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Sports

Roller Hockey: RB and Poway Collide in a Defensive Showdown

Two early goals was all it took to give the Broncos a close victory over rival Titans.

The roller hockey team rode the back of a stellar performance from their goalie Ryan Hicks for a close 2-1 victory over Poway on Monday, scoring two goals in the first five minutes.

The Broncos (14-3, 7-2) remain in first place of the North County League with just three games to go before CIF, and ended a seven-game winning streak by the Titans (12-5, 5-4).

“It was a nail-biter,” RB coach Pat Sagara said. “This was big, it put us another game up on Poway and helped separate ourselves from them heading down the stretch.”

Two minutes into the game, the Broncos’ Brian Gravelle got things going for RB with a shot past a diving Chris Sylva for the first goal of the game. Kyle Shafer had the assist giving Gravelle 27 goals on the year.

Only three minutes later, Rancho Bernardo struck again.

Zach Semonian took the puck the entire length of the rink himself and fired in a quick wrist shot to give the Broncos the 2-0 advantage.

From that point on, Poway put on the pressure, getting off good open shots on net but could not get anything past Bronco goalie Hicks, who had a solid performance in back. In one instance, Hicks stopped a shot with his head and broke his helmet in the process.

“We got caught early and they hopped off to a quick start,” Poway coach Dale Ingram said. “From the second period on we had more chances, but Hicks came up huge for them again.”

The game played to a scoreless stalemate in the second period with tough defense from both teams.

“It was mainly a defensive game, we all did our part,” Hicks said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more out of my team.”

In the third period the defensive struggles continued until, with six minutes to go in the game, Titans forward Jordan Gallen picked up a loose puck in front of the RB net. Gallen placed it over the left shoulder of Hicks to finally put Poway on the board, 2-1.

The momentum started to swing the Titans' way.

With two minutes left, Gravelle took a costly penalty for the Broncos and put Poway on the power play for the rest of the game.

In the end, the Titans were unable to capitalize on the man advantage.

Poway got off several good shots, and even had a puck sliding into an open net only to be knocked out at the last second by an RB defender.

“We’re very disappointed,” Gallen said. “But this is a stepping stone. We know we can play with them, and next time we know we can beat them.”

Next Wednesday, the Broncos and Titans will face off one final time this season in what is is sure to be another heated contest with playoff implications.

To follow up on each of the roller hockey teams from this game, you can visit the Broncos’ website or the Poway website.

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