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 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 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.”

The Division 1 field included seven teams, three from the Midwest Collegiate Roller Hockey League and two each from the WCRHL and Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association.

GCU (25-2-0-2 on the season) won six of its seven games, winning the last two in overtime in a generally level playing field. The Antelopes’ lone loss in pool play was 4-1 to Lindenwood. Appropriately, GCU made the rematch count in the championship final.

The Lopes faced off the tournament with a 4-0 win over Arizona State, which they had defeated 6-5 in overtime to claim the WCRHL Division 1 title. GSU followed with a 5-2 win over Bethel University and an 11-0 win over Henry Ford College before ending pool play with the loss to the Lions.

But the Antelopes rebounded with an 8-2 win over Farmingdale State in the quarterfinals and trimmed Bethel, 2-1, in the teams’ ensuing semifinal match-up.

GCU swept the three stars of the game against Farmingdale State — Ruben Gonzalez was first star with two goals and three assists, Guido Pacheco was second star with three goals and Ettlebrick was third star with two goals.

Currie and Ryan Meltzer combined to stop 14 of 16 shots.

Currie earned the first star award by stopping 16 of 17 shots (0.941 save percentage) against Bethel while Aydin Schwetz, with the game-winning goal at 2:45 of overtime, grabbed second star honors. Dylan Guy, with the game’s jump goal, received third star honors.

GCU was perfect in three playoff games after nipping Lindenwood in the climactic game of the season.

The Lions took a 1-0 lead courtesy of its California line of Acosta, Wozniak and Durrans. GCU tied the game with a second period power play goal by Brydon Frisk (assist to Gonzalez).

The teams fought through three scoreless overtime periods in which Lindenwood racked up a 38-12 shot advantage before the Lopes finally broke through at 2:47 of the third OT period as Ettlebrick scored off a feed from Guy.

The game-winning tally was GCU’s lone shot in the period.

Schwetz referred to the Antelopes’ championship as making a statement for the sport.

“Ninety-nine percent of roller hockey people in the United States treat roller hockey in a non-serious manner — either as a secondary sport to play in the summer or an excuse to drink with friends on a weekend,” he said. “We didn’t want to treat the sport we love in this manner. We wanted to give a crap and treat both ourselves and the program as NCAA D1-like as possible and … low and behold, it worked.

“The key to success was getting everyone to care and buy into the ideology of our program. Every single player cared, and we collectively cared more than everyone else. That’s truly it.”

The standard has now been set in the desert.

“The expectation, now and always, is to win a national title,” Schwetz said. “Except this year (2024-25) we will have teams in the D1 and D1-AA divisions, so we will be aiming to defend our title in D1 and capture another in D1-AA.

“We currently have eight returning players out of 13 from last season and an additional 20 coming in. Recruitment has been huge!”

Gonzalez collected 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in four round-robin games while Ettlebrick logged nine points (six goals, three assists). Brydon Frisk tallied up six points (two goals, four assists) while Schwetz dished out five points (four goals, one assist). Warren Jelinek contributed four points (three goals, one assist) while Brock Lefever (two goals, one assist) and Cameron Bennett (one goal, two assists) each notched three points.

Schwetz and Frisk were named to the Division 1 all-tournament second team

Guy (three assists) was named an honorable mention to the Division 1 all-tournament team.

Currie finished 3-1 in round-robin play with a 1.64 goals-against average and 0.912 save percentage.

Gonzalez (56 points), Schwetz (53 points), Frisk (45 points) and Bennett (34 points) dominated the top of the WCRHL Division 1 scoring table during the regular season while Pacheco posted a division-best 2.18 GAA and 0.900 save percentage.

The Antelopes ripped off a 16-game winning streak from Jan. 26 to April 19.

ASU (9-14-0-4 on the season) finished 0-5 in the Division 1 national championship field, losing 4-0 to GCU, 2-1 to Rowan University, 12-0 to Lindenwood, and 5-1 to Henry Ford College in pool play. The Sun Devils bowed out of the playoffs with a 7-0 quarterfinal loss to Bethel.

ASU was out-scored 30-2. Joshua Musty scored both goals for the Sun Devils.

For Lindenwood, Acosta and Wozniak were an all-tournament first team selections while Durrans was on the second team.

Cat’s meow

A total of 13 teams competed in the Division 2 tier.

The Wildcats were simply perfect in Maine by rolling to a 6-0 record. Arizona defeated, in order, Cortland (8-7), Massachusetts (7-3) and Neumann (7-3) pool play and tacked a 9-1 win over Northeastern in the quarterfinals, a 2-0 win over WCRHL rival Fullerton in the semifinals and capped the memorable tournament appearance with a commanding 7-2 win over Michigan State in the national championship game.

Kevin Bird got the Wildcats off to a good start with three goals and one assist in the win over Cortland while Theoren Hannah pitched in a hat trick. Arizona swept the three-star awards in the win over Massachusetts: No. 1 star Jack Sapra (three goals, one assist), No. 2 star Hudson Fox (one goal, three assists) and No. 3 star Hannah (three stars).

The Wildcats (21-3-0-1 on the season) swept the three-star awards in the pool-closing win over Neumann: No. 1 star Hannah (three goals), No. 2 star Smith (one goal, three assists) and No. 3 star Bird (one goal, two assists).

The playoffs faced off with a three-star sweep over Northeastern: No. 1 Smith (four goals, two assists), No. 2 Fox (three goals, three assists) and No. 3 Sapra (one goal, four assists).

Arizona out-shot Fullerton 21-11 in the teams’ semifinal match-up, though scoring both goals in the third period to snap a scoreless tie. Fox (from Smith) put the Wildcats in front 1-0 at 4:15 while Smith (from Sapra and Fox) doubled the score at 5:52. Both goals came at even-strength.

Fox (No. 1 star) and Smith (No. 2 star) both finished the game with one goal and one assist while goaltender Ethan Valentine (No. 3 star) posted an 11-save shutout. In defeat, Fullerton’s Kurt Yano stopped 19 of 21 shots.

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.

First team all-tournament selections included Fox, Smith, Sapra from Arizona and Fullerton’s Yano.

Second team all-tourney picks included Arizona’s Hannah and Valentine.

Smith was voted the Division 2 MVP while Yano earned nods as the division MVG. Fox (seven goals, 13 assists) was bestowed with the division playmaker award.

Honorable mention all-tournament selections included Arizona’s Bird and Michael Penna and Fullerton’s Ezra Gale and Mason Pilkington.

Hannah (six goals, three assists), Bird (five goals, four assists) and Hudson (three goals, six assists) co-led the Wildcats in round-robin scoring with nine points each while Smith (three goals, three assists) followed with six points. Sapra (three goals, two assists) notched five points.

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 a 3-2 loss to Slippery Rock) and a 6-4 win over Cortland in the playoff quarterfinals.

The Titans swept the three-star awards in the win over Michigan State: Pilkington (one goal, one assist) as the No. 1 star, Brayden 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 Ryan 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 teammate Kat 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 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.

Arizona’s Fox topped the regular season WCRHL Division 2 scoring chart with 52 points, followed by teammates Smith (46 points) and Sapra (36 points). Cal Poly’s Joe Shields finished fourth with 28 points, followed by Fullerton’s Tuckwood (27 points).

Fox edged Smith in the goal-scoring department: 29 to 28. Fox also led the assist table with 23 over Sapra and Smith (both with 18).

Valentine was first in the division in both GAA (3.36) and save percentage (0.841) ahead of Yano (4.24 GAA, 0.829 save percentage).

Division 3 rewind

Fifteen teams, split into five pools for preliminary-round play, competed in the Division 3 tier. 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.

Reyes LeGrande and Brad Price keyed the Gauchos with two goals and an assist apiece in the playoff win over Temple while goaltender Brendan 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 setback 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, in 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 Ronald Espino (two goals), No. 2 Brayden Fleming (one goal, one assist) and No. 3 Peter 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 Matthew 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.”

AA Division

Eight teams competed in the AA Division with both Arizona and Arizona State ending the tournament with overtime losses in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats lost, 5-4, to Slippery Rock after finishing pool play with an undefeated 3-0 record; the Sun Devils bowed out with a 4-3 setback to Boston to finish the tourney 1-1-2.

Arizona (12-6-0-4 on the season) landed in Maine with a 5-1 win over Boston, 6-3 win over UMass and 8-4 win over Michigan State to stake their name as one of the division’s front-runners while ASU (11-9-2 on the season) edged Ohio State by a score of 2-1 while falling 5-0 to Lindenwood and 3-2 in overtime to Slippery Rock to conclude pool play.

The Wildcats swept the three-star awards in all three round-robin games. Andrew Henuset took No. 1 honors in the win over Boston with four goals while goaltender Bennett Johnson posted a 0.964 save percentage as the No. 2 star.

Henuset notched five points (three goals, two assists) in the win over Boston while Jack Landry, who dished out three assists in the opening game, collected five points (one goal, four assists) in the second game.

Ethan Kavanagh (two goals, two assists) and Landry (one goal, three assists) each collected four points in the win over Michigan State.

Arizona blew out to a 4-0 lead in the quarterfinal playoff game on two goals by Patrick Moore and single tallies by Kavanagh and Henuset before Slippery rock started to chip away with three second-half goals, the only goal in the third period and the game-winner at 8:17 of overtime.

Luke Jordan’s hat trick goal came in OT to spoil the party for the Wildcats.

ASU swept the three-star awards in the pool win over Ohio State: No. 1 Miles Gurrola (0.941 save percentage), No. 2 George Campbell (one goal) and No. 3 Zack Dartez (one goal). Dartez had two goals in the OT loss to Slippery Rock in pool play.

Gurrola made 34 saves in the playoff game against Boston as the game’s No. 1 star while Jersey Bird, Nicholas Johnson and Campbell each scored goals for the Sun Devils.

Arizona’s Landy and Henuset finished as the top two scorers in the AA Division while Landry (first team) and Kavanaugh (second team) represented the Wildcats on the AA Division all-tournament team. ASU’s Gurrola was named an honorable mention.

Campbell topped the WCRHL AA Division regular season scoring with 30 goals and 43 points. Henuset finished runner-up with 26 goals while Landry and Henuset tied with 36 points for second-place honors.

Gurrola topped division goaltenders with a 3.87 GAA and 0.827 save percentage.

The 2024 WCHL championship tournament took place March 2-3 in Corona. Nine teams participated in four divisions.

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.

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.

Photos/WCRHL/NCRHA

— Phillip Brents

(September 29, 2024)