If ever USC needed a win it was in this game. They had a nearly intact roster but needed to break up a 5-game losing streak to show themselves and the rest of the league that they hadn't faded off of the Pac-8 contender map. Before the game, the team was confident that they could get a huge road win. Here's what happened:
***FULL GAME AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS***
***FULL GAME AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS***
Period 1
Perhaps the most key decision beyond anything else in the game was giving Phil Adams the start in net. Adams played a simply ridiculous 1st period. One-timer from the crease? No problem. Breakaway chance? No worries. Adams helped weather the Sun Devils early storm. That allowed the offense to take advantage of ASU goaltender Andrew Horine. Midway through the period, Helmer threw a cross-ice pass up to the near point to Alex Hite. The defenseman sent a sliding wrister along the surface of the ice that glided past Horine inside the near post. Later, Jason Bush fired a shot from the point that missed cleanly, but bounced straight back off of the end-boards onto the stick of Helmer. "Handy" Nick Helmer finished it off with a rainbow-style shot that flipped over Horine into the goal. Then, with 13.8 seconds left in the period, Joshua Frazier found a Charlie Mach rebound and launched it top shelf to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead heading into the break. The Devils swapped goaltenders during the intermission, bringing in Scott Czarnik. Was USC the best team in that period? Probably not, but they were better where it counted.... on the scoreboard.
Period 2
Early in the period both teams came out with a head of steam. With Mach and Noah Comisar on an odd-man rush, Mach found his linemate with a pass across the low slot. Comisar finished it off to give USC a 4-goal edge. Adams continued to stand on his head almost literally, looking great even when ASU scored late in the second. He made the first two initial saves, was sprawled out on the ice long enough for the Sun Devils' Moore to finish off a goal in the top half of the net. We would hear from him again later....
Period 3
ASU had chance after chance on the powerplay for the first half of this period, but Adams and the defense held strong on the penalty kill. Eventually though, the powerplay came through for ASU. With around 6 minutes left, Moggel got a puck at the near point, and hit a slap shot towards goal. It pinballed off of several players in front and into the net. 4-2 was the score. However, two Devils penalties with 4:00 left killed off ASU's momentum. Although the Trojans couldn't score on the 5-on-3, they scored right after. Matt Lewis hit a slapshot towards goal with 1:34 left that was tipped in by Frazier for his second goal. The three-goal lead with little time remaining seemed to seal up the game. Not so. With the goaltender pulled, Joe Moore scored two goals 15 seconds apart for his hat trick. The second one left 48 seconds on the clock. Saeger had a chance to be the hero on a low breakaway, but Adams barely kept it from going through his 5-hole. It came down to the last second, but USC held on for an immeasurably huge win. As I said on the broadcast and after the game, an unnecessarily exciting victory.
Here's some news/note from the game:
- This one stat tells the story of how Phil Adams won the game for the Trojans. 56-34. That's the shot count for each team. ASU had the 56. USC had 34. Phil had 52........ 52 saves that is. He was absolutely unreal... He made saves with every part of his body he could, twisting, contorting, diving, doing everything he could to keep pucks out. These were not easy saves for Phil but he came through. Funny enough, he was up until 4:30 AM the night before and slept in until 3:30 PM today. Adams gave me a huge bear hug after the game.
- Speaking of late night antics... for a period of time last night, Adams, Keith, and Adam Kwon (all three Trojan goaltenders) were in the same bed watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
- Joshua Frazier had a clutch performance. His two goals came with less than two minutes left in the first and third periods. He had the game winner and spent the whole game in the right place at the right time. A great performance from him in his second game back on the ice.
- That second line Frazier was on looked very very good. They were responsible for 3 of the 5 Trojan goals and really seemed to be clicking. Comisar and Mach have always seemed to have chemistry (Mach had great hustle this game as well), but Frazier really completes it all as a big scoring threat.
- Michael Gawlik had a bad second period. He took 3 penalties, the last of which ASU scored on. Gawlik made up for it later with solid defensive play and a lot of big hits.
- There was an interesting situation for USC heading to the locker room after 2 periods. I'm not exactly positive if it was a scratched Division 2 or a Division 1 player, but it was definitely a player associated with ASU that confronted the Trojans. The pink blazer-wearing man jawed at the team before grabbing Scott Mason by the jersey and Jason Bush by the face mask. A scuffle ensued. The assailant was booted out of the arena with apologies from ASU's team president.
- What was the biggest difference in this USC team on the ice tonight that got them the win? Was it more physical play? Better offensive chemistry? Better play in net? All of these helped, but the biggest key was that they simply wanted it more tonight. They played with passion and desire and it got the job done. What a game.
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
Period 1
Hite - 3 (Helmer, Adler)
Helmer - 9 (Bush, Zacuto)
Frazier - 1 (Mach, Comisar)
Period 2
Comisar - 2 (Mach)
Period 3
Frazier - 2 (Lewis)
1 comment:
It's never good to give up 56 shots or struggle to hold onto a 4-0 lead. However, it's great to see the Trojans finally crack the win column in the Pac-8, especially against one of the conference's best teams. Hopefully this is a sign of whats to come!
Post a Comment