Hey everyone,
It's been no secret this season that USC has had a poor record when it comes to games this season. 9-17 overall, 5-8 in the Pac-8. But as bad as that is, they have one record that's even worse. Their attendance. Missing in action Friday night for varying reasons with varying degrees of legitimacy: Adam Zacuto, Ryder Fyrwald, Alex Schauffhausen, Cory Adler, Joshua Frazier, and Clark McClanathan. With fifth ranked San Jose State in town, not having all hands on deck made a difficult task nearly impossible.
Period 1
It only took 3 and a half minutes for that to become clear. Following a nice play by Jason Bush, his defensive partner Dante Caravaggio gave the puck away. The Spartans' productive first line hopped on the opportunity and Mickey Rhodes fed Andy Dickerson for a one-time goal. 7 minutes later, San Jose State took advantage of their first powerplay chance of the night. Mason Console sent a shot into a scrum of players in front of USC netminder Phil Adams. Blueliner Jeff Sawhill found it and drained the shot for a 2 zip Spartan lead. Meanwhile, USC registered only 4 shots on goal the entire period to San Jose State's 20. As the clock ticked under a minute, Steve Stichler broke into USC's territory on a breakaway. His first shot rang off of Adams mask and popped back out to Robbie Vaughan. Adding insult to injury, Vaughan made it 3-0 late. In all fairness, it should have been worse as a clearly scored top-shelf Spartan goal popped out as quickly as it went in and wasn't counted. One of the ugliest periods of hockey all season for USC.
Period 2
Things got better quickly in the second. Starting the period on the powerplay, Nick Helmer quickly rushed in and wristed a shot on goal. Spartans' goaltender Caleb Murray kicked it out with the pad, but Alex Lofthus was hungry for the rebound and stuffed it five-hole just 19 seconds into the period. That was as close as USC got. 90 seconds later, Spartan Richie Norris found a puck sitting on his stick right next to the near post following a funny ricochet. Unfortunately for the Trojans, neither Adams nor anyone else on the ice knew about it. Norris fired the rubber past a clearly unaware Adams for the quick answering goal. Shortly thereafter, Stichler broke in on a low breakaway. Adams was too far back in his net, and nowhere close to the near post side that Stichler was coming in from. Stichler's easy top corner goal made it 5-1 SJSU. Later in the period, Lofthus used another powerplay to get another second period goal. This time he creeped along the left goalline and used a small deke to open enough daylight to squeeze another puck into the net. The 2-2 second period still left USC in a 3-goal hole, but things had most definitely improved.
Period 3
But the improvement was limited to the second period. 44 seconds into the third period, San Jose State closed the door. Andy Dickerson ripped a shot past Adams to crush any thoughts of a comeback. The dam didn't completely break, however. USC and San Jose State each held their ground defensively until the final minute. Then came a pair of demoralizing goals. On a late powerplay, Jeff Sawhill absolutely hammered a slapshot between Adams' legs with 48 ticks left on the clock. James Lopez broke into the zone 34 seconds after that. The defense forced him wide to the right wing boards. Lopez sent in a bad-angled prayer of a wristshot. Somehow, Adams let it by. The scoreboard changed from 7-2 to 8-2 and Adams threw the puck to center ice in frustration. A backbreaking way to end a hockey game.
Some news and notes from the contest:
- San Jose State isn't just talented, they're also deep. 7 different goal scorers filled up the scoresheet for the Spartans. Only Dickerson scored twice. Three goals were scored by the third line. Just about every player seems to be fast, and all three lines should have scored at some point.
- Aggregated over three games, the Spartans are beating the Trojans 30-6. In his two games against them, Phil Adams has given up a combined 18 goals. In his last two starts, Adams has allowed a combined 16 goals. He may, in fact, be behind Zack Keith on the depth chart after sloppy back-to-back games. Keith may determine a lot of that with his start on Saturday.
- Max Ernst made his return following a very legitimate off-ice illness. It was great to see him back out there.
- Shawn Ahern made an impression in his third USC game. He plays a similar game to Scott Mason's. Very physical.
- The first line was shuffled multiple times during the game as it has all season. The initial Cardinal line was Max Szentveri, Nick Helmer, and Alex Lofthus. I'm not sure if USC has played with the same starting line in consecutive games since a few games into the season. I'm no hockey player, but I think that might have a little to do with the lack of chemistry on the ice.
- USC's locker room has a dangerously conciliatory mindset right now. This team's championship game could be Thursday in Crosstown Cup Game #5, and not February 20th. The Trojans have three regular season games left to prove that they have higher aspirations.
Trojans get another crack at San Jose State tomorrow. If the trend of losing by 2 less each time to the Spartans holds, USC will lose 6-2 tomorrow (12-2 first game, 10-2 second game, 8-2 third game....). Whether they do or not is entirely up to them.
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
Lofthus - 5 (Helmer, Comisar) PP
Lofthus - 6 (Comisar) PP
3rd Period
NONE
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