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Pleasanton hockey wins Tri-Valley championship
Upset victory over San Ramon ends 2-1 at Dublin Iceland

by Tom Powers

In its first year of existence, the Pleasanton High School Hockey team pulled off an upset 2 to 1 victory over a very strong and talented San Ramon Grizzlies team in the Tri-Valley High School Hockey championship game on Sunday, Jan. 27, at Dublin Iceland.

After playing a 10-game season these two teams earned the right to battle for the second annual Tri-Valley High School Hockey Championship Trophy. The Pleasanton team, made up of students from Foothill High and Amador Valley High, had been beaten handily by San Ramon in both of their two previous meetings, 7-2 and 6-2.

While San Ramon controlled play through most of this very exciting game, some outstanding goaltending by Pleasanton's Jimmy Mayo right from the start kept Pleasanton in the game.

Pleasanton scored first, midway through the first period on an extremely rare play. With a delayed penalty coming against Pleasanton, San Ramon pulled goaltender Willie Chan to allow an extra skater while San Ramon had the puck. An attempted pass to a San Ramon defenseman missed its target and slid down the length of the ice into the open San Ramon net, giving Pleasanton a 1-0 lead.

San Ramon scored late in the first period with a power play goal, making the score 1-1 at the break. Midway through the second period, Pleasanton centerman John Scheeler got behind the defenders and made a tremendous individual effort to beat Chan while being hooked to the ice by a San Ramon defender, giving Pleasanton a 2-1 lead.

From that point forward, Mayo took over the game, making save after save while he and his Pleasanton teammates did everything they could to hold off the onslaught of shots on goal and preserve the upset victory for Pleasanton.

The Pleasanton team was coached by Les Magoon who was assisted by Dane Garis, Eric Lahrs and Tom Powers. Players were Adrien Wisch, Samantha Magoon, Zach Smith, Michael Liamos, Andy Buck, Ben Ross, John Scheeler, Christina Williams, Kevin Garis, Nick Powers, Eva Kristof, Connor McClintock, Chris Mattox, Pravin Chandra, Max Miller and Jimmy Mayo. Also on the team but unable to make the title game were Bailey Held, Max Kelly and Raymond Abels.

With this inaugural season of high school hockey behind them, the players and coaches are looking forward to next season, when this team will be divided into two teams, one of Amador students and the other of Foothill students. As high school hockey continues to grow throughout the Bay Area, right here in Pleasanton we hope to have the beginnings of another great Amador/Foothill rivalry.

Posted by Kathy, a member of the Foothill High School community, on Feb 9, 2013 at 8:20 am

This, by far was the very best hockey game I have ever watched! Congratulations to all the players and coaches! A job and season well done!