Matt Harrow turned away 26 Cougar shots.

In one of the hardest fought games of the season, Washington
goaltender Matt Harrow resorted to using snow angels in the crease to
keep the Washington State Cougars off the scoreboard. Stopping short of
standing on his head, Harrow used every move in the book to keep
Cougar pucks out of the net and propel the Huskies to their tenth win of
the season with a score of 3-2.

The Dawgs used the same formula they have used all season in collecting
their eighth win in a row and eighth PAC8 victory, which is score early and
make the other team play catch up.

With just over 10 minutes gone in the game, the Huskies decided to get
the puck rolling by going with one of the main go-to guys on the team in
Captain Brett Lawrence. He took a pass from Sean O’Brien on an odd man
rush and merely put his blade out as the puck was redirected into a
virtually open net, as WSU goaltender Joel Frederick was not in position to
play both men at once.

Moments later in an almost identical play, Jamie O’Brien whiffed on the
open net, but kept the pressure and the thought in the back of the heads
of WSU defenders and Frederick that the Dawgs could strike at any
moment.

The first stanza would end with the Cougs attempting to claw to a tie, but
Harrow wouldn’t allow it. With less than five minutes to go until first
intermission, the Cougars started to put shots on goal, with Harrow
repeatedly freezing the puck. In one instance, he laid flat on this back,
collected the puck and laid on top of it while Cougar attackers tried to jab
it in but to no avail. This would be the theme for the rest of the night as
Harrow was diving all over the ice, left and right, on his belly and on his
back to deny the Cougars.

The second period started to see the hits pick up, as Jason Ruel and TJ
Anderson started to throw their weight around. Washington State simply
did not have a physical answer to the feared duo and were simply crimson
and gray clad targets for the tandem to demolish at will.

However, with increased hits come more penalties, and the Dawgs and
Cougs both had more than their share of penalties in the second and
third periods.

The second period also was the time that the Dawgs began to distance
themselves from the Cougars and started to build their lead. Goals within
a minute of each other, with one at the 8:23 mark by Jamie O’Brien, and
another at 7:55 by Cody Vandermyn saw the Huskies leading 3-0 and the
wind out of the Cougar sails.

The Cougs may have been down, but they were definitely not out.

The Washington State skaters finally got on the board with a minute left
to go in the second period on a controversial goal by Ben Arthurs. Arthurs
seemed to have taken the shot from out of mid air and tomahawked the
puck like a 3-0 fastball up at the eyes, eliciting the entire Husky defense
along with Harrow looking for the high stick call. No call was made and the
Cougs skated into the third down by two goals.

In the third, it was more of the same that was seen in the second period,
with hard hits and spectacular saves on both ends of the ice.

After seemingly consecutive penalties on the Huskies Charlie Walters, the
Cougs finally were able to get a power play goal and draw within a goal
with 8 minutes left on the clock. That was as close as they would get.

The last eight minutes ended up being some of the most exciting hockey
played at home yet this season, as penalties were exchanged and
shorthanded opportunities for the Cougars almost lead to them tying the
game with three minutes left to go. However, Harrow pulled his snow
angel out of the hat for the second time in the game, escalating the fun
for crowd and sealing the victory for the Huskies.

“It was one of our best games, because we fought through all the
adversity,” said Coach Cindy Dayley. Coach stressed how her players got
on top and stayed there, and gave what took to win close games. “They
are our arch-rivals…we are now focused on the PAC8 championship,”
Dayley said.