Friday, November 1st, 2002

Shaun Lawrence scores & assists in game
one against WWU.
Photographs by Leanne Burkle

If the stillness that settled over Olympicview Arena Friday night before the
game was any evidence of the things to come, it did not become evident
until the end. The Huskies that are normally known as a strong third
period team could not overthrow the dominance of Western Washington
University. The Vikings obliged to hand their opponents a 5-3 loss, the
Huskies first loss after 31 straight regular season wins.

In period one, Western Washington’s Julien Lalonde put one past the
Husky goalie to take the lead 1-0 within the first 10 minutes. University of
Washington’s Shaun Lawrence countered the goal, by beating a defender
1-on-1 and then the goalie down low, which was assisted by TJ Anderson.
The period ended with a 1-1 tie between the teams, with the Huskies out
shooting the Vikings 12-11.

The second period started off strong for the Huskies, but the win was
continuously sliding out of their reach.

Husky defenseman Brian Smith scored 55 seconds into the second period
on a one-timer shot during a power play, to put the Huskies up by one.
But the Vikings came back and scored 3 minutes later on a power play
from a scramble in front of the net. The rest of the period the Huskies
were lame with penalties, which the Vikings took advantage of. The
officials penalize the Huskies for every move they made, as Dawgs
continuously tried to adjust their game. The Viking capitalized on two
more power plays, scoring at 5:06 and 2:16 to end the period 5-2, as the
shots were even at 14.

“We did not play or concentrate on our game,” said assistant coach Zoë
Harris. “The Vikings have a dangerous team, which you always need to
keep in check. We have won games despite outside forces before, but
this time we could not play above it.”

In the third period the Huskies continued to scramble to pull their team
together. They suffered by playing poor positioning in their own zone, not
showing supportive play, and being unable to pick up assigned players in
the defensive and neutral zones.

“Our team did not play with intensity or with the desire to win,” said
head coach Cindy Dayley. “We were complacent and seemed not to truly
care. On the other side, WWU cared and they showed us that.”

In the third, Brett Lawrence converted a penalty shot with six minutes
left to move the UW team within two goals of its opponent. However, the
Huskies did not show the hustle that usually commands their third period,
to win the game. The Huskies ended the match 5-3, despite out shooting
the Vikings in the third period 16-9.

“We were looking ahead too far towards our big weekend in the Bay
area,” said Craig Lawrence. “We need to take one game at a time.”

The Western Washington Vikings placed a fourth win on their record while
handing the University of Washington Huskies their first regular season
loss. The Vikings hit the road to prepare to face the Huskies once more on
Saturday night on their own rink.

Final Game Stats
Score: UW 3, WWU 5
Shots on Net: UW 42, WWU 34
Penalties: UW 25 minutes + a DQ, WWU 18 minutes + a 10-minute