The Husky Hockey team tasted the bitter taste of defeat for the 1st time
this season, as Eastern Washington University downed the Dawgs 6-3 at
Olympicview Arena on Friday night.

EWU’s Josh Curry capped the game by scoring two goals within ten
seconds of each other in the second period. Curry won a stick flurrying
session in front of UW Goalie Matt Harrow to net his first goal. Curry
collected an errant pass in the Husky defensive zone and put it past a
defenseless Harrow, giving Curry a hat trick on the night.

Eastern out shot the Dawgs 44-20 on the night, with Harrow doing
everything he possibly could to keep the Huskies in the game. Harrow
repeatedly turned away shot after shot, and spectacular play from UW
Defenseman Shayne Sasseen used his shins to deflect even more shots
from coming Harrow’s way.

“Matt had a great game…there was a lot of scramble in front of the net,
he took some physical play,” said UW Head Coach Cindy Dayley. “He was
our star of the game,” she said.

The Eagles struck first blood in the 1st period with Josh Curry collecting a
cross ice pass in front of the net and one timing it past Harrow within the
first two minutes of the game.

The quickly silenced Husky faithful would be back on their feet again in a
matter of seconds.

Twelve seconds after the Eastern goal to take the first lead of the game,
UW forward Adam Senta pumped a rebound back in front of the EWU net,
with Husky forward Jared Pisinger getting credit for the assist (goal
awarded to defenseman Michael Spector on score sheet).

However, missed opportunities would be the theme for the rest of the
night for the Huskies, with the inability to finish, costly turnovers, and
penalties leading to EWU goals.

Later in the first, UW defenseman Jason Ruel received a 2 and a 10-
minute game misconduct for demolishing an EWU player into the boards,
leading to a power play goal for EWU’s Kyle Sargent.

With a chance to answer, UW forward Cody Vandermyn missed an open
net opportunity by whiffing on a one-timer with EWU goalie Matt
Pippinger completely out of position.

Eastern tacked on another in the 1st with EWU’s Powell Gallagher
beating Harrow to his lower glove side extending their lead to 3-1.

Washington finished strong in the first period to close the gap to 3-2. On
a power play to end the opening period, UW Jamie O’Brien intercepted an
errant EWU pass and beat Pippinger with a backhanded flip on his low
glove side.

The second was a period of penalty laden hockey. For a considerable
amount of the entire second period, Eastern and Washington littered the
score sheet with assorted penalties. Most of the period was played in
four on four action.

The Huskies were able to tie the game again in the second, with the
flashy play of UW’s Hadley Ma. Hadley and his red gloves took full
advantage of a EWU passing miscue and he found himself alone with
Pippinger, and Ma came out on top. He beat Pippinger high stick side with
a wrist shot and evened the score at 3-3.

Then, two minutes later the two-goal thunder struck from EWU’s Josh
Curry, which stole the game and the momentum from the tiring Husky
Hockey team. The stunned Dawgs entered the locker room in the second
down by two goals.

The third was not without it’s opportunities to even the score. The
Huskies could not capitalize on two power play opportunities in the third,
and EWU’s Pippinger turned Jamie O’Brien’s shorthand breakaway away.
Despite having a shot-to-goal percentage at an unheard of 15%, the
Huskies could not manage to increase their shots on net from over 20 per
night. EWU added one more goal at the end of the period to finish the
scoring at 6-3.

This was the first loss of the season for the Husky Hockey team, putting
their ACHA record at 2-1 on the season. The Dawgs are set to challenge
the Eagles again tomorrow night at Olympicview arena.