Irvine, CA

Round Robin-Saturday, March 24
Round Robin matchups saw UC Davis, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly SLO face each other while UCSB, Chico State, and the B Team All Stars, filling in for Grossmont, made up the second pool.

UC Davis came out the hardest they had all season, with a deep bench and a fast, furious forecheck. Davis needed to win the tournament in order to go to nationals. They had SLO and Pomona on the run for a good portion of those games, but ended up dropping both, to SLO 6-4 and to Pomona 8-7. Dan Droubuy had 4 goals and 1 assist, Jeff Chomyn had 2 goals and 1 assist, Steve Ixquiac had 3 assists, and Bart Zeydel had 1 goal and 2 assists in their 2 games.

The B Team All Stars came out to fill the shoes of Grossmont. The team was comprised of 4 skaters and 1
goalie from each Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly SLO B Teams. They dropped both games by large scores, 8-1
vs. UCSB, and 9-3 vs. Chico State. Paul Smith, Ed Areualo, Adam Filowitz, and James Donnelly each scored one goal for the B Team All Stars.

Cal Poly Pomona faced Cal Poly SLO in the round robin. The game would go back and forth in the first half. SLO would turn it on to go up 7-3 with 2 minutes remaining in the game. Pomona almost did the impossible, scoring 3 goals in less than a minute, but the time ran out and SLO would prevail 7-6.

UCSB faced Chico State in the determining game in their bracket. UCSB was ahead 3-2 at the half and they would score 2 more in the 2nd half to make the score 5-2. Chico would cut the lead to 2 with 44 seconds left in the game, and it ended 5-3. Andrew Sperry stopped 27 of 31 shots for UCSB.

Sunday, March 25
Semifinal #1
The heated rivalry between SLO and Chico would manifest itself in this semifinal matchup. SLO jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 1 period, with goals from Tim Girvin and Ben Reed-Lunn. SLO would add a power play goal by Girvin assisted by Chad Wallin, making the score 3-0 at half. Chico outshot SLO 12-10 in the 1^st half. The 3rd period saw a Chico powerplay turn into an 8-man pileup in SLO's goal crease. Chico would come out of it with a 4-on-2 advantage, which they couldn't convert. SLO would get itself into more trouble, giving Chico a couple more power play opportunities in the 3rd and 4th periods. Matt Jue and Ian Gould would score in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Matt Corsetti proved to be the difference, as he stopped all 28 shots he faced. The final score would be 5-0, SLO, the first time Chico has been shut out all season.

Semifinal #2
UCSB came out with an early lead, with goals by Jake Drucker and Sean Raser. Pomona answered back with 5 unanswered goals, two by Tom Wiebe, 2 by Jason Mitchell, and one by Jonathan Cochran. UCSB would fight back to tie the game 5-5, with goals by Greg Franks (PP), Jake Drucker and Andrew Cahill. This deadlock was broken 2 minutes later when Rick Purcell put it by Sperry, assisted by Wiebe. The game would end 6-5, in favor of Pomona.

3rd Place Game
The 3rd Place Game would pit UCSB against Chico State. Vince Gotanda started UCSB's scoring with a minute remaining in the 1st period. They would score again just 23 seconds later with a goal by Sean Raser. Chico would fight back to tie the game, with Matt Antosik scoring 2 goals. The score was tied 2-2 at the half. Back and forth goals would find UCSB leading 4-3 entering the final period. UCSB would score 3 goals in the 4th, Sean Raser finishing with 1 goal and 4 assists and Jake Drucker and Sean Palmer with 2 goals apiece. Sperry had 27 saves on 30 shots. Brian Barker had 1 goal, and Antosik had 2 goals in Chico's effort. Final score: UCSB 7, Chico State 3.

Championship Game
Cal Poly Pomona, the only team to beat Cal Poly SLO all season, would get its' chance to do it again in the championship game. A defensive battle (believe that) would make for a scoreless first period. Pomona would take the lead and the momentum with a goal by Wiebe from Rick Purcell. Pomona outshot SLO 18-8 in the 1st half. SLO would fight back, with its' first goal coming from Matt Jue from Clint Marsalek. SLO added another goal to take a 2-1 lead with 3 minutes left in the 3^rd period. Pomona still came with good pressure. SLO took the momentum after a disputed goal, but 1 minute later a penalty shot was awarded when Marsalek covered the puck in his goalie's crease. Wiebe made a good move on the penalty shot, but Matt Corsetti got a big enough piece of it for the puck to go wide. SLO carried the momentum into the 4th period, scoring 3 more goals. Both Ian Gould and Tim Girvin would end up with 3 points; Corsetti had 38 saves on 39 shots. Final score: SLO 6, Pomona 1.

Cal Poly SLO would be regional champions for 2000-2001 and take a #1 seed into the National Championship Tournament.