One could say that some students at La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) School are on a roll, literally.
They would be the members of the school’s roller hockey team. Didn’t know roller hockey was a sanctioned CIF sport? Well, the team members at La Jolla Country Day School want to change that notion.
Roller hockey became a CIF-sanctioned varsity sport in 2000-01. This is its seventh season, running from mid-November through mid-February. LJCD joined the league in 2001-02 and won the Kiwanis Cup Championship the following year.
Led by head coach David Brink, LJCD has recently had to battle through some tough injuries. The squad lost its top player, Ben Sweeney, to a season-ending injury in an ice hockey tournament in Vancouver. This comes in the wake of losing a top goalie in the conference, Alex Corbin, to a back injury just before the season began.
This year, there are 18 teams in the Metro Conference, divided among three leagues: the North County League, the Mesa League and the South Bay League. LJCD is in the South Bay League with Mar Vista, Hilltop, Southwest, San Diego Jewish Academy and Castle Park.
The North County League is the strongest, with full rosters deep with travel ice hockey players and experienced roller hockey players. Historically, LJCD has managed to field competitive but small teams, usually centered around one or two travel ice hockey players with good support from a few experienced roller hockey players.
Last year, the Torreys fielded a team based on a starting lineup consisting of three returning juniors, forwards Oren Siegel and Chris Warren and defenseman Matt Mulligan, and two impact freshmen, defenseman Sweeney and goalie Corbin. Both Sweeney and Corbin are experienced travel ice hockey players.
Despite losing Corbin to injury halfway through last season, LJCD managed to finish the regular season 11-6-1, losing to a talented Vista team in the first round of the playoffs.
Siegel was named Second Team All-League forward, and Sweeney was named First Team All-League defense (the only freshman in the conference to receive this honor).
“Expecting last year’s starting lineup, including Corbin, to return, we had high expectations for this season, hoping to challenge Mar Vista for the league championship, to compete well against North County teams and to go deeper into the playoffs,” Brink noted. “Our first setback was learning just before the start of the season that Alex Corbin would miss the entire season due to a stress fracture in his lower back. Senior Hector Miramontes agreed to play goalie in Corbin’s absence and, after some initial adjustment, has been playing admirably.”
LJCD began the 2006-07 season with losses to three North County powerhouses (Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch and Vista). These losses were followed by the team winning two of its next three contests.
“We were set to begin league play after returning from winter vacation and felt good about our chances to compete with Hilltop for second place in our league, behind Mar Vista,” Brink said. “Unfortunately, Ben Sweeney sustained an ankle fracture and ligament damage while playing in an ice hockey tournament in Vancouver, B.C., over the holidays and will miss the rest of the season.”
According to Brink, the team still has an outside chance at finishing second in its league and should finish no worse than third.
“But our prospects for making the playoffs and advancing are seriously diminished,” Brink added. “This is unfortunate, especially for our seniors, given the high expectations we had at the beginning of the season.”
LJCD expects Corbin and Sweeney to return next year and lead a team of mostly freshmen in a competitive season.
In the meantime, despite the injuries, Brink and company have not thrown in the towel on this season and plan to roll with the punches.