Jared Pisinger sets the tone by scoring for the Huskies in the first period.

Despite only having eleven skaters on hand and no head coach at the
onset of the first game between the Cardinal and the Dawgs, Stanford
University fared rather well against the Huskies.

For the first eight minutes that is.

After drawing first blood with four minutes gone in the first period,
Stanford was unable to keep up the scoring pace with the Dawgs for the
entire game, as the Husky Hockey team skated to a lopsided win of 19-2
at OlympicView Arena on Friday night.

The Huskies answered with two quick goals within one minute, courtesy
of Jared Pisinger and Brett Lawrence, to quickly vanquish the lead that
Stanford’s center Ben Knelman provided them just moments before.

After another Stanford goal by center Ben Knelman brought the Cardinal
back within one at 3-2 with 12 minutes left in the first, but the Huskies
knack of scoring in bunches effectively hacked the Stanford eleven right at
the trunk.

Steady doses of goals were administered once again by the Lawrence-
O’Brien combo that the Husky faithful are used to seeing. However, a
different O’Brien got in on the act as Jamie O’Brien assisted Brett
Lawrence on two goals within a minute of Knelman’s goal in the first
period to keep the momentum with the Dawgs for the rest of the night.

After the flurry of goals scored by the Huskies in answer to Cardinal goals,
the Dawgs put it on cruise control and supported goalie Robert Branom
with eight total goals in the first period.

The second period started as the first was left off as Lawrence added his
fourth goal with 18 minutes left to play in the second stanza. Not to be
outdone, Washington assistant captain Sean O’Brien picked up a hat trick
with a breakaway goal on an intercepted Stanford pass at the 15 minute
mark in the second, on his way to a five goal night.

The Huskies didn’t let up all night, even when shorthanded, which the
Huskies have seemed to enjoy all season by scoring when they are the
team with the man down. The Dawgs were able to get three shorthanded
goals on the night, with Sean O’Brien having two and Jamie O’Brien
adding another in the third period.

The only break the Huskies didn’t get was defenseman’s Shayne
Sasseen’s soccer inspired goal that was called off during the only power
play of the night for the Dawgs in the second period.

Even though the Dawgs ended up with 19 goals on the night, somewhat
sloppy play and miscues around left a bitter taste in the UW coaching
staff’s mouths.

“Teams like Washington State, Utah State and USC (University of
Southern California) will eat those mistakes alive,” said head coach Cindy
Dayley. These “little mistakes” as explained by assistant coach Zoë Harris
were misplayed pucks, errant passing in the offensive and defensive
zones.

In the face of tiny miscues throughout the night, the Dawgs were still able
to score and not let up on the Cardinal all evening and collecting another
crucial PAC8 Conference win.

The victory raises the Husky Hockey team’s record to 7-4 overall, and an
impressive 6-1 in PAC8 play.