The Oregon club hockey team easily handled the first two games of the Portland State series this weekend, ending their homestand with 5-3 and 9-0 wins on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“There was definitely an improvement,” said goaltender Trevor Peterson of the second night compared to the first. “I think that PSU may not have played as well [the second night], but we also looked a lot better and a lot cleaner. We were a lot faster.”
For the second night in a row, Oregon club hockey faced off against the Washington Huskies for game 2 of its annual I-5 Cup series. In what usually are close games — last year’s cup was determined by a shootout after splitting the four-game series — the Ducks sailed through the Huskies’ defense, winning the two games 9-3 and 7-2.
Dan Sulitzer has played ice hockey for 20 years. His brother, Alex, has played for 17. However, despite both having played since the age of 5, they’ve never played together.
At least, until now.
Dan and Alex wanted to change the fact that they had never been on the same team, so late in the summer of 2012, they made a pact: they would both attend the University of Oregon and play for the Oregon club hockey team together in the fall.
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.
Three seed Oregon took on six seed UCLA for the first game of the Pac-8 playoffs held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Ducks emerged victorious with a 5-2 win over the Bruins.
The win over the Bruins means that the Ducks will be facing the No. 15 Arizona State Sun Devils, the top seed in Pool B, tomorrow night for a spot in the Pac-8 Championship, where the Ducks had fallen to Utah the year prior.
At the beginning of the year, things were looking grim for Oregon club hockey.
The team was $13,000 in debt and risked having the plug pulled on their season.
Things needed to change.
Even though it was their last two games before playoffs, the Oregon club hockey team had their focus elsewhere. For seven seniors, it would be their last home games as Oregon Ducks and, for some, their last competitive ice hockey games period. For these two nights against the College of the Canyons Cougars, the number on the board didn’t matter as much as playing with friends and playing for fans and family.
His entire life revolved around hockey. That is, until music came along.
Music took a hold of senior Connor McBride’s life after he left The Hill School, a preparatory boarding school in Pennsylvania with a rigorous hockey program.
“Playing hockey there is like playing football here,” McBride said.
Friday night’s game—which gave the Oregon club hockey team a 2-1 lead in the series against the University of Washington—didn’t fit the typical mold of I-5 Cup games. Usually the games between the two rival hockey clubs are fast-paced, with both teams having piles of penalties along with a few points each on the board.
This game, the third game of the series, was the reverse.
When you ask an ice hockey player where he learned to play, the answer is rarely Nipomo, Calif.
The reason? There’s no place to play.
Many ice hockey hopefuls had to head to other cities like Bakersfield or Oxnard, both two hours away.
But senior Trevor Peterson — now a goaltender for the Oregon club ice hockey team — didn’t start on ice skates. He began on roller blades.