Briefly In Sports

Gibbons best between pipes

Ian Gibbons, 10, an ice hockey goaltender from Huntington Beach, recently won the Ace Bailey National Skills Competition at the “Squirt Travel” level.

Many NHL teams sponsor regional competitions for both players and goaltenders each season and the winners advance to the national championships.

Gibbons has won the regional competition at the Squirt Travel level for the past two years and advanced again to represent the Anaheim Ducks.

Last year the national championship was held at Boston University, where Gibbons finished fourth.

This year’s national skills competition was held at the Aviator Sports Complex in New York City.

The event opened on Friday with players/goalies represented by Eastern Conference NHL teams competing for first and second places to advance to the championship round. Goaltenders from the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers advanced on to the championship round.

On Saturday, Gibbons defeated the goaltender representing the Nashville Predators to win the Western Conference division title.

On Sunday, the top two goaltenders from each conference squared off for the championship round.

In the end, Gibbons defeated the goaltender representing the Philadelphia Flyers to win the national skills competition.

Gibbons has been playing hockey since he was 5. He started out playing in-line hockey at Coast2Coast in Huntington Beach, before switching to ice three years ago.

He will begin his third season of ice playing for the Anaheim Wildcats Hockey Club. This past season, the Anaheim Wildcats squirt 98’ team won both the Southern California Amateur Hockey Assn. (SCAHA) and California Amateur Hockey Assn. (CAHA) championships.

Gibbons, who attends Seacliff Elementary, will be traveling soon to St. Petersburg, Russia for 10 days to play with Team USA Select. This team is composed of players from Southern California, Detroit and Minneapolis, Minn.

Some of the teams participating are: Silver Lions (St. Petersburg), Dinamo (Moscow), Metallurg (Magnitogorsk), Finland Select (Finland), Ak Bars (Kazan), HC Gomel (Belarus), Locomotive (Yaroslavl) and Czech Select (Czech Republic).

H.B. Club team wins championship

The Huntington Beach-based Gold Coast Xtreme Elite GU-12 Soccer Club are Xtreme Cup Champions.

The squad went 4-0 over the weekend with 25 goals for and 0 against, including 12 goals from forward Jade Kratovil who posted a double hat trick.

In Saturday’s preliminary games the Elite defeated the Newport Mesa Waves, 6-0, with two goals scored each by forwards Rachel Flory, Sarah Steinhaus, Kratovil, and then beat United FC, 9-0, with a goal each from mid-fielder Makena Walker, forward Brooke Escala, Flory, and the double hat trick from Kratovil.

On Sunday, the Elite beat the HB Galaxy, 5-0, with Flory recording a hat trick and two more goals from Kratovil. The victory advanced the Elite to the championship game, where the team defeated the Xtreme White, 5-0, on two goals from Kratovil, and one each from Flory, Steinhaus, and defensive stopper Morgan Felix.

The weekend would have not been successful without strong support of the defense which is comprised of Sabrina Wahab, Kiana Dinsmore, Natalie Peters, Sami Oliver, Felix, and the confidence and composure of goalkeeper Sumer Rahe, who recorded the four shutouts.

The midfield players Walker, Jenna Low, Sarah Djafri and Jocelyn Ceccarelli, contributed to the wins with numerous assists to the forwards and controlled the flow of the game with superior passing.

This is Elite’s third tournament championship in a row after previously winning the Spring Cup and the Fullerton Rangers Summer Classic.

Djafri, D.J. Flory, Chris Low and Pete Escala coach the Elite.

Xtreme boys’ squad also captures crown

The boys’ U12 Xtreme soccer team won the championship in the gold division in Huntington Beach last weekend. The squad won the title game, 2-0, against the PVSC Exiles Blackteam. This came after placing second at the PSA tournament in Anaheim two weekends ago.

Members of the team included: Kobie Anton, Garen Balikcioglu, Daniel Banta, Alessandro De La Cruz, Andrew Duong, Jorge Garcia, Taigen Hegberg, Adam Hepburn, Matthew Johnson, Christian Keys, Anthony Kiriaki, Allen Montero, Tyler Rule, Michael Salgado and Jonathan Silva.

They were coached by Gabriel Montoya. The manager was Gilda Banta.

H.B. Polo captures 12-and-under title

The Huntington Beach water polo club’s 12-and-under boys’ team was triumphant, capturing the championship in the John Hale Tournament July 19.

The boys were successful in defeating So Cal Water Polo Team, 13-3, in the title game.

The Huntington Beach team also defeated Pacific, 12-5, Orange County 8-3, Foothill, 12-4, and Rose Bowl, 5-0 on the way to the championship.