It once again came down to the final few minutes in the Ducks’ hard-fought 4-3 victory over USC on Saturday night.

The Oregon hockey team’s momentum seemed to have finally started to turn. Hot off of a much-needed win the previous night, the Ducks looked to rob another two points from the University of Southern California. USC, on the other hand, had only lost by one the night before and looked to get the win they had been in reach of.

Oregon had won the first face-off, but that gave little indicator as to who had the early advantage. Both teams were getting in front of the net, both teams were getting shots, and both teams were getting physical.

The first goal came late in the first period by Oregon’s Dillon Abate. Assists were given to forward Jake Yale and defenseman Jesse Leonard.

Just over a minute later, Oregon paired their goal with a penalty as Alex Sulitzer entered the box for hooking. USC wasn’t even halfway through their power play before Newman sunk one into the top of the netting to tie the game.

Oregon quickly responded. Connor McBride scored one off of a great pass from McCarty on the break less than a minute after Newman, with the puck finding its home just under the left glove of the USC goalie. Oregon regained their lead and only 5:09 remained.

The first casualty for the Ducks happened with 2:24 to go. In the USC zone, Alex Sulitzer had a huge hit against USC’s Graham Bell. The hit was ruled as a 5-minute major for boarding in addition to a game misconduct and an immediate game ejection for Sulitzer. With that, Oregon lost their first man.

USC did not like the play one bit. Brendan Weiniger of USC came to the aid of his fallen teammate to engage Alex Sulitzer. Alex’s brother, Dan Sulitzer, came to protect his kin and shoved off Weiniger while the rest of the Oregon team held off USC. Weiniger earned a roughing penalty.

“I think it was definitely checking from behind, a two-minute and a ten, but a five and a game ejection was a little bit too much for me,” Oregon forward Patrick Taylor said of the ejection. “But I can see from the standpoint of the ref that it could be an intent to injure. He (Alex) did come from the top of the circle all the way down to a player with the puck. His back was to Alex and he hit his back into the boards, so it could’ve gone either way.”

Seconds before the period ended, Oregon suffered their second causality of the game. A USC player had sent a slapshot toward the Ducks’ goal, but instead of the puck making it to the net, it made it straight into captain Tyler Halverson’s wrist.

“It just swelled up like a balloon and I got some ice on it,” Halverson said. “I couldn’t finish up the game, but I’ll be back very soon.”

In the second, both teams were still playing evenly. Both teams scored a goal in the first five minutes of play and, excluding the penalties by Alex Sulitzer that carried over from the first, both teams were nearly matched in penalty minutes. USC even had an injury of their own. Anthony Tabanji collided with another player at center ice, was down for a few minutes and needed a trainer to help him off the ice.

Everything came down to the 3rd period.

In the third period, tensions were still running high. Weight was being thrown around by everyone. Ducks forward Matt Ackman was flattened against the boards in the first four minutes by USC Chris Roman and was visibly hurting. Roman was charged with roughing.

Halfway through the period, Dan Sulitzer scored for Oregon giving the Ducks a two-goal lead. The score was 4-2.

Soon only 2:36 remained and the Trojans managed to score again, putting themselves into a situation similar to the one the night before. Once again USC pulled their goalie and hoped to get one last goal during the final minute or so of play. Once again USC was unsuccessful.

The Ducks won 4-3.

As for what the pair of wins meant to the Ducks, Halverson described it only as being “amazing”.

“How can it not feel good?” Halverson said of the wins. “Honestly, it was good. We really needed that as a confidence booster. Hopefully it will get our momentum swinging in the right direction. It’s a downhill battle now.”

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The game can be summed up in one word: great. In their first game against USC, Oregon broke their no-scoring streak and broke their losing streak all while in front of the largest (and loudest) home crowd they’ve seen all season.

“(The crowd) really helped,” Oregon forward Nick Sciabarra said. “It was great. We loved all of the intensity and the motivation they were giving us to win.”

After a losing grueling set of five road games in the San Jose Showcase and in Salt Lake City, Oregon club hockey finally found their way back on top with a 5-4 win against University of Southern California. The team was ready for a win and the fans were ready to see their Ducks return home for the first time in 20 days.

The both teams came out strong in the first period, but the Ducks had the advantage.

Oregon captain Tyler Halverson made the first shot of the game 27 seconds in, but the Ducks didn’t maintain possession for long as USC nabbed a few SOG of their own against goalie Danny Cockriel within the first three minutes. It quickly became a back-and-forth game.

But after 4:26, Oregon’s Dan Sulitzer scored with assists by Stephen Casey and Alex Sulitzer. The goal was not only the first of the game, but the first goal for Oregon in over four games. With Sulitzer’s goal, the team visibly had a weight removed from their shoulders and the pace picked up. Both teams continued getting pucks to the front of the net.

With only 3:18 left, Oregon proved their first goal wasn’t a fluke. Connor McBride, with help from Nick Kuehl, put the puck past the goalie. Then Oregon proved it again. Halverson scored only 26 seconds later. The Ducks led 3-0.

With just under three minutes remaining the penalties began truly coming in for the first time. USC’s Brian Weiniger went into the box for elbowing and was followed two minutes later by Oregon’s Trevor McCarty for tripping.

The momentum from their previous two goals was still rolling despite being on the penalty kill. While shorthanded, Sciabarra still stole the puck, weaved between two USC defensemen and got himself to the front of the net. Even though there was no shot fired, Oregon made it clear that they were still very much setting the pace of the game.

The players threw their weight around much more in the second period. In the first half, Casey connected with USC defenseman Ellis Gould, Gould had returned the favor against McBride and Sciabarra collided with Graham Bell of USC. Dan Sulitzer even checked the referee into the boards while aiming for a USC player.

Just over the halfway point, USC picked up the pace. The Trojans picked up back-to-back goals to bring the the score to 3-2 still in favor of the Ducks. Oregon responded, however, and scored two more goals of their own within the last few minutes of the second period. Alex Sulitzer picked up the first one and Sciabarra, unassisted, picked up the next for the game-winning goal. The Ducks regained their three-goal lead as the score read 5-2.

With only 54 seconds remaining, a fight broke out in front of the USC net. The fight yielded two roughing minors for each team in addition to a game misconduct for Oregon. Despite the calls, the game continued 5-on-5 play and the period ended.

In the third period, things were looking not-so-great for the Ducks. In the first three minutes, Patrick Taylor committed a tripping penalty and the Trojans capitalized on the power play. The board read 5-3. Then in the last two minutes, Cory Newman scored again for USC and suddenly the Trojans were within one. USC pulled their goalie hoping to gain an advantage.

Even with an extra man, USC couldn’t get the goal to tie it and the Ducks won the night 5-4.

“It was great,” Sciabarra said of the game. ” It felt great to go and score a couple goals out there. We hadn’t had a goal in four games, so it was great. It felt awesome.”

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The first period looked hopeful.

Coming off of a rough weekend at the San Jose State showcase where the Ducks left 0-3, Ducks hockey was back on the road for their third game in the University of Utah series. Oregon wasn’t alone with their losses, however. The Utes were coming off of a three-game losing streak from both Utah State and Weber State.

Both teams came out strong, but the Utah offense proved to be a challenge. Only twenty seconds into the first period, Oregon goalie Danny Cockriel had to make the first save of the game. 17 seconds later, he had to make the second. 37 seconds after that came the third save by Cockriel.

Oregon’s defense held strong under pressure though. The Ducks had responded to Utah’s initial surge and finally made their way into the Utah zone. Unfortunately the net was dislodged and the possibility of the Ducks building their momentum was halted. Oregon was put back on the defensive.

Luckily for Oregon, their defense was holding strong up until this point. No shots were let through despite Utah completely dominating the ice and controlling the pace of the game. Cockriel made some big saves: an especially notable one being at 12:33. After Josh Dangel took a shot and the puck bounced upward off of his blocker, Cockriel plucked the ricochet out of the air with his glove.

The still-scoreless first period had only one penalty. Matt Ackman of Oregon committed a roughing call during the whistle after Dangel’s shot. Luckily, the penalty kill was successful for the Ducks.

It wasn’t until just under four minutes remained that a point went onto the scoreboard. At 3:57 to go, Utah’s Andrew Wood tipped in the puck, officially giving Utah the lead they had the entire game.

The second period was, as the Utes’ broadcast team put it, a “march to the penalty box” for both teams. Although both teams were marching to the penalty box, Utah was also marching straight to the Oregon goal. Oregon had crumbled in the second, allowing six goals. Three of those goals were scored during first three minutes of the period.

Utah essentially quadrupled Oregon in shots during the second. Utah was 23 for 37 while Oregon was only 5 for 10.

In the third, Ty Anderton took Cockriel’s place in the Oregon net. Anderton was solid for the majority of the first half, but Utah also played the majority of that time down a man due to penalties.

Eventually Anderton’s wall cracked and Utah’s Kyle Welch slipped one through. The score became 8-0 in favor of the Utes.

The third period remained unremarkable except for the still-steady stream of penalties. Utah, sure of their win, stopped trying. Their offense became unmotivated and lackadaisical. The lethargic skating gave the Ducks the opportunity to spend more than a few seconds in the Utah zone for the first time in the game. Even though the Ducks were finally in front of the net, they couldn’t capitalize and the game was coming to a close.

Perhaps aware of their level of energy, Utah briefly turned the heat back on during the final minutes. With only 1:18 left to go,Welch logged his second goal of the game. The board read 9-0.

The game was seemingly over, but with only 36.7 seconds left, Utah managed to earn one more penalty before the buzzer sounded.

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Every week, the Emerald sports staff will collect and post their favorite tweets from Oregon athletes, coaches, media, etc. Below are the favorites from sports reporter Anne Yilmaz from Thursday, Nov. 14.

Shelby Armstrong of Oregon Acrobatics and Tumbling gives her favorite way to start the morning:

Tap strength training pandora in the mornings yes

— Shelby Armstrong (@shelbyleighharm) November 14, 2013

Nicole Seybold, also part of Oregon Acrobatics and Tumbling, makes a joke about “Throwback Thursday”:

How long do you think Thursday will get thrown back? #tbt

— Nicole Seybold (@Nicoleseybold2) November 14, 2013

Oregon cornerback Dior Mathis says to keep it real:

Remember: The real survive over the fake any day of the week Rt

— Dior Mathis (@DMathis3) November 14, 2013

Oregon golfer Cali Hipp:

That moment when you get caught in the crossfire of bikers on campus and don't know which way to step

Oregon wide receiver Chris Tewhill:

A protein shake with caffeine. Could be a game changer

— chris tewhill (@Ctewhill4) November 14, 2013

Blessed. My friends and family and all my teammates I've ever had are the reason for any "success" I've had or will have in the future.

— chris tewhill (@Ctewhill4) November 15, 2013

Oregon defensive back Bronson Yim gives a shout out to his roommate for his birthday:

Happy a birthday to my roommate Clyde. Love u man. Halfway to 40

— Bronson Yim (@R2G_BYIM) November 14, 2013

Oregon offensive lineman Andre Yruretagoyena:

"Do you play football?" No I just robbed Santa of all his Oregon ducks gear.

— Andre Yruretagoyena (@BigAndreAZDK) November 15, 2013

Oregon soccer goalkeeper Abby Steele shows some school pride:

Once a Duck, always a Duck!

Oregon distance runner Mac Fleet:

Falling in love over and over on pre-meet day. As usual.

— Mac Fleet (@macfleet1) November 15, 2013

Oregon defensive lineman Arik Armstead is ready to watch his friends play basketball:

Bout to watch all the homies @Xthames2 @York_City1 @illest_Legend @Dee_so_iLL and Parker . Arizona vs SDSU

— Arik Armstead (@arikarmstead) November 15, 2013

Oregon soccer midfielder, Ryann Davie:

I'm getting played… By my grandpa… pic.twitter.com/9VttZGbXk7

— Ryann Davie (@_ryannashley) November 15, 2013

Oregon linebacker Torrodney Prevot:

A few people know some of my story. But no one knows it all.

— Torrodney Prevot (@TorrodneyPrevot) November 15, 2013

Former Oregon Duck and current Seattle Mariner Brett Thomas:

If one man can, another man can

— Brett Thomas (@bretthewT2) November 15, 2013

When Justin Lacasse graduated in 2011, it seemed improbable that he ‘d ever be on the ice again as a Duck. He had moved to Washington for work and, while playing, never thought coaching was for him.

But things change.

Work brought Lacasse back to Oregon in 2012, and the rink in Eugene was holding a tournament. It was during this tournament that he found himself back with Rich Salahor, a coach from Lacasse’s senior year. While the two were playing together, Salahor brought up the idea of coaching.

Salahor wasn’t the only one who wanted Lacasse back on the team.

“We all wanted him to come back and coach,” senior Connor McBride, who played with Lacasse, said. “His personality is great for coaching. He’s dominant.”

Even though Lacasse’s response to Salahor was an easy yes, Lacasse found that coaching wasn’t all that simple.

“It’s a lot more time consuming and there’s a lot more energy involved in it than I anticipated,” he said. “I thought it was just all kinds of fun and games, but there’s actually a lot of work that goes into it.”

Most of the hard work wasn’t even planning out practices or drawing up game plans. The hardest part for him was maintaining his cool and staying professional.

“It’s hard to keep your emotions bottled up when you’re playing teams with players that you used to play against — like UW,” Lacasse said. “There are a couple guys on UW who I don’t really like too much from playing against them. It’s hard to separate that from coaching versus playing because you still kind of hate some people out there.”

Transitions had to be made in more places than just the bench. As he was getting used to the games, he had to get used to stepping away from the team and stepping into the role of a coach.

“These guys are your friends still a little bit, ” he said. “It will be way easier next year when I know the guys, but they’re not guys I used to hang out with. It’s tough to separate professionalism and friendship stuff.”

Even though Lacasse found the switch difficult, his old teammates who are still on the roster thought otherwise.

“He’s definitely someone who commands respect right off the bat from you,” senior Will Daniels, Lacasse’s former linemate, said.

“You have your coach that you listen to and you also have this kid who’s like one of you,” he said. “But he’s a superior and he knows what’s up because he’s played there, he’s been there, he’s done that and you’ve seen it personally. It’s just nice.”

Even after a year, the team found hasn’t found Lacasse’s switch to be an issue.

“Lacasse is Lacasse,” McBride said. “If he wants to do the coach thing, then he’ll do it and he‘ll do it. If Lacasse wants me to do something, I’ll do it also because I respect him as a friend.”

Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz

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.”

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Even after a week-long break, Oregon club hockey continues to dominate the ice.

Oregon played the Portland State Vikings on Friday night for their third game of a four-game series in which the Ducks took home a 7-1 win.

The first period had an explosive start. Both teams came out strong with fast and physical play. Within the first three minutes, Oregon goalie Danny Cockriel had already drawn a whistle and stopped play by covering the puck with his glove after a shot by PSU.

The quick play continued mostly uninterrupted. It wasn’t until the first goal by Oregon’s Matt Ackman at the 7:45 mark that regular stoppages began to take place. 47 seconds after the first goal of the game, Alex Sulitzer logged Oregon’s second goal.

The two-goal lead didn’t cause the Ducks to be complacent, though. At one point, captain Tyler Halverson sent a Portland State forward into the boards with a hard hip-check in the Oregon zone.

The physical play ended up being too much for the refs. With just over 8 minutes to go, forward Patrick Sgarlata committed a roughing penalty in front of the Oregon net. 30 seconds later, Nick Sciabarra joined Sgarlata in the box for the same thing.

Oregon wasn’t the only team committing penalties. In the last five minutes of the period, Portland State earned three of their own — all for cross-checking.

The period ended with a man in the box for Portland State and with Halverson scoring Oregon’s third goal of the game.

PSU started the second period in a three-goal deficit and short-handed with 1:34 remaining on defenseman Josh Powell’s penalty. Their bad luck never got better.

Alex Sulitzer scored an unassisted goal, which was shortly followed by another goal with help from Halverson to give him his first hat trick of the season. For Oregon, the three-goal lead quickly turned into five.

“(The hat trick) feels pretty good,” Sulitzer said. “It was a good game out there.”

Sulitzer didn’t only hear his name on the loudspeaker for just the goals though. He also acquired two penalties during the period. The first was for high-sticking, the second for a cross-check on a PSU player.

“I don’t think (the high-sticking call) happened, per se,” Sultizer said. “I think it’s a phantom call, but it’s all right. Cross-checking was he hit me from behind twice, so I think it was definitely justified.

“I barely hit him and he fell,” he continued. “It’s not my fault.”

Unlike Washington State who only had a handful of guys on the bench, Portland had the manpower to keep the intensity alive past the first and second period. Even in the third period, Portland had enough fire to draw roughing calls. The calls were made on their own defenseman, Powell, less than two minutes in and then in the final minute against Connor McBride.

Oregon scored another three goals in the third period, with one being an unassisted goal by Chris Stankeivicz, while Brandon Stanfill put Portland on the board with their first and only goal of the night. The game ended 8-1.

As for the final game in the Portland series this Saturday, expect more.

“We’ll probably come out a lot better tomorrow,” Sulitzer said. “We didn’t play last weekend, so usually when you don’t play for a weekend your legs are kind of dead that first game. I’m expecting tomorrow night to be a lot better.”

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When the 2012-2013 club hockey season ended for the Ducks, they faced a new opponent: debt. Oregon hockey had accumulated around $17,000 worth of cost during their season which needed to be paid — and soon.

When the team coordinator graduated last winter, the team inherited debt that they did not know how to deal with.

“It was just kind of left in our lap,” current team coordinator Patrick Sgarlata said. “It was like, ‘Wow. We have no idea how to fundraise. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never organized a hockey team at all.’ We got a lot of help from Club Sports. The people in there are really helpful.”

According to Club Sports Coordinator Kristen Gleason, the help came mainly in the form of knowledge.

“Our office worked with them a lot in building awareness in terms of thinking about things like their member due structure and fundraising,” Gleason said. “We do this with all of our clubs. We encourage year-round fundraising. If it (a tournament) is going to be in the spring, why not do fundraising activities in the fall in your off-season?”

All of the pressure wasn’t placed solely on Sgarlata’s shoulders, though. Once the team learned about their financial situation, it quickly became a group effort.

“It was kind of just sprung upon all of us,” Will Daniels, who is playing his fourth season for the Ducks, said. “No one really knew about it, but once Pat looked everything over, we realized, ‘Wow. We’re in some serious trouble right now and we need to figure a way out of it.’”

Surprise or not, debt was their reality and one which needed to be fixed quickly. If Ducks hockey did not pull themselves into the green before the next season, Club Sports was not going to allow them to play.

“We have a small threshold of deficit spending,” Gleason said. “It kind of varies depending on the club, but we keep that to a minimum.

“Hockey is unique in that their expenses are considerable because they have to rent off-campus ice time. That can get pretty tricky with them because they pretty much start the year in debt. They’re always trying to catch up.”

Playing the catch-up game was a difficult one, but the team came together to host fundraisers with Track Town Pizza and Yogurt Extreme and even a benefit concert at the McDonald Theatre with local ’90s tribute band Bulls on Parade.

Even with money coming in from the concert and other fundraisers, more help was still needed and the team turned to their friends, family and Ducks hockey alumni for donations.

“(Contacting alumni and family) actually worked out really well,” Sgarlata said. “We sent out newsletters and were like, ‘Hey, if you donate this much, we’ll give you a jersey, a team photo or stuff like that.’ I think that got a lot of people to donate because we got a lot of donations in those exact amounts.”

With annual expenses for the team coming in around $90,000, fighting debt is an ongoing battle.

The team plans to hold more fundraisers later this season.

“Our financial situation is that we are currently in a small hole of debt and are constantly fighting to stay above water and out of the red with money,” Sgarlata said.

Just before Oregon played the Washington State Cougars in football, they faced off on the ice for Washington State’s second and last game in Eugene.

Oregon, who split their opening weekend at home 2-2, once again defeated the Cougars, but this time it was with a 16-2 score.

The Ducks struck first. 4:15 into the period, captain Tyler Halverson scored the first goal of the game with help from Alex Sulitzer and Nick Kuehl. The point was quickly followed by another when Nick Sciabarra logged an additional goal for the Ducks just over two minutes later with an assist from Brock Burgess.

Washington State managed to get one off on goalie Trevor Peterson though. Five seconds before the halfway mark of the period, Zach Sonnichsen put WSU on the scoreboard.

“It was a little shaky start (for me),” Peterson said of his first game for the Ducks. “But I think I got my feet eventually.”

After Ducks defenseman Terran Donnelly was put in the box for holding, Nick Sciabarra scored a shorthanded goal which became Oregon’s third goal of the game. Donnelly’s penalty cleared a minute later. When Donnelly left the box, he immediately snatched the puck on its way out of the Oregon zone and went on a breakaway to the front of Washington State’s net. Even though he didn’t score, Oregon managed to nab one final goal before the period ended 4-1.

The second period was rough for both teams.

It started with a tripping penalty on Washington State 1:53 into play. Nine seconds later, Oregon’s Michael Luke was put in the box tripping followed 38 seconds later by Donnelly for the same thing. This time, when Donnelly left the box after his two minutes were up, he didn’t get a scoring opportunity. Instead he was checked into the boards along the Washington State bench.

Sixteen seconds after the Ducks were finally back to even-strength, Patrick Sgarlata committed a boarding penalty and put Oregon back on the penalty kill. Before Sgarlata’s time was served, Nick Sciabarra entered the box for charging when he collided with and tumbled on top of Wazzu’s goaltender.

After the slew penalties were over and each team was back to their normal five players, Oregon scored and the scoreboard read 5-1.

Even strength was short-lived for the Ducks. Sgarlata entered the box 1 minute and 26 seconds after the Oregon goal. The call was for interference.

The rough period continued when Shayne Barrett of Washington State collided with his own teammate who was carrying the puck out of their own zone. The mistake cost WSU dearly. Michael Luke capitalized on the mistake, stole the puck and passed it to Kuehl. Kuehl sent it to Sciabarra who put the puck into the back of the net. Sciabarra’s goal was closely followed by another Ducks goal by Jesse Leonard.

With only a minute left on the clock, it looked as if Washington State was going to get one more point when the puck was sent to the back of the Ducks’ net. However, it was ruled as a goal after the whistle and wasn’t counted. The period ended 7-1 in favor of the Ducks.

The third period was a blowout. Washington State, with less than half the number of players Oregon has, was visibly exhausted. Oregon got eight goals — with some noteworthy ones being by Nick Sciabarra from his own zone and an unassisted goal by Conner McBride. WSU only managed to scrape one more past Peterson. The game ended 16-2.

Even though Washington State didn’t prove to be a difficult opponent for Oregon, the Ducks still made improvements from the night before.

“From yesterday’s game, I think we had a better start then last night,” Trevor Peterson said. “I think our second period was kind of a down-point relative to the last game, but overall I think we were a little more quick, a little more sharp.”

The stands may have been empty, but the back of Washington State’s net wasn’t.

After what first seemed like a rocky start this weekend against Utah, Oregon’s club hockey team pulled through against WSU and won the third game in their four-game homestand.

At first, it looked as if the Ducks were repeating their previous two nights when the Cougars scored the first goal of the night on goalie Ty Anderton only 3:12 into the first. It went straight downhill for the Cougars after that. One minute and 41 seconds after that first goal, Oregon tied it up and began the eight-goal scoring streak which lasted halfway into the second.

The surplus of goals can’t only be attributed to Oregon’s offense. While Oregon had around 12 players on the bench at any one time, Washington State only had four.

“It’s brutal,” Ducks defenseman Terran Donnelly said. “Whenever you have four guys on the bench, it just wears you down within the first five minutes of game. It’s pretty easy to skate them into the ground when they don’t have many players.”

Even when Washington State’s Jack Krienen broke the scoring streak of the Ducks and made it 8-2 on the scoreboard, the Ducks didn’t let that effect them. Less than two minutes later, forward Dan Sulitzer scored to keep Oregon’s seven-goal lead.

That lead quickly became six when Zach Sonnichsen scored his second goal of the night for WSU just 10 seconds after Oregon.

Luck ran out for Washington State after that. When the Cougars committed a pair of penalties for boarding and charging, rookie Nick Sciabarra capitalized on the power play for Oregon to score the last goal of the period, making it 10-3. The goal was his second of the game and the fourth point of what would become a six-point night for Sciabarra.

As for how Washington ended up scoring two goals in the later-half of the second alone, it can be chalked up in one word: laziness.

“It’s quite a change (from Utah),” Donnelly, who had four assists, said. “I mean we kind of dropped our speed down to Washington State’s level after we played such a fast team like Utah.

“We weren’t really thinking,” he continued. “We had offensive lines all of the time so we weren’t really thinking how to play defense. It’s not a good thing to do.”

Even though the Ducks barred Washington State from getting anything to the back of the net in the third period, they still acknowledge that their play wasn’t the best.

“It’s never a good idea to play less than your potential,” Donnelly said. “We always have the potential to skate as hard as we can at Utah speed, so we always need to skate like that so next time we see Utah or another team like that, we can actually play to our full potential.”

One good thing came from the night’s blowout though.

“It was quite a good point night for the defensemen,” Donnelly said.