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Mike Sciacca

You won’t see the Cal Selects girls’ under-12 Division hockey team

suffering from stage fright this weekend.

The local team is one of three girls’ hockey teams out of Skate

Zone in Huntington Beach to advance to Aston, Pa., to compete at the

USA Ice Hockey National Championships.

It will be the fourth such appearance in the national tournament

for the under-12 team, the bulk of whose lineup played at the

Under-10 Division level a year ago, said under-12 Manager, Melinda

Koppel.

“We’re excited to be going back,” Koppel said. “We’ve been there

before so we know what to expect. We hope to come back with another

championship.”

About 140 teams and more than 2,000 players will compete for

division championships through Sunday at six different sites through

the U.S.

Last year, the Cal Selects’ under-12 team finished runner-up to a

team out of Assabet Valley, Mass. The year before, the two programs

switched roles, with Cal Selects winning the crown.

In 2000, the two battled once again for supremacy, with Assabet

Valley taking the top prize.

Koppel said she expects the two programs to once again vie for the

2003 title.

“We sure hope it ends up that way,” she said. “We’ve created quite

a little rivalry with that team from the East Coast.”

The under-12 team out of Huntington Beach is one of three heading

for the national tournament.

Joining them is the under-15 and under-19 Cal Select teams.

Skate Zone has a long history of sending teams to the national

championships and this year, four teams were in contention for a

berth.

Cal Selects had four teams compete at the recent Regional

championships held in Vancouver, Wash., a tournament that included

competition among teams from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada,

Alaska and Hawaii.

All four Cal Selects teams -- under-12, -13, -15 and --19 --

reached the championship game of their respective divisions, with

three teams winning titles and advancing to the national tournament.

The only reason the under-13 team did not advance was because it

lost the title game -- to the Cal Selects under-15 team.

“We have some really strong teams this year and we’re very happy

to be sending three teams to nationals,” Koppel said.

The under-12 team did not win the regular season championship,

Koppel said, noting that the regular season didn’t produce anything

“spectacular.”

“But the team is peaking at the right time,” she said. “We played

at around 500 throughout the regular season by have blew away the

competition at regionals.

“The competition will be much stiffer, though, at nationals.”

All three Cal Selects teams play on Friday, with championship

round action taking place on Sunday.

The Cal Select girls’ under-12 team is coached by Mike Macy and

assistant coach Scott Plumer and consists of Ariane Yokoyama, Taryn

Couture, Allison Odell, Kourtney Kunichika, Jennifer Friedman,

Dominique Di Dia, Tessa McCarty, Rebecca Koppel, Ja’Nien Barber,

Sarah Williams, Camille Boudreau, Sydney Aveson, Natalie Horton,

Jaqueline Perez and Alexis Ciccarelli.

The under-15 squad is coached by Jeff Prime with Debi Rasmussen

serving as team manager. The roster is comprised of Kelly Dowling,

Antoinette Maldonado, Justine Harris, Victoria Simmons, Skyler

Manlow, Lauren Lemond, Ashley Bairos, Sarah Rittberg, Jenny and Megan

Niesluchowski, Brittany Vander Kooy, Brittany Martin, Sarah

Jolicoeur, Jamie Rasmussen and Allison Inouye.

The under-19 unit is made up of Jayme Woogerd, Tamara Andresen,

Ashley Mazur, Jessica Koizumi, Chloe Thomas, Alycia Wilson, Kate

Wogelmuth, Courtney Crane, Ryan Lyndsay Bartz, Ciara Libaridian,

Ashly Waggoner, Dakota Elliott, Stephanie Yates, Danielle Ahumada,

Jordann Starr, Melissa Dianoski, Erin Coulter, Jennifer Haendel,

Stacy Anderson, Coach Scott Plumer, assistant coach Dave Gnas and

manager Judy Starr.