The City College roller hockey team finished its season on a bittersweet note, placing third in the National Championship tournament for the second year in a row.

The tournament was held at the famous Utah Olympic oval in Salt Lake City this past weekend.A

Junior College teams from all over the country competed throughout the season for five invitations. The ranking system works similar to professional hockey. A win counts as two points and a tie counts as one. City College (9-6-1, 19 points) finished the season in a three way tie for first in the points and wins categories.

The other top teams were St. Charles and St. Louis. Front Range and Saddleback colleges completed the pool of five for the round-robin bracket.

Because of the closeness in the rankings, player-coach Chaz Donati knew that it would be a tough tournament and stressed the need for offensive production.

“We knew going in that we would have to put up a ton of points because the other teams were going to put up a lot of points against us,” he said.

City College began the tournament with a 1-1 tie against Front Range, before losing to St. Louis 4-6 and Saddleback 1-4. The final qualifying game against St. Charles was played to a 5-5 tie and included a three-point comeback in the final period. Donati capped the surge with a goal in the final 30 seconds of the game.

In the rematch a day later, St. Charles beat City College 8-3 advancing past the first round of single elimination and effectively ending the season for the City College.

Paul Linder shouldered the offensive load for the City College scoring a team-high six goals over the weekend.

Going into Utah, City College hadn’t played a competitive matchup in two months. Third-team All-American goalie Dustin Skipworth admits that caused some problems.

“After not playing for two months, it’s kind of hard to jump back into it and play at a competitive level,” Skipworth said. “We came out a little flat in that first matchup. We could’ve easily beaten that team.”

Even in defeat there’s a silver lining.

“It was a great experience for everyone,” Donati said. “From the facilities to the competition; everything was great from the beginning to the end.”

“Losing, at first, does get you down,” Skipworth said. “To be able to play college-level hockey against people from all around the country is a good feeling. You can’t just throw that away.

“We still got a chance to play with our buddies and do what we love. Not everyone can get first.”

Editor’s Note:  This article was originally published April 18, 2012.