The boys were chippy Saturday night.
Oregon was looking to win the fourth and final game of the Portland State series during their second home game in a row against the Vikings. Win they did. With a 5-1 score at the end, Oregon swept PSU for the second year in a row.
The win didn’t come too easily for the Ducks, however. With tensions still high from the night before and Portland having something to prove, the play was rough and tough.
The first period was relatively tame compared to the remainder of the game. Oregon’s Nick Sciabarra scored the only goal just five minutes into the power play. The goal was followed by some big hits from Michael Luke and Stephen Casey on Vikings defensemen Charlie Kaser and Josh Powell.
It wasn’t until five minutes remained that the game’s toughness showed. A scuffle took place which sent Luke into the box on a minor for charging along with teammate Matt Ackman on a double-minor for roughing. Portland State’s Kaser was charged with roughing, as well.
The buzzer ended the period, but that wasn’t the end of play. Behind the PSU net, more shoving took place and Noah Dolinajec of Portland State was given a roughing penalty to be served at the beginning of the second period.
Oregon started the second period on a power play and took advantage of the extra man. Casey scored Oregon’s second goal of the game.
After a few saves from Portland’s goalie and a few hard hits from both teams, Sciabarra and Kaser seemed ready to drop the gloves for another skirmish near the Oregon goal while the play continued on the other end of the ice.
“This was when he was giving me some two-hand slashes to the ankles,” Sciabarra said. “He was telling me to drop ‘em, but I’m not a selfish player. I knew if I dropped my gloves, I’d be thrown out and he wouldn’t. It would’ve hurt the team and only helped him.”
Even though the gloves weren’t dropped and a fight didn’t break out, captain Tyler Halverson lay Kaser out on a hip check 50 seconds later.
“I don’t even recall,” Halverson said about the check. “It wasn’t intentional. I just see bodies out there and it’s my job to go and hit them. When I’m on the ice, the whole entire game is just kind of a blur. I don’t know the numbers that I’m hitting. It’s just my job and I’ve been doing it for years and years and years and years.”
After a few more penalties on both teams, Luke got Oregon’s third goal of the game after shooting it off the back of the goalie. With 1:24 left on the clock, Oregon had extended their lead to 3-0.
Even with little time remaining, the period didn’t end there. With two seconds left, PSU earned themselves a slashing penalty, meaning they’d start the third period on the penalty kill once again.
The third period appeared to be calmer than the previous two. It wasn’t until seven and a half minutes passed that the first series of whistles were blown for boarding against PSU, PSU’s first goal, a hooking penalty against Oregon and then a call for unsportsmanlike conduct against Portland State’s Josh Powell.
Halverson and Alex Sulitzer scored the last two goals for Oregon. The game had less than five minutes remaining and the majority of the roughness had only just begun.
“Kid had his head down,” Luke said. “He was going for a pass and I stepped in and took him out. I turned around and another kid was coming for me and I dropped my gloves and tried to go, but the refs came in too fast.”
The hit led to Luke’s ejection of the game for a game misconduct along with a five-minute major penalty for charging which was served by Jake Yale. Eric Spence of PSU earned a game misconduct for the fight that transpired after the play.
Within the next two minutes, Yale was joined in the penalty box by Terran Donnelly for tripping and Halverson for roughing while the visitor’s box was filled with a player for a double-minor boarding call and another for holding. While the boxes were being filled, Kaser got ejected for Portland with only a minute to go.
Even though the game ended with as many guys in the box as on the ice, Halverson believes that they weren’t overly physical.
“I encourage the players to be physical, but smart,” he said. “There’s a time and a place to be physical. For instance, at the end of the game when that kid came down on our goalie. We’re not going to let anything fly in front of our net because it’s our goalie. We only have one or two of them. We can’t afford to lose any of them. We’re going to protect them. Those are smart plays. Like I said, there’s a time and a place for physicality.”
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on November 2, 2013]