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  • El Toro High's Logan Peck and the rest of the...

    El Toro High's Logan Peck and the rest of the Capistrano United hockey team will open the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League playoffs Saturday at Anaheim Ice.

  • Laguna Hills High's Kevin Vernon and the rest of the...

    Laguna Hills High's Kevin Vernon and the rest of the Capistrano United Coyotes and the rest of the Capistrano United hockey team will open the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League playoffs Saturday at Anaheim Ice.

  • Mission Viejo High's Jacob Dopudja and the rest of the...

    Mission Viejo High's Jacob Dopudja and the rest of the Capistrano United hockey team will open the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League playoffs Saturday at Anaheim Ice.

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Mark Garcia. Print Team and Sports Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Associate Mug Shot taken August 24, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The expansion Capistrano United Coyotes hockey team will begin its quest for an Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League Division 2A championship on Saturday at Anaheim Ice.

Capistrano (14-0-0-1), which in its inaugural season won the league’s regular-season title, will play at 6:45 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s San Diego South-Villa Park game. Villa Park finished eighth in the 10-team standings this season at 5-9-0-0, while San Diego South placed ninth at 5-10-0-0.

In games during the season, Capistrano defeated Villa Park, 9-2 and 7-1, and San Diego South, 4-2 and 7-5.

“San Diego gave us some battles,” said Coyotes coach Darren Gardner. “They have a deep roster and they’re very relentless.”

San Diego scored the least goals of any team in Division 2A with 34, but spread those goals among 15 scorers. Tanner Bleyle led the team in points (16) and goals (12), while Patrick Miller was the team’s leading assist maker.

Villa Park scored 51 goals this season, but allowed 77 – second only to last-place Edison (78). The Spartans are led by Zach Pires (9 goals, 9 assists) and Evan Camba (11 goals).

Gardner said both teams are dangerous, but felt confident his club chances to advance.

“If we stick to our game plan and play with a passion and purpose, we should move on,” he said. “We’ve got players that have won championships before, but you really don’t know how teenagers are going to perform under the bright lights.”

Gardner said a key to winning the league championship will be “treating these games like any other game. If not, kids tend to hold onto the stick a little tighter.”

Capistrano had been hampered with injuries late in the year, but Gardner said his club “has never been healthier” for the playoffs.

Senior Keenan Haase, who finished sixth in the league in assists (12), had been out the last five games after suffering a concussion in a club game. Gardner said he is “not 100 percent, but we’re glad to have him back.”

Connor Reed (Aliso Niguel) – the league’s leading points scorer (38) – missed one game with a shoulder injury, and Paul Boutoussov (Dana Hills), the league’s third-leading points scorer (29), missed the last two games with an injured thigh. Both are expected to play Saturday.

“At this time of the year; you play unless you’re missing a limb,” said Gardner.

The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the semifinals, where it will play either Corona-Norco or Corona del Mar on Monday, March 3, at 6:45 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, at 6 p.m. at Honda Center.

Contact the writer: magarcia@ocregister.com or 949-454-7309