Hey everyone,
USC added talent (Alex Schauffhausen, Adam Zacuto, and Cory Adler) to last night's listless squad, but somehow more ended up being less. This was not a game. This was a surrender. Here's the recap.
Period 1
Starting goaltender Zack Keith had a shining first period, but it didn't start off that way. In the same amount of time it took them to score last night, San Jose State took a 1-0 lead early Saturday. This time it was the dangerous Mickey Rhodes bearing down from the left wing boards. He picked gloveside high corner from an awkward angle to give the Spartans an early lead. Looking for USC's offense? It was non-existent. The rink was tilted towards Keith's end of the rink and the Trojan goaltender valiantly kept the dam from breaking open. The one-goal deficit held through 20 minutes, although USC was incredibly lucky that they weren't down 3 or 4.
Period 2
San Jose State wasted no time in starting to put the contest out of reach. 34 seconds into the period, Rhodes set up Sam Cimino, who picked the same gloveside high corner from a similar angle to double the lead. Cimino returned the favor and set up Rhodes for his second goal of the night just five minutes after that. USC showed a faint glimmer of life a little more than 90 seconds later. Following an icing call, the Trojans overloaded the ice with a talented line made up of Alex Lofthus, Nick Helmer, and Adam Zacuto. Helmer worked from behind the net and found Alex Hite in the high slot. Hite's slapshot was turned aside, but Lofthus gathered the rebound for an awkward backhand at the far post. The slow shot was enough to slide in behind Spartans' goaltender Allesandro Mullane. "That was the only thing that's gone according to plan tonight," Coach Wilbur said during the second intermission. The goal seemed to just anger the Spartans. Mason Console, Jeff Malave, and Steve Stichler all scored in the last 9 minutes of the second to put the game clearly out of reach. None of them were Ketih's fault, but that didn't make them sting any less. 6-1 after 40 minutes.
Period 3
Then the Spartans just rubbed it in. Kyle Dutra sent in a Jeff Sawhill rebound to extend the lead to six on the man advantage. Two minutes after that, Richie Norris sent a perfectly placed saucer pass to Stichler for his second. Another powerplay ten minutes after that resulted in a Lathan Logan goal on another beautiful setup from Richie Vaughan. Logan finished another one off of a USC turnover less than a minute later. Just over a minute after that, Norris put USC in a 10-goal hole with a little over three minutes to go. As I mentioned, this was a game where USC flat-out surrendered, and the third period illustrated that better than any.
Some news/notes from the night:
- In four games between the two teams this year, San Jose State scored 41 goals to USC's 7. They won each game by an average of 8.5 goals. The Spartans got scoring production from each line in Saturday's game. Alex Lofthus was the only Trojan who scored all weekend. But on a positive note... oh wait, never mind.
- The type of loss shown in both games this weekend is hellacious on a team's mentality. It's one thing to be beaten by a good team but give it your all. It's another one altogether to wave the white flag and get steamrolled by that same good team. This weekend could not have come at a worse time for USC. They face a scrappy UCLA team that has given them major trouble all season long in the biggest game of the season on Thursday. They then host the Pac-8 Tournament the following weekend and will need the will to win two games in the same day if they want to advance to the finals. There isn't a whole lot of time to recover and turn things around.
- Zack Keith gave up 23 goals in his two games against the Spartans. Tonight's 11 allowed were not his fault. One of them should have arguably been disallowed as a San Jose State player appeared to be interfering with Keith in his crease. In all honesty, Keith probably had the best game out of any of the USC players.
- Mike Gawlik was gone for this game. The captain had arguably the best excuse for missing a game I've ever heard. He will be at the Super Bowl on Sunday as the Colts and Saints square off, cheering as hard as he can for his hometown Colts. Hard to not excuse that one, especially given the ridiculous reasons other players have missed games of late.
- Adam Zacuto and Alex Schauffhausen sat out the majority of the first period as punishment for missing Friday's game due to a fraternity invite.
- Coach Wilbur made it clear that no decision has been made yet on Thursday's starter for Crosstown Cup Game 5. Neither goaltender would appear to be a lock for the job. The basis for the decision, whichever way it goes, will be the most interesting part I think.
- Despite their 9-18 record on the season, it struck me that USC has done one thing particularly well this year. They are a perfect 2-0 in shootouts (although that's cancelled a bit by an 0-2 record in OT). This isn't surprising given the individual talent on this USC hockey team. In fact, that talent level is what Trojan fans can cling to in spite of the potentially bleak outlook. Unfortunately for USC, the lack of that talent's ability to show up or play effectively together has led them to a significantly subpar overall record.
- If ever there was a weekend that USC needed Clark McClanathan's heart it was this one. The lack of a good dose of Clark translated into the on-ice results.
Exciting game Thursday. Intrigue and storylines abound... the biggest of which is the Crosstown Cup going to the winner. Trojans have come back in the series (from down 0-2 to tie it 2-2) and in the last two games (down two goals in the third period of Game 3, tied the game up with 9.1 seconds remaining in Game 4). Everything on the line and it should be a rowdy crowd at Anaheim Ice when the puck drops.
OFFICIAL TROJAN SCORING
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
Lofthus - 7 (Hite)
3rd Period
NONE
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