Mariners Heading East in Search of Icebreaker

Having already won the West, the Ventura Mariners will be after a more prestigious title when they face off today in the 12-team Junior B national ice hockey championships in Bridgewater, N.J.

The Mariners, a Simi Valley-based team of 16- to 20-year-olds, had to beat out only three teams from the West to earn their trip to the Atlantic seaboard.

But Sean McGillivray, the Mariners’ founder, business manager and coach, said his team is ready for the challenge.

“Having a California team playing at the national level is a big deal and I think we’ve got a good shot to win [the championship],” said McGillivray, whose second-year team won the five-team Western States Hockey League and claimed one of its two automatic berths to the championships. The Anaheim Junior Ducks, WSHL runners-up, claimed the second berth.

The Mariners (36-15-1) open against the Rochester (N.Y.) Junior Americans, a traditional East-coast power.

To win the national title, the Mariners must navigate a grueling, five-game slate against teams from the nation’s four other Junior B leagues. Those circuits, which are comparable to high school leagues in hockey hotbeds such as Minnesota and Massachusetts, include 21 teams from the Midwest and Northeast, a step up in competition from the two-year old WSHL.

However, the Mariners don’t see themselves as West Coast weaklings, perhaps because many of them are originally from the Midwest and Canada. The 22-man roster includes nine Californians--seven of them local residents--and others from Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Washington and the Canadian provinces Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

The Mariners are substantially better than they were last year when they won their league but were prohibited from earning an invitation to the national tournament because the WSHL had been sanctioned by USA hockey only on a trial basis. Only six players are back from that team.

Mariner players pay about $1,500 each in fees and must provide their own equipment, McGillivray said. The 15 players from outside Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley live with local families, some paying rent.

Five of the Mariners are high school students. Most of the others attend Moorpark College or local adult schools. They juggle academics with a hockey schedule that includes games or practices at least five days a week.

“Our players. . . . [would like to play] college hockey,” McGillivray said. “Last year we didn’t have any [college coaches] contact us but this year seven or eight [NCAA] Division III teams have shown interest in some of our guys.”

The Mariners’ top players are defensemen Brad Bourhis and Kimu Mau’u and centers Keoni Huegli and Ryan Webber.

Bourhis, who McGillivray said is the Mariners’ most valuable player, is a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Mau’u is from Torrance, Huegli is from Northridge and Webber, the team’s leading scorer with 21 goals and 31 assists, is from Cincinnati.

Ventura has not played a Junior B opponent outside its league, but did perform well against several teams from the higher-level Junior A division.

Following today’s opener, the Mariners continue pool play against the undefeated New York Apple Core on Thursday and the Minnesota North Metro Owls on Friday.

The teams with the best record in each of the tournament’s three four-team groupings, plus one wild-card qualifier, advance to semifinal games on Saturday. The title game is Sunday.

Jason Slinger, 18, a Mariner forward and Camarillo High senior, said he and his teammates want to further the development of West Coast hockey with a strong showing.

“I’m hoping if we win the nationals it will open things up more for hockey out here,” Slinger said. “This means a lot to the guys from [California]. We want to show other teams they can’t bad-mouth California hockey anymore.”