The Washington Huskies came into Anaheim Ice looking for redemption against USC, and took a first major step towards it, as the Huskies defeated the Trojans 4-1 on Friday night.
Meeting for the first time since last season's dramatic PAC 8 Championship Game where an underdog USC squad defeated UW, both teams looked to solidify their conference records in the final week of conference play, as well as size each other up, ahead of this season's playoffs.
USC is the defending PAC 8 champion and coming off two victories against archrival UCLA. Washington likewise notched two victories against their rivals, top-ranked Oregon, as well as a win against Cal State Fullerton the previous night.
The Huskies host this year's PAC 8 tournament. Currently, UW sits in second place in the PAC 8, with USC right behind in third place.
A relatively quite first period was highlighted by a pair of goals near intermission. USC struck first with a streaking Dave Morris receiving from a Thomas Waschenfelder pass up the middle and putting the puck past Husky netminder Danny Dougan to put the Trojans up 1-0.
However, UW answered ten seconds later, as USC goalie A. Caravaggio left the puck on his exposed flank and UW's Byron Ma (Dan Herda) took advantage, scoring on the open net to tie it up 1-1.
USC entered the 2nd period on a 5-on-4 advantage for the first 3:59, as UW's Jordan Chenersky was assessed a double minor (roughing, 2:00; crosschecking, 2:00) going into the 1st intermission. The Trojans failed to capitalize though, with USC picking up a hooking penalty within the first minute of the period to make it an even 4-on-4 situation.
Midway through the 2nd with both teams at full strength, UW's Daniel Carson (Corey James, Jason Bartlett) punched a shot through heavy traffic and past A. Caravaggio for the Huskies' second goal.
While the Trojans killed off two separate 5-on-3 UW power plays, screens continued to be the main factor as another UW shot by Jeff McClateck (Phil Hamzlek, James) squeezed through traffic with :35 left in the 2nd, and sending the Trojans into the locker room down 3-1.
The 3rd period was riddled with penalties for both teams, but UW put the game away on another screened shot, this time by Ben Walters (Chenersky, Carson) on a power play.
Final score of the game was 4-1 in favor of the Huskies. The teams have their second meeting this weekend on Saturday. The puck drops at Anaheim Ice at 7:30pm.
Other Notes:
- UW's Andrew Johnson sat out for this game, serving a disqualification stemming from the previous night vs. CSUF.
- UW outshot USC 28-20.
- Twenty-six separate penalties were assessed between the two teams; USC's Beau Selisker led the field with 4 minors.
No comments:
Post a Comment