Recap: SECRHL Season kicks off in Georgia
Check out our recaps by division below and follow @NCRHA_C2C on Twitter and Instagram for updates all season long.
The SECRHL season kicked off with competition at SGAA Dual Decks in Snellville, GA over the weekend. With a mixed bag of D1, D2 and D3 teams in attendance, a good chunk of the south’s college roller hockey teams began their journey on the Road to Fargo. Below are the results and key games from the weekend.
Saturday, October 28th
D2 SECRHL Scores
East Carolina 6
Virginia Tech 1
Florida State 10
Virginia Tech 3
All Other SECRHL Scores
(D1) Kennesaw State 4
(D2) Florida State 2
(D3) Florida Gulf Coast 12
(D3) Florida State 4
(D2) Florida State 11
(D3) Florida Gulf Coast 4
(D2) Virginia Tech 13
(D3) Florida State 3
(D2) East Carolina 4
(D1) Kennesaw State 3 (OT)
(D2) East Carolina 5
(D3) Florida State 1
(D1) Kennesaw State 12
(D3) Florida Gulf Coast 1
Sunday, October 29th
D2 SECRHL Scores
East Carolina 5
Florida State 2
All Other SECRHL Scores
(D1) Kennesaw State 15
(D2) Virginia Tech 4
(D2) East Carolina 10
(D3) Florida Gulf Coast 0
(D2) Virginia Tech 9
(D3) Florida State 0
Get NCRHA Coast 2 Coast’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
(D1) Kennesaw State 7
(D2) Florida State 2
(D3) Florida Gulf Coast 7
(D3) Florida State 4
Weekend Records
(italics denotes record vs. divisional opponents)
D1:
Kennesaw State 4–0–1
D2:
East Carolina 5–0–0 (2–0–0)
Florida State 2–3–0 (0–2–0)
Virginia Tech 2–3–0 (1–1–0)
D3:
Florida Gulf Coast 2–3–0 (2–0–0)
Florida State 0–5–0 (0–2–0)
D1 Highlight Games of the Weekend
Kennesaw State, the lone D1 team to make an appearance in Snellville, took on a slate of D2 teams at their first event of the year. Here’s a look at a few of their closest games.
(D1) Kennesaw State 4
(D2) Florida State 2
The first game of the SECRHL season pitted D1’s Kennesaw State versus D2’s Florida State. FSU is looking to build off a 9–7 regular season last year, when they also made a deep run at SECRHL regionals. FSU’s Brandon Barrera scored the first goal of the 2017–2018 season in SECRHL league play and shortly thereafter, the Seminoles added another to make the score 2–0. Florida State’s Anthony Lerette went down with an apparent injury in the first period and KSU’s core group led by Robert Roddy and Hunter Baynes led the Owls to four straight goals, giving them the victory 4–2.
(D2) East Carolina 4
(D1) Kennesaw State 3 (OT)
SECRHL D2 regional runner-up East Carolina began their 2017–2018 season with an inter-division matchup vs. D1 Kennesaw State. The Pirates were 0–4 in their previous meetings with the Owls, dating back to the 2014–2015 season. Both teams traded goals in the first period, but it was the Owls that took a 3–1 lead into the pivotal third period. ECU freshman Tyler Kromenhoek scored twice on passes from senior Quinton Stallings to tie the game in the third. Goalies Justin Schomburg for the Pirates and Doug Giles for the Owls made huge saves late in the third to bring the game to Overtime. 3 on 3 overtime began with both teams running a man-to-man structure, but Stallings was able to find a wide-open Brandon Goodwin who spun and scored five-hole on Giles.
Notes and Highlights
Division 2
There will be a new D2 regional champion this year in the Southeast with the Tennessee Volunteers dropping out from the league. Three D2 teams made the trip to Snellville: East Carolina, Virginia Tech and Florida State. Virginia Tech, returning most of their roster from last year, lost to FSU 10–3, thanks in part to a four goal performance by the Seminoles’ John Yohe, who was also named first star of the game. FSU goalie Michael Aronson made 18 saves in the contest.
In what was seen as one of the closest games of the weekend, ECU defeated the Seminoles, 5–2. The Pirates were heavily outshot by FSU (25–13) but got key saves from senior goalie Justin Schomburg and two goals from Quinton Stallings to carry them to victory.
All three of these teams, as well as Florida, who made a Final Four appearance last year, will join two old faces making a return to D2 college roller hockey, James Madison and USF, and are expected to play in the next SECRHL event in January. (James Madison will make an interregional appearance in Feasterville for an ECRHA event November 18th–19th.)
Division 3
In Division 3 action, Florida Gulf Coast, last year’s D3 conference champion in the SECRHL, began their title defense by defeating Florida State in both matchups between the two clubs. Both of these teams will be seeing a lot of each other this season as they are the only two teams in D3 in the SECRHL, which means that one if not both of them will be going to Fargo to represent the SECRHL at Nationals in April.
