March 7, 2004
Rollin' Ice - San Jose, CA
March 7, 2004 - After a disappointing 8-9-1 regular season, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos were eliminated from Western Region playoff contention on the first day of the WCRHL Regional Tournament weekend. Santa Barbara went 0-3 in round robin play, losing to Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona and Moorpark College. Pomona and Chico advanced from that bracket, and CSU San Bernardino and Cal Poly SLO advanced from the other. Updates can be found at
www.wcrhl.com. The Gauchos missed out on a chance to play in the NCRHA National Championship tournament, to be held in Anaheim, CA in April. This is only the second time in UCSB's ten year history that the team has not reached the national tournament.
Departing from this year's squad are senior forwards Mike Saksen (Half Moon Bay, CA) and Jeff Rieden (Fresno, CA), as well as team captain Greg Franks (Los Gatos, CA). Rieden played two years for the squad after transferring into UCSB his junior year. Both Franks and Saksen were four year players. All three will be sorely missed, and our congratulations go out to them for fine careers here at Santa Barbara.
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