Three things happen when the temperature drops below 70 degrees in Long Beach: restaurants break out the heat lamps, students start stressing about midterms and the LBSU club-hockey season begins in Lakewood.
The 49ers (1-1-0) are in a position to follow up on last year, when the team reached the conference championship game before losing to Northridge.
Frank Mitrano, an LBSU alum, returns for his fifth season as associate head coach of the 49ers. He led the team to its best record (14-11-0) since 2014-15 last year. Mitrano is associate head coach with the promoted Sean Huang, who has been an assistant coach during the entirety of Mitrano’s tenure.
“I’ve had to take a little bit of a step back this year because of my own outside career path, so Sean has taken on a wider role in developing the practices,” Mitrano said.
The two are joined this year by incoming assistant coach Matt Leitner.
“He’s got some professional hockey experience, so he’s a big asset to the program,” Mitrano said.
In order to reach the conference final against Northridge last year, the fourth seeded 49ers first had to defeat No. 1 San Diego State University. The upset was a statement that Long Beach belongs among the best in the west, a sentiment they will carry heading into this season.
However, many of this year’s players did not experience that playoff run since a third of the roster is new to the team.
“It was a decent recruiting class for this coming season; it’s still early so we’re still trying to figure out where guys best fit to try to optimize their skill sets,” Mitrano said.
Still, fans of LBSU hockey will see several familiar faces on Friday and Saturday nights, including left winger, Luke Miller. Miller has three years of Division 3 experience playing for Suffolk University in Boston. With his NCAA career over, the graduate student is happy to be settled into the Southern California club-hockey setting.
“The competition was very tough … When I was [at Suffolk] I was constantly in and out of the lineup, so it was pretty difficult and very mentally straining on me, but it was a great experience and I got to play some really good hockey,” Miller said.
Fans can expect Miller to have a great year with the 49ers this season. He led the team with 34 points last season and already has four goals this year. With a season developing chemistry with teammates under his belt, the 24-year-old from Pittsburg figures to be an offensive problem for opponents.
“He’s definitely a top player on this team; he brings a strong work ethic and a solid hockey background … we’re fortunate to have him here,” Mitrano said.
Forward Matthew Dove returns for his fifth and final season with the 49ers. The Valencia native proved himself a clutch player last year, scoring twice in the upset win against SDSU to carry his team to the final.
Dove has other intangibles that coaches appreciate.
“It’s been great having [Dove] here, he’s a good leader, he’s one of our captains this year and the guys really look up to him in terms of work ethic,” Mitrano said.
His discipline makes him dependable in close-game situations. Standing 6-feet tall, the 185 pounder has increased his points total in three of his four years with LBSU. After sitting in the box for 20 minutes with College of the Canyons in 2014-15, he has only 24 penalty minutes in his career as a 49er.
Dove and Miller each assisted the other on goals against Chapman on Saturday.
Long Beach jumped out to a two-goal lead against Chapman, their second opponent of the season, and never looked back. LBSU went on to dominate Chapman 19-0. Goalie Tyler Gealy earned the shutout.
The win provided a much needed confidence booster after the 49ers suffered a tough 5-3 loss to LMU in their first game of the season.
Long Beach returns to the ice 7:35 p.m Friday against UC San Diego at The Rinks in Lakewood. The home game marks a rematch of last year’s playoff upset.