Friday, January 28, 2011

USC Trojans vs. UW Huskies: Pac-8 Championship Rematch-Postgame

Well, USC doomed themselves again with penalties, allowing UW to take advantage of bad penalties and a lack of rhythm for the Trojans, beating them in game 1 here at Anaheim Ice, 4-1. The Huskies added an insurance goal early in the 3rd to doom the inconsistent Trojans at home.

Washington took advantage of too many bad penalties from the Trojans, scoring their insurance goal on the power play, as Husky defenseman Daniel Carson took a hard shot from the point through a couple of screens past Freshman goalie Alex Caravaggio, putting the Huskies ahead for good. USC, time and time again, shot themselves in the foot taking bad penalty after bad penalty, never giving themselves a chance to get into a rhythm.

My first star of the game goes to Freshman forward Thomas Waschenfelder, who in his first game as a Trojan played with more heart and determination than any other player on the ice. His excellent play gave USC the first lead in the game, and he continued afterwards to put the puck on net and put constant pressure on the Husky defense.

Overall, USC's penalty trouble continues to plague a team that needs to find a rhythm in order to compete in the upcoming Pac-8 tournament. Offensively, the Trojans continue to struggle to put the puck on net, regardless of the number of chances they have. USC continues to try and make the "perfect" play in order to score a goal, instead of wearing down Husky goalie Danny Dougan, who was not challenged very much at all tonight. Defensively, the Trojan defensive corps consisting of Junior Assistant Captain Dante Caravaggio, Senior Assistant Captain Jason Bush, Senior Captain Mike Gawlik, Freshman Tom Duffy, Freshman Ryan Manning, and Junior Mike Mowrey, do a great job containing a high powered UW offense, but their problems with the forwards on the break out continues to allow teams more chances on Caravaggio than necessary.

We'll be back tomorrow night with game 2 of this Pac-8 Championship rematch here at Anaheim Ice, 7:30 start.

James

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