- This was the strongest overall performance for the Trojans on this road trip, but that's not really saying much. Despite this, USC trailed 3-0 after 1 and 7-1 after 2.
- After the game, some of the Trojan players asked me what they were specifically doing wrong. They seemed at a loss for answers. My answer (and a lot of their's) was that San Jose State is simply the better team. The Spartans are a deep, fast, high chemistry team. Clark McClanathan speculated that the Trojans need to practice more together to get in sync.
- Granted, SJSU is the stronger team, but that doesn't mean the Trojans didn't make their share of mistakes. All too often USC, and especially USC defensemen, would simply pass the puck away to SJSU. Offensively, the Trojans simply didn't put enough shots on goal, and for the shots they did put on goal there was simply nobody parked in front to slam the puck home. The defense still played somewhat hesitant and not physical enough overall.
- Entering the night, Phil Adams had a shot to lock up the starter's job for good. Did he? Not quite. His performance was slightly more solid than Zack Keith's the previous night, and there were no specific "soft" goals Adams gave up. However, rebound control was a huge issue all night for Adams. On nearly every shot on Adams, he would give up a rebound. Some large, some small, but around 7 of the SJSU goals came off of those rebounds.
- Nick Helmer was the only member of the first line around, and did as much on his own as he could. His goal in the second period after Helmer moved all the way around the net, and back again before dishing it to Alex Hite. Off of Hite's shot, Helmer found the rebound and tucked it home.
- Clark McClanathan promised he would score his first goal of the season sometime this weekend. He made good on that promise in the third period. Breaking into the zone on a 3 on 1, McClanathan bumped into Szentveri and decided to keep the puck himself instead of dishing it. He found the back of the net with a wrist shot that glided along the surface of the ice seemingly underneath Caleb Murray's pads. Hard for Clark to celebrate because it cut the deficit to 7 goals at the time.
- Dante Caravaggio is lucky to escape the game in one piece. In the third period, Caravaggio sprawled out to break up an SJSU 2-on-1 and slid hard into the boards. He got up favoring one leg, but was back on the ice just a handful of minutes later. With just over two minutes left, the Spartans' captain Mickey Rhodes made a completely unnecessary and truly dirty play. Deep in the USC zone, Rhodes wrapped one arm around Caravaggio's shoulders, and took his leg and kicked one of Dante's legs out from underneath him. This penalty is known as slew-footing, the first time I've ever seen slew-footing called at a hockey game.
- Speaking of Rhodes, he set an "auspicious" SJSU record during the game, breaking the career penalty minutes mark with a double minor in the third period. The crowd went wild, giving Rhodes a standing ovation. Rhodes extended that record with the slew-footing major penalty and an additional game misconduct. That's an additional 15 penalty minutes on top of it. On the positive side, Rhodes also added 2 goals and an assist.
- 34 GOALS given up by USC in the Trojans' 3 games this weekend. I'll repeat that... 34 goals. Each of the three goalies gave up double digit goals this weekend.
- There was some discussion after the game about whether the Trojans are actually playing against Stanford next weekend at home or not. From what I could gather from team president Noah Comisar, there was a scheduling issue and the games may have been cancelled. I'll try and get an official word from Coach Wilbur this weekend.
That's all from the Bay Area. I can't wait to get back home to Los Angeles. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
1st Period
NO SCORING
2nd Period
Helmer - 4 (Hite)
3rd Period
McClanathan - 1 (Lewis)
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