SRJC Announces Schedule for Inaugural Division II Season

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA (September 12, 2016): The Santa Rosa Junior College Hockey team is proud to announce its 2016-17 schedule for the Polar Bears’ inaugural season as an American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II team. This year’s schedule is chalk full of new opponents and longtime rivals, making every game, both home and away, a can’t miss event for all fans.

The Polar Bears start the 2016-17 campaign with their first of two Central California road trips Oct. 7-9. The team will sandwich the Oct. 8 game against CSU Long Beach with two games against new Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association member UC Santa Barbara. These two teams meet four times this season, each at the Gauchos’ new home in Goleta, California. UCSB is coming off a respectable 2015-16 season, finishing fourth in the California Collegiate Hockey League and reaching the California Cup Final. 

The first set of games against longtime DII rival San Jose State University is Oct. 21-22, with the first game set at Sharks Ice in San Jose on Friday and Snoopy’s Home Ice on Saturday. SRJC’s opening night game against SJSU marks the first time in seven seasons that the team is not facing former parent club, UC Berkeley. 

With the PCHA reforming as a Division II league, the Polar Bears are primed to defend its fourth-straight PCHA championship title and work towards a league-best fifth straight Adams Cup. SRJC will play league competition a total of 15 times over the five month season. Its first of back-to-back PCHA matches come Oct. 28 and 29 against hardened foe Santa Clara University. SCU heads to Snoopy’s that Friday before hosting the Polar Bears Saturday. The Oct. 28 game at home will be SRJC’s Halloween celebration.

The UC Davis/SRJC rivalry heats back up this season with Santa Rosa home matches Nov. 4 and Jan. 27, 2017, and a sole Vacaville game Nov. 19. No doubt these games will be a deciding factor in SRJC’s chance at repeating once again as PCHA champions.

Another new opponent for this season are the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz. SRJC first heads to the new PCHA member’s rink Nov. 11, followed by a Snoopy’s match a week later. UCSC is new to both the PCHA and ACHA, having played just a few notable games against Stanford University and San Francisco State University in early 2016. 

The Polar Bears open the New Year with an invitation to SJSU’s annual Showcase Jan. 20-22, 2017. The team will play SJSU, Western Washington University and Texas A&M University over the three game weekend.

Currently, SRJC has nine home games and 15 away games, but the schedule is still being finalized for the entire 2016-17 season. Fans are encouraged to check back as the season progresses.
Click Here to see the full schedule for the 2016-17 season