4/18/08 - PCHA, Broncos give out special player recognition

The Pacific Collegate Hockey Asociation recognized two Santa Clara Broncos during the PCHA championship last March in Bakersfield. Freshman winger Ian Gonnella was named the PCHA North's top scorer, while sophomore goaltender Chris McNamara earned top honors in the division with the lowest goals against average.

Along with the PCHA awards, the Broncos voted for their 2007-2008 awards. The awards and winners were as follows:

MVP - Ian Gonnella
Most Improved Player - Sam Smith
Most Inspirational Player - Steve Barbieri
"Mr. Hustle" - Gary Nissen

This Sunday, the Broncos will hold a team meeting to discuss offseason matters and arising questions for the 2008-2009 season. Further information will be revealed within the next few days.

3/3/08 - Broncos finish out season with a win and a loss

The PCHA North Champions Santa Clara Broncos concluded their season with a loss 7-2 against Cal State Northridge in the PCHA semifinals last weekend in Bakersfield. The two teams were tied at two after 20 minutes of play. However, a four goal surge against the fatigued Broncos put the Matadors up 6-2. They would add one more goal in the third period and advance to the PCHA finals with a 7-2 win. In the final round, the Matadors were crushed by defending champions San Diego State Aztecs, 12-2. The Aztecs have now won consecutive PCHA titles.

In the first round of the tournament, Santa Clara cruised by 4th seed Fresno State. Freshman Gary Nissen sparked a Broncos squad that was stuggling to find its niche early on. The Broncos struck for five unanswered goals, defeating the Bulldogs 7-2. Chris McNamara brought his A-game in the latter half of the game, surrendering no more goals.

With their season over, the Broncos now face a long offseason and will wait for a new team to assemble early next year. Next year's roster has yet to be determined, though several players may not return because of graduation plans. President and captain Steve Barbieri will graduate this year, and several of the players who are graduate students may or may not be able to return. Still, the Broncos look forward to next season, with many faces from this year returning to the ice. PCHA North leading scorer Ian Gonnella is only a freshman, and PCHA North leader in Goals Against Average Chris McNamara will enter his junior year next year.

2/21/08 - Broncos win PCHA North, will face Fresno State in first round of PCHA playoffs

The Broncos are your 2007-2008 PCHA North Champions! They will be the #1 seed from the PCHA North in this year's PCHA playoffs and will face off against the #4 seed from the PCHA North, the Fresno State Bulldogs, on Friday in Bakersfield.
The Broncos finished with a 7-4 record in the North, edging out Sac State and UC Davis, which finished second and third, respectively. Fresno State occupied the last playoff spot. In the South, San Diego State cruised to the division championship, while Northern Arizona, Cal State Northridge, and UCSD took the remaining playoff spots.

2/17/08 - Broncos win one, lose one to end regular season

The Broncos closed out the 2007-2008 regular season with a two-game seriesagainst UC Berkeley, winning on Friday night, 7-3, and losing Saturday night, 5-4. The team finished with an overall record of 8-10, with a 7-5 record against PCHA North division opponents. The Broncos will be put to test in the PCHA playoffs, which start February 29 in Bakersfield. The opposing team has yet to be announced. 2/15/08 - Broncos LAST HOME GAME of the season!

The Broncos will cap off their season at home against UC Berkeley at Sharks Ice in downtown San Jose-- game time 7:00 PM. It will be an exciting finish for the Broncos' first full season, complete with our devoted fans, the SCU pep band, and all the hard-hitting slap-shooting action you love to see. Friday night, the Broncos travel to Oakland to take on the Cal Bears. This concludes the regular season for Santa Clara, as the team prepares for next weekend's PCHA playoffs in Bakersfield.

2/2/08 - Broncos return home!

The SCU Broncos squad will face off against Sacramento State tonight over at Sharks Ice at San Jose at 9:15PM.

1/28/08 - Broncos Stifled by COC; Finish road trip 1-2

On Friday night, the Broncos made the trip down to Northern Los Angeles to take on the College of the Canyons Cougars. Short-staffed, with five regulars out for most of the trip, the Broncos were in for a long night and some strong goaltending. The first period started slow, with both teams going back and forth sharing scoring chances. With about a dozen minutes left to go in the first, the Cougars would draw first blood as COC winger Shawn Gardiner found the back of the net. The first period would see no more scoring and the Broncos would be down 1-0 going into intermission.

Six minutes into the second, Patrick Dalcanto would split the Cougar defense to snipe a shot glove side over COC goaltender Kamron Javaherpour. The Broncos appeared to be back on track as they began to pepper the COC goalie, resulting in some prime scoring opportunities. Yet, at the end of the second, COC managed to add a second goal and the Broncos entered the locker room down by one.

The third was another seesaw period. Splitting two goals between each team, Santa Clara would find themselves down 3-2 with a minute left to go in the game. With McNamara pulled and the puck in the Cougar zone, the Broncos looked to capitalize on a man advantage situation. COC won the faceoff and dumped the puck down the ice and with 24 seconds left, Gardiner was able to get his third goal of the game to complete the hat trick. But, the Broncos would not give up. With 17 seconds left and control of the puck, Tom Sullivan converted on a pass from Steve Barbieri to get the score to 4-3. Yet it was too little too late, the game would end at 4-3 as the Broncos mustered 54 shots on goal compared to COC's 14.

SCU rebounded on Saturday with an 8-4 win over University Of The Redlands. Nick Casini scored a hat trick, and the first line notched 12 total points. A strong UC Irvine team overmatched the Broncos on Sunday in a 9-1 loss. The UC Irvine squad had defeated previously unbeaten SDSU the week before.

12/1/07 - Broncos dominate Cougars!

Recap courtesy of Jon Swenson of www.sharkspage.com

Santa Clara built on a road win against UC Davis with another 5-3 win at home against a depleted College Of The Canyons squad. Santa Clara forward Ian Gonnella and COTC goaltender Kamron Javaherpour turned in impressive performances.

The Broncos rained point shots on Javaherpour early, but it was a misplay of the puck by Chris McNamara that lead to a Canyon goal. Instead of moving the puck up ice to a teammate, McNamara left it inside his own blueline for an opponent. A College Of The Canyons forward tried to stuff the puck five hole, before hammering home the rebound.

An excellent play by Santa Clara defenseman Alex Nelson lead to a second period goal for the Broncos. Nelson snapped a shot off the leg pads of Javaherpour, and then jabbed the puck 5-hole for a goal. Tempers boiled over after some rough play to start the third. Two players were sent off the ice for each team including standout goaltender Javaherpour. Unfortunately for an already shorthanded College Of The Canyons team, they had to skate with 7 players for the remainder of the game. A COTC assisant coach said the longest shift of the period was 12 minutes for forward T.W. Flinders.

With one player on the ice with an injured hand after a huge hit at center ice, and another injured player on the bench, the Canyons team scored a late third period goal on the power play to close the score to 5-3.

A small photo gallery is available here.

11/18/07 - Broncos back on winning track!

The SCU Broncos bounced back after a tough home loss to Utah State with a 6-4 road victory against UC Davis. Two of the three SCU victories have come agains the Aggies.

Your Santa Clara University Broncos Hockey team heads into the Thanksgiving break on an up note and will return to the ice at home on November 30 versus College of the Canyons.

11/16/07 - SCU Overpowered By Utah State

SCU faced a tough challenge tonight against the Division II Utah State team. Though the Broncos played a spirited game, they ultimately ended up on the wrong side of an 11-0 final score. The scoreboard told only a small part of the story as SCU showed grit and heart while weathering the relentless Utah State attack. The Broncos will aim to get back on the winning track against UC Davis on Saturday night in Vacaville.

11/12/07 - SCU Drops Two To Sacramento State

The Broncos dropped a close 3-1 game against Sacramento State on Friday night before returning to San Jose for the rematch on Saturday night.

The Broncos lost game two of their weekend doubleheader against Sacramento State, falling to the Hornets 5-2 in a penalty plagued game. The SCU squad played a solid first twenty minutes of hockey, heading into the locker room in a 1-1 stalemate, but could not hold their composure, taking approximately a dozen penalties in the second period to put them in a hole. Though the goalkeeping by sophomore Chris McNamara was superb, the Hornets capitalized on the power play opportunities, torching the Broncos for three power play goals.

The Hornets drew first blood in the first minute of the game on a power play. On their second power play of the game, the Broncos responded with a scramble around the Hornets' goal. Amidst the numerous players poking at the puck, it was Gary Nissen who nudged the puck between the traffic and tied the game up. The game would take a wrong turn for the Broncos heading into the second period, however.

Taking penalty after penalty, the Broncos played a significant portion of the second period on the penalty kill, and the Hornets easily cashed in. Sacramento State netted another two power play goals, plus a five-on-five goal, that gave them a commanding 4-1 lead. In the third period, Santa Clara struck first on a goal by Ian Gonnella.

Unfortunately, the Broncos could not keep their momentum going for long, as they allowed a fifth and final goal to the Hornets. Santa Clara now prepares for another competitive weekend. They face off against Utah State on Friday at Sharks Ice, then travel to Vacaville in their second match of the season to take on division rival UC Davis.

10/27/07 - SCU Dominates UC Davis

Tonight, the Broncos dominated the visiting UC Davis Aggies from the drop of the puck en route to a 5-3 win.

10/20/07 - SCU Again Falls To Stanford

The Santa Clara-Stanford rematch had a familiar tone early on. Sporting their black away jerseys, SCU came out in a hurry taking the early lead 1-0. Just like their first encounter, Stanford score two unanswered goals and took the lead 2-1 at the end of the first. Tied 3-3 at the end of the second, both teams looked to take hold of the game. Early in the third, the Cardinal scored two more unanswered goals in an attempt to take the wind out of Santa Clara's sails with the score 5-3. Not to be outdone, Santa Clara scored 3 goals in a row and took the lead late into the third. With minutes left to go in the game and down by one, a Stanford forward carried the puck with speed across the blue, netted the game-tying goal, and forced overtime. A little over a minute into the overtime period, a Stanford forward found broke in alone on goaltender Chris McNamara and managed to fire the puck past the Bronco netminder, ending a great effort by both teams.

10/19/07 - SCU Posts First Win!

SCU beat University Of The Redlands tonight 8-7 at Sharks Ice at San Jose to post their first win of the season. The Broncos raced out to a 6-1 second period lead and held off a furious late charge by the visting Bulldogs to seal the win.

10/06/07 - SCU Drops Debut Game

SCU lost to Stanford 10-8 in a physical first game in front of a packed house. Scores of SCU hockey fans, friends, and family packed the stands at the North Rink at Sharks Ice at San Jose to support the Broncos in its debut against Stanford. A spirited and physical SCU squad jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but later got into penalty trouble and fell behind to visiting Stanford.

Two quick goals cut the Stanford lead to 9-8 with just minutes left in the third period. Stanford was then called for two penalties, setting up a 6-on-3 situation with less then a minute to go when SCU pulled goalie Chris McNamara for the extra skater. Alas, SCU was unable to score the tying goal and Stanford tacked on the empty net goal to secure the 10-8 win.

10/05/07 - Another Hockey U.

By John Ryan, Mercury News; Article Launched: 10/05/2007 01:36:14 AM PDT - Link

As the temperature drops below 80 in the Valley of Heart's Delight, it's a clear sign at the local colleges:

Hockey season.

Saturday night, it's the first game ever for Santa Clara University, which has joined San Jose State, Stanford and Cal on the club scene. Credit goes to Coach Lou Caputo, an insurance man by day who coached a similar program at Marquette 10 years ago; and to senior Steve Barbieri, who played as a kid, switched to football at Serra High and then became a "rink rat" in college.

It's another testament to the growth in quantity and quality of Bay Area youth hockey, which is faring better in national competitions and turning out better players every year. At San Jose State - which has been playing since 1990 and gone to the 16-team ACHA Division II national tournament three years in a row - Coach Ray Glasow says the team is 90 percent local.

The team has enough history that it just retired its second number, with three-year captain Ray Kellams' No. 4 joining founder Steve Stich's No. 51.

At SCU, the 20-player pool draws mostly from the Bay Area but also includes players from Boston and Chicago. "I'm not sure they expected hockey," Barbieri said. "I think they expected surfing and hot weather and they got a bonus."

Santa Clara, which is competing in Division III, plays Stanford at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ice Center of San Jose. Admission is $5.

Another reminder it's fall: The band will be there, too.