Sun Devils vie for state title

The Huntington Beach Sun Devils, a boys’ Under-18 Division ice hockey

team out of Skate Zone, are heading to Vacaville today to compete for

the 2003 California Amateur Hockey Assn. championship.

The Sun Devils, who played more than 50 games this season, winning

46, have qualified for the state tournament by winning the recent

Southern California Amateur Hockey Assn. tournament title at the Ice

Dogs rink in Long Beach, coach Bill Ott said.

Huntington Beach won the division by shutting down La Jolla in the

final, 3-0.

Goals were scored by Josh Hackworth, Paul Kahler and Chris

Giczewski.

Jason “J.C.” Gutierrez got the shutout in net.

“This team is just a real good group of kids,” Ott said. “They

stick together and play as a team no matter what happens out there.

They really have a respect for one other.”

The Sun Devils will take on Santa Clara Friday in a 2:45 p.m.

first round match, then face La Jolla in a rematch of the Southern

California final on Saturday.

The Sun Devils’ roster also consists of Andrew Doherty, twins

Dillan and Dustin Parsons, brothers Matt and Andrew Kleinhans, Chris

McNamara, Wesley Ott, Willy Wantz, Shawn Sullivan, Chris Ruper, Jared

Yonekura, assistant coaches Larry Giczewski and Jim McNamara and team

managers Bob and Leann Doherty.

In addition to approaching the 50-win mark for the season, the Sun

Devils won the association’s coveted Sportsmanship Award, Ott said.

The award is given each year to the team with the fewest penalties

during the course of the season.