After a 5-2 victory against UCLA the night prior, the three seed Oregon club hockey team took on the top seeded No. 15 Arizona State University Sun Devils where they fell 5-1. The loss meant elimination for the Oregon Ducks as ASU moved on to the Pac-8 Championship against the reigning champs, the No. 5 Utah Utes.
Near immediately after the game got underway, the first penalty of the game was earned. ASU forward Soloman Mabry committed a cross-checking penalty. 45 seconds later, Mabry was joined in the box by defensemen Frank Hughes on a delayed call for high-sticking.
Oregon had the two-man advantage for over a minutes 16 seconds, then the one-man for 45 seconds, but was unable to convert despite the high traffic in front of the ASU goal.
A few minutes later, the chippyness continued. After a scrum in front of the Oregon net following a shot by a Sun Devil, each team sent one of its own to the penalty box. 4-on-4 hockey ensued.
Tyler Halverson came into the box for interference making it a brief 4-on-3 game in favor of ASU. Although nothing came of the ASU power play, it wasn’t long until there were consequences for the plethora of penalties.
Oregon defenseman Chris Stankeivicz committed a penalty for holding while an ASU forward was charging toward the net with the puck. On a shot that was debatedly made while offsides, Mabry put the puck in the back of the net for Arizona State, giving the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.
The second period had a few legitimate scoring chances for Oregon, but otherwise ASU had control over the game.
Just over five minutes in, Ryan Schwarzer scored ASU’s second of the night and extended its lead to two. The goal was his third of playoffs.
Oregon once again earned an ill-timed penalty and found themselves on the penalty kill. Luckily for the ducks, chance was on their side this time. Sun Devils goaltender David Aman gave away a turnover that Alex Sulitzer immediately picked up and put in the twine for a shorthanded goal.
ASU didn’t allow its lead to be brought down to one. Later in the period, Connor McBride got his strick tangled with another player’s in a race for the puck, then shoved the ASU player back down as he was trying to get up. The move drew a roughing call, which the Sun Devils capitalized on to score the final goal of the period.
The period ended 3-1, Arizona State. The Ducks were being out-shot 38-20.
The final two goals were scored in the third and came in quick succession.
First Jake Morganstern logged an even-strength goal for the Sun Devils. Right afterward, Oregon freshman Nick Sciabarra delivered a late hit to the forward and sent him into the boards. It resulted in a small scrum to the side of Oregon net as well as a roughing penalty against Sciabarra.
In the play that followed, ASU’s Steven Casaceli scored the fifth and final goal of the game with a shot that went over the shoulder of Ducks goalie Danny Cockriel. Less than half a period remained and Oregon was down 5-1.
The score stayed untouched as the game ended and Oregon was eliminated.
The Ducks ended with a regular-season record of 13-9, with 8-6 in the Pac-8. They were 1-1 in the Pac-8 tournament.
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on February 8, 2014]