USC Ice Hockey completes season sweep of UCLA

The Trojans defeat the Bruins 4-3 (OT), 3-2 (SO) in a pair of wild finishes

By Johnny Nguyen
January 23, 2011

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The USC men’s ice hockey team completed their domination over UCLA this season by winning a pair of matches over the weekend, going into overtime in both games, with one going to a shootout.

Previously, USC won both of the previous meetings earlier this season, 5-4 and 4-3.

On Friday, the Trojans drove to the Bruins’ home rink in the Valley for an early evening game. The Bruins took advantage of Trojan miscues to score two power play goals and go into the first intermission up 2-1, even though they were outshot by USC 16-11. Mark Yost (Jon Lee) and Michael Carder (Charlie Linehan) scored for UCLA; Noah Comisar (Mitchell Landsinger) notched one for USC.

The Trojans rebounded from their quiet first period performance and kept the puck in the Bruins’ zone for the majority of the second period, outshooting UCLA 13-8 and capitalizing with 2:05 left in the period when Landsinger received a quick pass from Comisar and sniped it past Bruin goalie Al Ricciardelli, tying the game at 2-2.

The third period was a defensive battle as each side continued to repel each other’s attacks. However at the 7:14 mark, USC captain Mike Gawlik (Jason Bush) fired a slow shot from the blue line through a screen of players, which trickled in under Ricciardelli and put the Trojans up 3-2.

At one point, the Trojans successfully killed off a 5-3 Bruin power play that lasted 1:52, but quickly found themselves on another penalty kill and paid the price, with Carder (Lee, Yost) equalizing the score with a one-timer past USC goalie Alex Caravaggio at the 6:22 mark.

USC had an opportunity to close out the game when Carder picked up a tripping penalty with 0:28 remaining, but only managed two shots on goal as the period expired.

In the extra overtime period, it remained a four-on-three man advantage for USC as Carder served the remaining time for his penalty. American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) rules state that the teams play four-on-four in five minutes of sudden-death overtime.

The Trojans overpowered the Bruins in overtime, keeping the puck in the offensive zone and after several shots turned away by Ricciardelli, USC’s Dante Caravaggio (unassisted) rocketed a blue-line shot past the UCLA netminder at 1:03, winning the game for the Trojans and clinching the 2011 Crosstown Cup three games to none.

USC maintains a 13-3 domination over UCLA in the Cup’s sixteen-year history, though the Bruins won the Crosstown rivalry last season, three games to two.

On Saturday, the Game Four of the series shifted to the Trojans’ home rink, The Rinks – Anaheim ICE. While USC captured the Crosstown Cup, the game remained relevant as both teams looked to secure their invitation to the PAC 8 Conference Tournament, held this season in Seattle, WA.

USC currently holds third place in the conference; UCLA sits just out of the playoff picture in fifth place.

In the first period, USC’s Caravaggio and UCLA’s Ricciardelli lead the way to a 0-0 deadlock, with the teams picking up two penalties each along the way, including a four-minute double-minor for highsticking by USC’s Max Ernst on Bruin Ashton Christian’s neck. Christian recovered quickly, immediately taking the next faceoff.

The second period saw more aggressive play out of both teams. Three players on each side picked up penalties, including five-minute major penalty and game misconduct against USC rookie James Huebner for a violent hit 0:30 into the frame, resulting in his ejection from the game.

However, USC turned the tables on the previous night and capitalized on their power play situations. Dave Morris (Landsinger, Peter Rugo) broke the impasse 8:41 into the period, scoring on a severe off-angle to take a 1-0 lead, but at even strength UCLA quickly answered back 0:13 later, with Brandon Wu (Christian, Carder) putting in the tying goal off an error by A. Caravaggio behind his net.

Still in the second period, the Trojans exploited an interference call against UCLA’s Carder, as Landsinger (Morris, Ryan Manning) punched in a shot with 2:25 remaining, and sending the Trojans into the locker room with a 3-2 lead after two.

The third period started quietly, but with the Trojans on a penalty kill, the Bruins scored the equalizer with 5:40 remaining and sending the game into the extra session.

The overtime period saw plenty of action but no goals, as both netminders turned away several shots and locked out the opposing teams, sending the game into a decisive five-man shootout.

During the shootout, the goalies again turned in solid performances in the one-on-one situations, but USC’s Morris found the chink in Ricciardelli’s armor, scoring the only shootout goal for either team, and locking up the victory for USC by the final score of 3-2, as the Bruins could not penetrate A. Caravaggio’s staunch goaltending.

In a rematch of last season’s PAC 8 championship game, USC hosts another PAC 8 foe, Washington, this weekend on Friday and Saturday, January 28-29, in Anaheim. The second-place Huskies are themselves coming off a successful weekend, sweeping conference leader Oregon in Eugene.

Other Notes:

• UCLA assistant coach Josh Hoffman was assessed a match penalty in Friday’s game for throwing a stick onto the ice at the referee after the game was concluded; he was given a one-game suspension by the PAC 8 Conference, which banned him from Saturday night’s matchup.
• USC’s James Huebner, ejected from Saturday’s game, was not assessed a game disqualification, which would have been an automatic one-game suspension.
• Each of the four games in this season’s Crosstown Cup series was decided by a single goal.
• While the Crosstown Cups series is typically best-of-five, this season’s Game Five, slated to be hosted by UCLA, was canceled due to the PAC 8's moving of the playoff tournament one week ahead than was originally scheduled without notification to any California team, affecting games for both the USC-UCLA and Cal-Stanford series. USC additionally had to cancel a game against San Diego State.