All Jared Gruen planned to do was watch. He never thought he’d actually put on the uniform.

Two months ago, the UO senior came to club a fencing practice to visit his long-time friend, team coordinator Holly Bishop, along his girlfriend Kristen Shafer, who had joined the team in the fall.

“He came to practice one day, and I was like, ‘Jared, go put on a uniform,’” Shafer said.

Gruen resisted at first.

Although he didn’t suit up that day, he made his way to the equipment closet during the following practices, dug out a uniform and entered the practice room.

“I was getting ready to have a lesson with Adam (the coach),” Shafer said. “He (Jared) walked in, had a uniform on, and was like, ‘Are you happy?’ I was ecstatic.”

Even though his first experience as a fencer happened somewhat begrudgingly, Gruen eventually ended up enamored with the sport.

“My girlfriend pestered me to try it,” Gruen said. “Then I thought, ‘Hey, this is kind of fun and it’s good exercise. I can see myself doing this.’”

Gruen added that he has never really been athletic but there was just something about fencing that kept him interested.

“There’s really no other sport that gives you a sword and let’s you duel,” he said.

Casual participation eventually turned into something more and Gruen fostered a desire to improve.

“My personal perspective on it is that if I’m going to be doing this, I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ who’s the worst person in the club,” Gruen said. “I don’t want to be losing every bout. I want to get better at it.”

He’s been making strides. Gruen attends every practice and seeks improvement through one-on-one lessons. Gruen praised his coach, Adam, for his development.

“He (Adam) has a lot of knowledge to offer,” he said. “If I can just learn one thing from him, that’d be great. Just one thing every lesson.”

“At this point, I’d benefit from learning anything,” Gruen said. “With (me) not knowing much, his best judgement — that’s good for me! Whatever he thinks I’d benefit from.”

Gruen says that with lessons and fencing in bouts regularly, he is seeing significant improvement.

“I’ve started winning most of my bouts now and a lot of it comes from how I score the points,” he said.

His eagerness to learn isn’t going unnoticed. Bishop — who typically works with new members — is thrilled that he’s taken an interest in fencing as a sport instead of only the social aspects of being in the club.

“It makes my heart really, really happy when a beginner takes their own initiative and says, ‘Hey, Adam. I want a lesson with you,’” Bishop said. “That just makes me over-the-moon happy. Especially if they do it a couple time a week — that means that they want to become a better fencer and that’s what the club is about.”

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– The Oregon club rugby team hands out bullets after games to those who contributed to the game in ways that might not be seen on a stat sheet. The tradition started in the late ’90s and is still upheld as a way to motivate players and to recognize the ones who made big hits, tackles or were a presence on the field.

– Yesterday, Oregon football tight end Pharaoh Brown discussed last December’s snowball fight, the incident which led to his Alamo Bowl suspension as well as the much media attention. The video of the fight went viral, with CBS, ESPN, the Washington Post and even TMZ featuring the story.

– Oregon baseball defeated the Portland Pilots 8-2 Tuesday night for their home opener. Their success that night started with 6 runs in the first inning alone. Starting pitcher Jeff Gold was relieved by Porter Clayton, who pitched two perfect innings. Clayton’s performance won him the starting position for this Sunday’s game against Cal State Fullerton.

– Oregon men’s basketball won 87-83 in double over-time against UCLA Thursday night. After losing their six-point lead with 24 seconds left in, criticism for the Ducks’ ability to close out games is still going on. UCLA played without their top two scorers, Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson, due to suspension.

– It is likely that Oregon distance runner Edward Cheserek will double at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Cheserek was the NCAA cross country champion last fall and will run the 3,000m at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships held at the University of Washington’s Dempsey Indoor Facility tomorrow. In the 3,000, Cheserek will be joined by other Oregon runners Trevor Dunbar, Chris Brewer, Parker Stinson, Cole Watson, Daniel Winn and Matthew Melancon, though Winn and Melancon will participate in the first session of the race while the others will participate in the second.

– Oregon associate director for athletic medicine Kim Terrell scrutinized the NCAA’s Football Rules Committee proposal of prohibiting snapping the ball within 10 seconds. She calls the rule “illogical” in the context of player safety and believes that in order to make football safer, how kickoffs are run needs to change.

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Dan Sulitzer has played ice hockey for 20 years. His brother, Alex, has played for 17. Although both have played hockey 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.

They each had a few reasons for attending UO. Dan, after graduating UC Berkley in 2011, decided that he wanted to go back to school. Alex, who had been playing with the Seattle Jr. Totems at the time, had a close friend who also planned to enroll.

The deciding factor, however, was each other.

“At Oregon I’m taking the requirements for medical school,” Dan said. “But more specifically, the reason why I decided to come here was we agreed that this was a good fit for Alex and it would be fun to play on a hockey team together.”

There was just one catch in their plan. Even though they both made the team as forwards last year, Dan dropped back to fill holes on defense. The brothers were still separated.

But this year, things were different.

“It was tryouts when they were put together,” senior Stephen Casey, their current linemate, said. “I think it was right then and there we knew, ‘Why didn’t we put these brothers together before?’”

The chemistry was undeniable. Dan quickly moved back to his original position as a forward and the two brothers were put on the top line together. It may have been the first time they had ever played as a unit, but they were unquestionably in sync.

“It’s second nature and it’s not a big deal, at least for us,” Dan said. “People watching the game, they say, ‘Oh, that’s a great pass,’ but we’re just so used to knowing where each other are that it’s just normal.”

“That’s just how we play,” Alex said.

Pairing the two have yielded phenomenal results. The Sulitzers and Casey had one of the most productive lines this season. By the last game, Alex led the team in points while Casey was a close third. Dan, who spent part of the season injured, still had the seventh-most points on team.

Despite their results, they say their success didn’t come all that easily.

“We’re not natural goal-scorers,” Alex said. “We’re both playmakers, so there’s probably more passing than there should be, but we’ve worked on trying to score goals.”

Their stats prove their hard work paid off. The two are ending the season on a high-note, which they’re thankful for because, while Alex still has another year left, this was Dan’s last.

“It’s always nice to go out on a bang with him,” Dan said. “It’ll be nice that my last official competitive hockey will be playing with him, so it’s something I’ll always remember.”

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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.

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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.

It’ll be tough for the Ducks to get into the finals though. Yesterday Arizona State beat UCLA in a 13-1 blowout and the Sun Devils hold a perfect 12-0 Pac-8 record. Oregon ended the season 8-6 in the Pac-8.

The first period between Oregon and UCLA was relatively eventless. Despite outshooting the Bruins 22 to 5, the period was scoreless with a lone penalty against Oregon’s Michael Luke for holding and only a few solid hits from either team.

The second period was when the majority of the action happened.

After an early goal by Oregon forward Patrick Sgarlata on the rebound, the Ducks found themselves up with the lead they should have had in the previous period. The point advantage was short lived, though, as a Bruin quickly tied it up for  UCLA.

35 seconds later, the Bruins committed a penalty for interference and found themselves heading to the box. The penalty was costly. Halfway through the UCLA penalty kill, Dan Sulitzer reclaimed the Oregon lead by picking up a rebound from a slapshot by Tyler Halverson.

After two tripping calls, one for each team, the Ducks found themselves back on the power play. The opportunity gave them their third goal of the night as Stephen Casey was able to convert their extra man into another point.

The Bruins had their chance with a power play of their own when Matthew Ackman was issued a slashing call, but they remained 0-for-4 on the PP.

Oregon got its final goal of the period a few minutes after returning to even strength. Connor McBride put one past the goalie after a beautiful pass from Trevor McCarty.

The period ended 4-1 in favor of the Ducks with Oregon once again quadrupling the number of shots on goal by UCLA.

As Oregon goalie Danny Cockriel seeing little action in his own zone, the Ducks decided to switch him out for alternate Trevor Peterson for the third period.

UCLA earned the first goal of the period on a breakaway. As Peterson came out of the net to poke check the puck from the rapidly approaching Bruins player, the Bruin swiveled around Peterson’s stick and lobbed it into the essentially unmanned goal.

UCLA had brought its goal tally up to two where it would stay for the rest of the game.

Soon the game was in its final minutes and the Bruins pulled their goalie to gain the extra man. It was useless, though, as Michael Luke finished off the game with an empty netter for Oregon.

The loss meant elimination for UCLA.

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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.

When current team coordinator Patrick Sgarlata approached team photographer at the time, Conner Gordon, about their financial crisis, Gordon was all ears.

“I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m here with you. I’ll take this (debt) on as a project,’” Gordon said.

In addition to helping the club with fundraising efforts, Gordon came up with the idea to restart and revamp the live broadcast in order to bring some publicity — and money — to the team.

There was just one problem. They didn’t have any gear.

While Sgarlata and Gordon chipped in some of their own money for equipment, the team solicited donations from family in order to get the feed up and running on Ustream.

They came back with unexpected and extraordinary results.

A parent of one of the players was interested in helping get the broadcast on its feet. After a few emails between him and Gordon, an agreement was reached and $10,000 was donated to the team for the sole purpose of the broadcast.

“I could tell from corresponding with Conner by email and talking to him that he really had a clear vision,” Rob Burgess, who made the donation, said. “He knew what he wanted. It was well researched. He was going to make it happen, so I felt very good about (donating).”

Burgess had a few reasons for contributing to the team.

“I wanted to watch Brock (his son) play and I’m always looking for opportunities to give back,” he said. “I figured there were a lot of hockey families that would like to watch their kid play hockey, including family members of mine up in Canada. I thought it (donating) was a good thing to do.”

It isn’t only family members tuning into the broadcast, though. Ducks hockey alumni have also frequented the stream.

“I’m living with another ex-teammate, Matt Hanlon, and we like to catch up on what our team is doing and see how they’re performing this year,” former Ducks hockey goalie Kyle Adamson said. “It’s good to see and it brings back the nostalgia of playing for the team.”

People all over the nation are following the games like Adamson has from Orange County, Calif. The stream has boasted viewers from over 10 states and Canada.

Though a diverse audience shows how much the broadcast has grown, what’s important is that the original plan to increase attendance has succeeded. Recently the the team recorded a season high at Lane County Ice: roughly 310 people.

But numbers aside, Gordon is just glad people finally can support their team from afar.

“Something that’s just spectacular is going to away games and having people … say, ‘Thank you guys so much. I can now watch my kids play. I can watch my team play and without you I wouldn’t have been able to do that,’” he said. “That’s more satisfying than the attendance or viewership.”

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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.

“It’s always nice having my parents here,” senior Oregon forward Stephen Casey said. “I always happen to try a little bit harder when they’re here, so it’s nice to have them.”

The first game against the Division 3 Cougars was a blowout. The Ducks, who had significantly more players than the California school, took it home 13-1 with freshman Ty Anderton in goal.

“(Starting these games) definitely does mean a lot,” Anderton said. “I understand not playing against UW because that was definitely a tough series in the I-5 Cup and I’m the freshman goalie … but it was nice to get back out on the ice, especially for the last couple of home games.”

Oregon won the second game 8-1 with seniors being responsible for all but one goal, which was only fitting on seniors night. Senior Trevor Peterson also got his turn in the Ducks net.

After an early goal two minutes into the second game by COC defenseman Tyler Nizinski, the Ducks took over and never looked back.

Oregon’s Connor McBride scored the first goal for the Ducks and the first goal of what would eventually become a hat trick for the 22-year-old forward.

Just over 6 minutes later, the Ducks’ captain followed suit. From the blue line, Tyler Halverson fired off a rocket that cleanly found its way to the back of the net. Then, to end the first, defenseman Nick Kuehl dangled around Cougars goalie Taiyoh London to get the third and final goal for the Ducks.

The second period had two more goals. Stephen Casey, who eventually had a two-goal, two-assist night, scored on the Ducks power play while COC defenseman Mason Yuen sat for a hooking call. McBride got his second of the game with assists from Patrick Sgarlata and Trevor McCarty. For both Sgarlata and McCarty, it was their second assist of the game.

The pair of goals were punctuated by a chain of big hits in neutral ice. Oregon forward Pat Taylor crunched defenseman Jonathan Shin. Forward Matthew Ackman immediately did the same to COC’s Edward Trogdon, and then Oregon defenseman Nick Kuehl checked forward Tommy Pang into the boards.

The third was more of the same. Both Casey and McBride scored another set of goals, McCarty got his third assist and Alex Sulitzer got two assists of his own, one of which came on the final goal of the game made by grad student Dan Sulitzer.

“It was kind of an emotional game,” Casey said. “Last home game. I think it went well. [I got] a couple points, so that’s the perfect way to end it. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Once the final buzzer sounded and the players shook hands, the Ducks started their second task of the night — “Skate with the Ducks”. In an effort to give back to the fans, the Ducks hosted an open skate where anyone who bought admission to the game could rent a pair of skates for free and join the team on the ice.

“It’s very important for the players to interact with the fans,” Oregon head coach Rich Salahor said of event. “It shows appreciation back to the fans who come in and support the team and it’s great to see the smile on the kids’ faces when they get to go out there and the boys pay attention to them. It’s great all the way around.”

While some players pushed fans and each other around the ice in chairs, others slowly skated around the rink with their parents or friends. Some skated from group to group, saying hello and introducing themselves. No matter how the time was spent, smiles could be seen all around.

“When we connect like this with the fans, we get a chance to interact,” Ducks forward Patrick Taylor said. “They get to know us and we get to know them a little better. … It’s a fun, good way to end the regular season.”

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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.

For Connor, leaving The Hill School and returning to Oregon meant giving up pursuing hockey seriously — and the change was anything but easy for him.

“For my entire life, I was a hockey player,” McBride said. “That’s how I thought of myself. But when I came back from boarding school, I decided that I wasn’t hockey player anymore. I was just a guy who plays hockey.”

Although it was difficult at the time for him to come to terms with the switch, it opened the door to where he is now. In his new-found free time, McBride decided to pick up the guitar after a four-year break. Soon after that, he combined his love for guitar and his love for poetry, and began writing his own songs. Then he started to sing them.

Within the last few years, his love for playing and composing songs has only grown.

“It’s been in the last two and a half years that I’ve probably been playing guitar too much,” he said, only somewhat jokingly. “I play guitar so much all day and then I stay up studying all night because I forgot to do my homework. It’s actually taking over my life.”

His devotion isn’t at all surprising to those who know him well.

“He was a very young guy, but he was really intense,” said Jerry Salas, McBride’s first guitar teacher. “He always had a very serious look on his face when he was learning, and I could tell he was very serious about it.”

“He was totally committed to learning and you could see he was having fun doing it as well,” he added.

McBride’s sincere love for music hasn’t only affected his own life.

“He does inspire me,” Connor’s mother, Tina McBride, said. “The depth of soul that he has in music is the way he is in life. (His passion) always reminds me that a person needs to be grounded and needs to feel their way through life as much as they think their way through life.”

And Connor is following his heart on this one. After college, he plans on getting a job involving what he loves.

“What I want to do is be something,” McBride said. “I don’t want to just be me. I want to be me who does something important, who does something special.”

For him, that something special is music.

“Playing music makes (people) happy and that makes me happy,” McBride said. “I’m the kind of person who wants to make other people happy and since I love playing music, that’s just a win-win in my book.”

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It was a rough night at the Lane County Ice Center for Oregon club hockey.

After losing 3-2 in an extremely penalty-riddled Game 4, thereby splitting the four-game series, Oregon and Washington turned to a five-man shootout to determine who would ultimately take home the I-5 Cup.

The Ducks were unable to score in the shootout. Washington got two in.

Although the Ducks were the victors last year, the Huskies held the Cup in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and they were thrilled to bring it back North.

“We’re pretty pumped,” said Huskies defenseman Jason Bartlett, who scored the series-winning shootout goal. “It feels good. I’m a senior so we had it the first two years that I played, but we lost it last year so I’m happy to get it back.”

The first period of the game seemed hopeful for the Ducks. Compared to the previous night, the energy level was up and Dan Sulitzer — with an assist by Stephen Casey — gave the Ducks an early lead less than three minutes in.

Then the physicality picked up. Oregon’s Michael Luke had his first big hit of the game against forward Brandon Vandermon and Dan Sulitzer had a hit in the Oregon zone against Washington assistant captain Andrew Johnson.

Soon the march to penalty box began.

Oregon captain Tyler Halverson got two minutes for interference. A minute after that was cleared, Dan Sulitzer entered the box on a call for roughing after pushing a Husky into the boards behind the Oregon net. Halfway through the Sulitzer penalty, Halverson returned when he committed a penalty for hit from behind.

It was 5-on-3 in favor of Washington and they took full advantage of their extra man. As Sulitzer was taking his first step onto the ice while coming out of the penalty box, Andrew Johnson sent the puck over the blocker of Ducks goalie Danny Cockriel, giving Washington their first goal of the night.

The second period began with Stephen Casey sitting in the box on a 10-minute game misconduct that was awarded at the end of the 1st while Casey was heading back to the bench. From there, it was hard hits from both ends with penalties mixed in until the final few minutes of the period.

It was the penalties that did the Ducks in once again. 4:07 remained in the period. Dan Sulitzer and Luke were both sitting for Oregon when Washington’s Ryan Minkoff scored, giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead.

The goal was followed 2:25 seconds later by another. In a shot by Terran Jendro, the puck had slipped under Cockriel’s pad, went off of his skate and trickled in behind him. Washington’s lead extended to two.

Oregon responded. Exactly a minute and a half later, Dan Sulitzer scored again with a snipe into the top corner. It was assisted by Casey, making it a two-goal and two-assist game, respectively, for the two of them.

The third period was scoreless. Luke, the Sulitzer brothers and Halverson continued dishing out big hits, but the focus had shifted to the front of the Washington net.

As the minutes dwindled down, the desperation of the Ducks was palpable. Traffic in front of Washington goalie Jacob Gilmore was dense. Halverson was firing off shot after shot after teammates picked up each rebound to quickly try again.

Oregon was unable to convert and the game ended 3-2 in favor of the Huskies.

However, the series wasn’t over. The time on the game clock had run out, but both Washington and Oregon had won two games a piece, forcing a shootout for the Cup.

Washington shot first.

The first two rounds were unsuccessful for both teams. Casey and Connor McBride went up for Oregon while Washington picked Alex Black and Corey James to go.

In the third round, Minkoff proved why he was leading the league in goals. His shot found the back of the net after sailing under the left glove of Cockriel. Alex Sulitzer was unable to reciprocate the goal.

The fourth round sealed the deal for Washington. Like Minkoff before him, Jason Bartlett fired the puck early and it yielded the same result. Dan Sulitzer, who scored the only two Oregon goals of the game, was up, but was denied by Gilmore, ending the series.

“We played well,” Dan Sulitzer said. “They got a fluke third goal and unfortunately that was the difference in the game.”

“It’s a shame, but that’s how games go,” he said. “It was a hard-fought battle and we’re definitely a better team but unfortunately it didn’t show.”

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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. It was slower-paced and was won with only a single goal being scored. Washington had only one penalty, a two-minute minor in the first period against Bradyn Kawcak for an elbow. Even though Oregon had earned 25 penalty minutes, 15 of them came from a head contact penalty committed by Patrick Sgarlata early in the 2nd period, which earned him both a five-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct in addition to a game ejection.

“Essentially, it was more of a defensive game than it seemed,” Oregon captain Tyler Halverson said of the slower play and low final score. “I’m also going to say that we played a little bit slower than what we’re capable of. … It just seemed like neither team was able to fully control the puck and work together to get it in the back of the net.”

In the beginning of the game, it seemed that things were going to follow the trend of the games played in Washington last weekend. Less than two minutes in, Alex Sulitzer entered the box for Oregon for a check from behind and the Ducks were put on the first of what would ultimately be six penalty kills.

Washington was unable to capitalize and, shortly after the teams were put back to even strength, the Huskies sent Kawcak to the sin bin.

At even strength, scoring opportunities weren’t rare. Both teams continuously tested the other’s goaltender while putting shot after shot on net.

Notable saves came toward the end of the 1st. Ducks goalie Danny Cockriel made a save off of a shot from Kevin Brahmbhatt that came unexpectedly from a weird angle.

A minute later, Oregon’s Chris Stankeivicz had a shot that was deflected by Huskies goalie Jacob Gilmore. The play opened an opportunity for Alex Sulitzer after Dan Sulitzer passed him the puck. Alex’s shot hit Gilmore’s facemask and was sent into the netting above.

The 1st period had one last penalty. Ducks defenseman Michael Luke came into the box for roughing after he and a Washington player exchanged shoves, had their sticks caught up in one another’s, and then Luke sent the Husky to the ground.

The Ducks started the second period down a man with 1:47 still to serve on the Luke penalty. Around three minutes later, Sgarlata put the Ducks on the five-minute penalty kill after his major and misconduct.

With nearly 10 minutes of the 2nd being spent on the penalty kill for the Ducks, Cockriel understandably had many close calls, but with help from his teammates, who were diving in front of the net and taking shots for him, the the Ducks goal proved impenetrable.

The highlight of the 3rd was Oregon forward Trevor McCarty’s unassisted goal.

After Connor McBride won the faceoff for Oregon in the Washington zone, he sent the puck to McCarty who immediately shot it. It went in.

“There’s nothing sweeter than (the goal) being scored against Washington and having it being a game-winner,” McCarty said. “There’s nothing like it.”

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