Hey everyone,
To tell the story of USC Ice Hockey this season, some numbers matter and some numbers simply do not. Numbers that don't matter: 9-19 (regular season record), 5-8 (Pac-8 record), 6-4 (score of Crosstown Cup Game #5), #5 (USC's seed in the Pac-8 tournament), and 4 (the losing streak the Trojans entered the tournament on). Numbers that do matter: 3-0 (Pac-8 tournament record), 12.6 (seconds remaining when the championship was won), 21 (Ryder Fyrwald's number), 5-4 (the final score), and 8 (Pac-8 championships in 15 years it's been awarded). Before the game, Coach Wilbur told his team: "Those banners on the wall aren't yours. If you want a damn banner, go out and get one." Here's how they did just that:
Period 1
The one flaw of this weekend has been the first period for the Trojans. UCLA and Oregon both drew first blood around 3 and a half minutes into the game. This one was no different. The Huskies David Schulman sent a low slap shot from the blue line on net. It deflected off of Schauffhausen and slid between goaltender Phil Adams legs and just across the line. Not a great goal to allow. But the Trojans answered back with a familiar face doing the damage. Alex Lofthus grabbed the puck from a corner scrum and circled into a scoring position at the inside edge of the left faceoff circle. His first try was blocked, but the second one was on goal. Washington goaltender Danny Dougan kept it out, but parked on the doorstep was Ryder Fyrwald. The goal was Fyrwald's 6th goal of the tournament (officially 4th), and tied the game. The Huskies were unfazed despite a bit of lackluster play overall by their squad. Daniel Carson held the puck at the near point and fired at goal. Jordan Chernesky was sitting just off of the paint by the near post and sent a perfect redirection past Adams. A dagger of a goal came in the late stages of the 1st. Dan Herda muscled his way down the right wing boards and into the corner with Justin O'Neill draped all over him. Herda won the battle and passed it to All-Pac-8 forward Corey James. A one-timed slapshot later, and the Huskies doubled their lead to 3-1 with just 3.7 seconds remaining in the period.
Period 2
But USC had outplayed the Huskies in the first, they had only a two-goal deficit to show for it. Washington stepped up their game a bit in the second, but the Trojans didn't let their foot off of the accelerator. As the period wound down, Nick Helmer and Noah Comisar almost used that momentum and crowd to their advantage. They broke in 2-on-1. Helmer passed it backdoor for Comisar. The Texas product had an empty net to shoot at, but his one-time try clanged the crossbar, came straight down and bounced out. USC was undeterred. After an aggressive try to jar the puck loose following another Dougan save, Clark McClanathan and Bryce Johnson received matching minors. McClanathan demanded noise from the crowd with emphatic hand motions and it came from the packed pro-USC crowd. A "U-S-C, U-S-C" chant filled the building and the energy lifted the Trojan bench. USC's bench stood as a unit for the remainder of the game, the Huskies bench was quiet and reserved. You'd have never known that Washington had a 2-goal advantage. They had a look on their face like something bad was about to happen. Following a monumental penalty, something bad did happen to the Huskies on the 4-on-3. USC sent out 3 forwards and a defenseman with a late change. It paid immediate dividends. The draw was won back and passed to Fyrwald. The forward found Helmer with a cross-ice pass to the high slot. Helmer wristed the puck into the top of the net to slash the Huskies lead. 3-2 after two periods.
2nd Intermission
I never write about intermission speeches except in summary, but this one will go down in USC Ice Hockey history as perhaps its great coaching moment. Players told me later that it was the best speech that they'd ever heard in their playing careers. In the locker room, Coach Mark Wilbur got the team down on one knee and told them to close their eyes. What follows below is a rough transcription of what he said next (if I can get the exact quote from Wilbur I will):
Boys, here's what's going to happen. You're going to leave this locker room and tie the game up. But that won't be enough. They will score another goal. You're going to need to score another one to tie it again. And then you know what's going to happen next? You're going to go out there and TEAR THEIR (expletive)-ING HEARTS OUT!
Period 3
And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly how it happened. Five minutes into the period Adams left a puck for captain Mike Gawlik who sent an outlet pass up-ice for Fyrwald. He entered the zone left wing and swung across the offensive zone to the top of the far faceoff circle. His wrist shot fluttered following a deflection by Daniel Carson and found its way into the top half of the net. Tie hockey game. Fyrwald nearly gave USC the lead on a rush with Adam Zacuto, but he clanged the crossbar again. That miss gave the Huskies a small amount of momentum back. Alex Lofthus took a penalty midway through the period and, to Wilbur's script, Washington cashed in on the powerplay. After a scramble save, Adams fell down and out. James circled from behind the net like a hawk and got a good look at goal. He snapped a puck at Adams, who tried to pop up and stop it, but it was no use. 4-3 Washington and the Huskies had just a half of a period left to taste their first Pac-8 title. However that night was going to be a Hollywood ending, not a Seattle one. Senior Cory Adler won a draw deep in Washington's zone over to Nick Helmer. The freshman from Minnetonka did the rest. He undressed the lone Huskie defenseman and glided to the near side post with the puck on his backhand. Helmer capped the move by roofing the backhand just below the crossbar to tie the game once more with just shy of 6 minutes left. Dougan snapped his stick on the goal post in frustration. Next goal was going to win the championship. With 24 seconds remaining, Dante Caravaggio missed Lofthus on a long breakout pass for a potentially costly icing call. The draw came to Adams' right and the Huskies won it over to Corey James. For an instant it looked like the deadly Washington forward would wrist the puck home. Jason Bush had other ideas. He came across the ice to poke the puck away with a desperation effort. It came loose to Lofthus. The speedy junior grabbed the rubber and skated hard down the left wing boards. Huskie blueliner Bryce Johnson skated towards the boards to try and cut Lofthus off and got a piece of the Trojan forward. He didn't get nearly enough. Lofthus shrugged off Johnson, kept his feet moving and pulled away off of the boards in towards the left faceoff circle. He threw the puck in front to Ryder Fyrwald who was crashing the net. Fyrwald reached out his stick and pushed it triumphantly into the back of the cage. 12.6 seconds left on the clock. Anaheim Ice exploded into what was the loudest sounding cheer I've ever heard. The whole team jumped up and down and Wilbur turned beet red, he pumped his fist and pointed to the crowd. Bryce Johnson collapsed with his head and his heart in his hands. Fyrwald and Lofthus had just ripped the life out of the Huskies. The game's remaining 12.6 seconds were inconsequential but sweet nonetheless. UW never came close to getting a shot off. When the clock hit all 0's, USC was the champions for the 8th time and the party was on.
Period 1
The one flaw of this weekend has been the first period for the Trojans. UCLA and Oregon both drew first blood around 3 and a half minutes into the game. This one was no different. The Huskies David Schulman sent a low slap shot from the blue line on net. It deflected off of Schauffhausen and slid between goaltender Phil Adams legs and just across the line. Not a great goal to allow. But the Trojans answered back with a familiar face doing the damage. Alex Lofthus grabbed the puck from a corner scrum and circled into a scoring position at the inside edge of the left faceoff circle. His first try was blocked, but the second one was on goal. Washington goaltender Danny Dougan kept it out, but parked on the doorstep was Ryder Fyrwald. The goal was Fyrwald's 6th goal of the tournament (officially 4th), and tied the game. The Huskies were unfazed despite a bit of lackluster play overall by their squad. Daniel Carson held the puck at the near point and fired at goal. Jordan Chernesky was sitting just off of the paint by the near post and sent a perfect redirection past Adams. A dagger of a goal came in the late stages of the 1st. Dan Herda muscled his way down the right wing boards and into the corner with Justin O'Neill draped all over him. Herda won the battle and passed it to All-Pac-8 forward Corey James. A one-timed slapshot later, and the Huskies doubled their lead to 3-1 with just 3.7 seconds remaining in the period.
Period 2
But USC had outplayed the Huskies in the first, they had only a two-goal deficit to show for it. Washington stepped up their game a bit in the second, but the Trojans didn't let their foot off of the accelerator. As the period wound down, Nick Helmer and Noah Comisar almost used that momentum and crowd to their advantage. They broke in 2-on-1. Helmer passed it backdoor for Comisar. The Texas product had an empty net to shoot at, but his one-time try clanged the crossbar, came straight down and bounced out. USC was undeterred. After an aggressive try to jar the puck loose following another Dougan save, Clark McClanathan and Bryce Johnson received matching minors. McClanathan demanded noise from the crowd with emphatic hand motions and it came from the packed pro-USC crowd. A "U-S-C, U-S-C" chant filled the building and the energy lifted the Trojan bench. USC's bench stood as a unit for the remainder of the game, the Huskies bench was quiet and reserved. You'd have never known that Washington had a 2-goal advantage. They had a look on their face like something bad was about to happen. Following a monumental penalty, something bad did happen to the Huskies on the 4-on-3. USC sent out 3 forwards and a defenseman with a late change. It paid immediate dividends. The draw was won back and passed to Fyrwald. The forward found Helmer with a cross-ice pass to the high slot. Helmer wristed the puck into the top of the net to slash the Huskies lead. 3-2 after two periods.
2nd Intermission
I never write about intermission speeches except in summary, but this one will go down in USC Ice Hockey history as perhaps its great coaching moment. Players told me later that it was the best speech that they'd ever heard in their playing careers. In the locker room, Coach Mark Wilbur got the team down on one knee and told them to close their eyes. What follows below is a rough transcription of what he said next (if I can get the exact quote from Wilbur I will):
Boys, here's what's going to happen. You're going to leave this locker room and tie the game up. But that won't be enough. They will score another goal. You're going to need to score another one to tie it again. And then you know what's going to happen next? You're going to go out there and TEAR THEIR (expletive)-ING HEARTS OUT!
Period 3
And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly how it happened. Five minutes into the period Adams left a puck for captain Mike Gawlik who sent an outlet pass up-ice for Fyrwald. He entered the zone left wing and swung across the offensive zone to the top of the far faceoff circle. His wrist shot fluttered following a deflection by Daniel Carson and found its way into the top half of the net. Tie hockey game. Fyrwald nearly gave USC the lead on a rush with Adam Zacuto, but he clanged the crossbar again. That miss gave the Huskies a small amount of momentum back. Alex Lofthus took a penalty midway through the period and, to Wilbur's script, Washington cashed in on the powerplay. After a scramble save, Adams fell down and out. James circled from behind the net like a hawk and got a good look at goal. He snapped a puck at Adams, who tried to pop up and stop it, but it was no use. 4-3 Washington and the Huskies had just a half of a period left to taste their first Pac-8 title. However that night was going to be a Hollywood ending, not a Seattle one. Senior Cory Adler won a draw deep in Washington's zone over to Nick Helmer. The freshman from Minnetonka did the rest. He undressed the lone Huskie defenseman and glided to the near side post with the puck on his backhand. Helmer capped the move by roofing the backhand just below the crossbar to tie the game once more with just shy of 6 minutes left. Dougan snapped his stick on the goal post in frustration. Next goal was going to win the championship. With 24 seconds remaining, Dante Caravaggio missed Lofthus on a long breakout pass for a potentially costly icing call. The draw came to Adams' right and the Huskies won it over to Corey James. For an instant it looked like the deadly Washington forward would wrist the puck home. Jason Bush had other ideas. He came across the ice to poke the puck away with a desperation effort. It came loose to Lofthus. The speedy junior grabbed the rubber and skated hard down the left wing boards. Huskie blueliner Bryce Johnson skated towards the boards to try and cut Lofthus off and got a piece of the Trojan forward. He didn't get nearly enough. Lofthus shrugged off Johnson, kept his feet moving and pulled away off of the boards in towards the left faceoff circle. He threw the puck in front to Ryder Fyrwald who was crashing the net. Fyrwald reached out his stick and pushed it triumphantly into the back of the cage. 12.6 seconds left on the clock. Anaheim Ice exploded into what was the loudest sounding cheer I've ever heard. The whole team jumped up and down and Wilbur turned beet red, he pumped his fist and pointed to the crowd. Bryce Johnson collapsed with his head and his heart in his hands. Fyrwald and Lofthus had just ripped the life out of the Huskies. The game's remaining 12.6 seconds were inconsequential but sweet nonetheless. UW never came close to getting a shot off. When the clock hit all 0's, USC was the champions for the 8th time and the party was on.
Postgame
The dogpile hit Adams moments later and sticks and gloves littered the rink surface. Fans streamed onto the ice before management kicked them off. After things settled down and the handshakes were over, captain Michael Gawlik lifted the championship trophy high. Fyrwald received the MVP plaque for his 8 goal (officially 6) performance. As the team got ready to head to the locker room to continue celebrating, the referees initially directed USC to the rink door at the other end of the ice, away from a loving mob of fans ready to welcome them off the ice. Pac-8 executive director Chris Soriano intervened and USC made the happiest walk back to the locker room of their playing careers, through the excited throng of Trojan fans. One particularly sour note was the missing Champion's Cup, the Pac-8's version of the Stanley Cup. In an utterly classless move by the Oregon Ducks and sheer incompetence by league staff, the trophy was nowhere to be found. It was either on the bus with Oregon as the dethroned defending champions limped home to Eugene with their tail between their legs or was never at the tournament at all in a show of immense arrogance by the top-seeded Ducks. Either way, an unthinkable mistake by the league and a horrendous show of sportsmanship. But even that couldn't dampen Trojan spirits and the exuberant celebration echoed on and on.
Some news and notes from the game:
- In the 6 games Ryder Fyrwald played this season, USC was 5-1. Fyrwald scored 11 goals in those contests. He had an unofficial hat trick in the semifinals and an official one in the championship. Can you imagine how different the season would've been with the talented junior playing full time? Another fun fact. Fyrwald's performance in the title game was on the day before his birthday.
- USC outplayed the Washington nearly the whole contest. They fed off of the energy in the building. Some unfortunate bounces added to the drama and set up the comeback effort (something the Trojans had to do in all 3 tournament games), but the Trojans would not be denied. They went through the #4, #1, and #2 seeds to win the title.
- It's the second year that Washington has had their hearts ripped out by a rival. They lost 4-3 to arch-rival Oregon last year. They avenged those losses by winning the I-5 Cup (which Oregon also conveniently forgot the night it was won). However, the great season ends in dissapointment again. They're still without a title. Don't worry Huskies fans, they'll be back.
- The Trojans had revenge on their mind. UW came from down 3 goals to upset the Trojans in the semifinals last season. It was a gut check to a Trojan team that had made the Pac-8 finals for 3 years running. Maybe USC gave Oregon a similar gut check this season?
- The ghost of the Mickey Meyer incident in 2007 is gone and the shadow from that unfortunate occurence in Utah has been lifted.
- Although this was not the Miracle on Ice, there are some parallels. Oregon was the league's Russia for the last two seasons. Dominant and unrelenting. USC took them down in the semifinals in comeback fashion. Washington was the Finland that the Trojans needed to topple for the hardware, and they did so with another come-from-behind effort.
- Two turning points happened to make this title possible. One was the scrimmage on Monday. It lifted the team's spirits and made them forget the 4-game losing streak. Two was the Clark McClanathan bringing the crowd into the game full force during the second period. They truly were the 7th man, and they were roused by the unmatched enthusiasm of #7.
- Credit goaltender Phil Adams for maintaining his composure. His first period was frustrating and he could have easily lost his head. He didn't and only allowed one goal the remaining 40 minutes. The sweetest back-to-back wins of his playing career.
- Previously, no team seeded lower than 2 had ever won the league championship.
- There were times during the frustrating regular season Coach Wilbur appeared to be close to quitting. But he stuck things out, and I'm not sure USC wins if he's not behind the bench. Three specific coaching moves he, and Coaches Ramirez and Langille made stick out in my mind. The second intermission speech, the late substitution of Alex Schaffhausen for Nick Helmer before the second period goal, and moving O'Neill to forward after his defensive pairing was -3 in the first. This kind of a win has rekindled his love for Trojan hockey I'm sure.
- The core offensive players on this team are all eligible to return except for Cory Adler. The defense will take a big hit however as several goaltenders and blueliners are all a semester away from graduating. However one thing sure to return is the swagger that comes with hanging a banner.
- This game was my final one after 4 years behind the microphone for USC Ice Hockey. The team couldn't have sent me out on a better note. It's been an honor, a pleasure, and a joy to watch this team over my USC career. I'm glad it all ended on such a high moment. I'll remember this game and this team forever.
Fight on!
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
1st Period
Fyrwald - 7 (Lofthus)
2nd Period
Helmer - 21 (Fyrwald)
3rd Period
Fyrwald - 8 (Gawlik, Adams)
Helmer - 22 (Adler)
Fyrwald - 9 (Lofthus, Caravaggio)
2 comments:
Truly an awesome game. It was right up there with the Trojans' win over Oregon in the PAC-8 championship three years ago. My voice was pretty hoarse today from all the yelling and cheering I did last night.
Alex, it's really bittersweet to see you leave. It was always great to hear your play-by-play when I'd tune into the broadcasts, and I've read all of the game summaries here on the blog this season. I guess it's fitting that you're going out on such a high note. Thanks so much, and I'm sure that you're going to have a great career ahead of you.
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