Cal may have skated into the PAC-8 tournament as the number three
seed in the tournament, but they would leave Seattle with the 2004 PAC-
8 title after a stunning upset of the undefeated, 4-time defending
champion USC Trojans in the final game last night.

Cal would score two goals in the final stanza to put away the Trojans who
were heavily favored to win the tournament after crushing the
Washington State Cougars the night before.

The red number three on the scoreboard would be the only red that the
Golden Bears would welcome with open arms, just because it was a
bigger number than the red number two that the Trojans had placed on
their side of the scoreboard.

The hard play and double-shifting of Sean Haq would finally pay off, as the
player that didn’t seem to ever get tired finally broke the back of the tie
late in the third. On a two on one break, he was able to break the code
that was freshman Richard Dyer’s solid goalkeeping and take the game
with three minutes remaining.

The Trojans would pull their goaltender with seconds remaining in an
attempt to get back in the contest and force an overtime, but almost saw
an empty net goal roll into the crease instead of Jason Katzen clearing the
puck with six seconds remaining.

The Cal bench was literally hopping with the final puck drop, as the
Trojans undefeated year and consecutive PAC-8 titles dropped with it,
and the streak ending at four in a row.

In one of the hardest fought games of the seasons, both teams skated to
a tie in the first, with neither seemingly gaining advantage on the other.
Hard checks and stingy defense, the tone set in the first, would carry as
the theme throughout the game.

USC would get on the board first early in the second period, thanks to
sophomore forward Brandon Krikorian. However, this lead would be short
lived.

Within one minute, the Bears struck back with a goal of their own,
courtesy of Chris Moulton. After a three-on-one was turned away by Dyer,
the rebound opportunity was taken advantage of by Moulton and quickly
knotted the contest.

Jeff Drala would reclaim the lead for the Trojans with six minutes left in
the second period, and would not find the back of the net for the rest of
the night.

Cal Goalie Brad Buss was simply amazing in the third period, repeatedly
bailing out his Cal teammates has he turned away shot after shot by
angry Trojan attackers.

However, Moulton and the rest of the Cal Bears would strike again, and
eventually take the game from them late in the third, courtesy of Haq.