What a long, strange and outright insane night for USC. In lieu of a period by period recap, I'll provide the best account of the details leading up to tonight's unimaginable loss as I can.
- A semi-truck wrecked in the middle of I-5 near Grapevine (at the base of Tejon Pass) sometime around rush hour. It completely blocked traffic for nearly 3 hours before it could be cleared. Nearly every Trojan carpool leaving Los Angeles after 3 pm was helplessly stopped dead in their tracks.
- This compounded the problem of some USC players already leaving relatively late (4 pm) due to midterm exams.
- Remember how I said "nearly". The one saving grace that prevented a forfeit was that 6 players, both broadcasters, and both substitute coaches (read below) made it through to Oakland in time.
- The team was without Coach Wilbur, Coach Langille, or even Trainer Cindy Bailey. All three are attending Langille's wedding this weekend. They were replaced by Trojan alumni Ryan Seals and Ryan Farias.
- Those six players were defensemen Michael Gawlik, James Anderson, and Alex Hite; forwards Mitchell Landsinger and Max Ernst; and goaltender Adam Kwon.
- In order to give USC the most time possible to get as many players as possible to the game, Cal negotiated 20 minutes of delay with the arena to the already incredibly late 11:45 PM start. Technically, the puck was dropped to start play early Friday, not Thursday.
- Kwon got the start in net for USC by default. Sitting third on the depth chart, Kwon brings lots of energy and dedication to the ice, but unfortunately not a shred of game experience and only a 5'6" frame. To my knowledge, Kwon's start tonight was his first ever as a hockey goaltender.
- USC's locker room did their best to pump themselves up for the Herculean task at hand. There would be no forfeit, they would fight on...
- ...But the circumstances were far too much to overcome. The 6 Trojans played without a single sub for more than three-quarters of the first period. Kwon played valiantly, especially for a goaltender who had never played a game before, but the dam broke open quickly. Within the first 4 minutes it was 4-0. The Trojan defense and players looked to conserve as much energy as possible, but that gave an assassin-like Cal team even more opportunities to score from in front.
- As my broadcast partner, Mark Shore, pointed out, taking penalties in this situation has the big upside of allowing one of the players to rest for a little while. But this "strategy" turned out to not pan out. Cal went 4-5 on the man advantage in the game. When Alex Hite took USC's first penalty, he rested for 4 seconds before Cal scored.
- Hite himself scored his first career goal as a Trojan about halfway through the first. He fired a wicked slapshot from the blue line that found the far top corner of the net. Shore said it was the best slapshot he'd seen all season. I'd have to agree.
- But scoring didn't give him or any of the other 6 Trojans any rest. By the time Max Szentveri and Nate Neroni arrived with 4 minutes left in the first, it was 8-1 Cal. He played limited time after that point. Just at the end of the period, James Anderson took a slap shot off of his ankle and limped off of the ice.
- The Bears kept pushing, scoring two more to make it 10-1 after 1. With seconds left in the period, Dante Caravaggio, Clark McClanathan, and Noah Comisar arrived. Midway through the second period, Matt Lewis, Charlie Mach, Jason Bush, and Scott McDonagh showed up. Zack Keith arrived on the ice after the second intermission and replaced Kwon in net.
- The reinforcements stopped the bleeding, but not before Cal scored another powerplay goal seconds into the second period and added their 12th goal a few minutes later.
- USC regrouped on defense but couldn't find an offensive stroke. The Trojans were still missing their top 4 offensive weapons including the entire first line.
- This was a difficult situation for both teams, but both handled it admirably. For USC's part, the Trojans fought as hard as they could given the situation. The 6 Trojan players showed heart and determination by coming out of the locker room and even playing the game.
- For Cal's part, they played a difficult game with incredible class. It's impossible to expect the Bears wouldn't score in that situation. You can't let your team get into bad habits. But Cal coach Cyril Allen personally pushed back the start time as long as he possibly could. And not a single one of Cal's players showed up USC or celebrated after a goal. They played a hard, clean game, but showed incredible sportsmanship in victory.
- The lingering technicality is whether this lopsided score will be recorded as official. USC played two whole periods with no backup goaltender. The rulebook does state that each team must dress a backup goaltender or forfeit the game. If the score is ruled a forfeit, USC would only have been recorded as losing a 1-0 game.
- If the score is official, it is USC's biggest loss in Pac-8 play in team history.
That's all for now. Tune in tonight as the Trojans will try and regroup against San Jose State.
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
1st Period
Hite - 1
2nd Period
NO SCORING
3rd Period
NO SCORING
2 comments:
alex...hard to believe that happened that way. kudos to the gang of 6 for tryijg to hold up their end under near impossible circumstances. hopefully we can regroup this evening but I understand sjs is a tough team.
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