockwood who scored to tie the game. Then, with about 50 seconds left Westchester answered with a goal of their own. In the final seconds UCSD almost sent the game to overtime when junior Jeff Ponton ringed a shot off the post. Unfortunately, the game ended 5-4 Westchester and UCSD’s season was over taking third place in the nation.

With the completion of the season UCSD hockey says goodbye to two seniors Robin Fago and Brian Keefe. In the four years these two have spent with the roller hockey program, they worked together to change the face of the organization and make the team nationally competitive. Fago has served as assistant captain and manager of the team since his sophomore year, while becoming one of the premier defenseman in the league. Keefe has led the team as a Player-Coach, Captain and assistant manger since his sophomore year, while excelling offensively and defensively alike. Both players will be missed on the rink, but will hopefully return behind the bench as coaches for seasons to come.

More Headlines:
Mar 4 - UCSD Roller Hockey to Compete in Nationals After Strong Weekend
Feb 19 - UCSD Roller Hockey to Compete in Western Collegiate Championship After Successful Weekend
Feb 12 - Triton Roller Hockey at the WCRHL All-Star Weekend
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