The University of Washington Student Newspaper
Monday, January 31, 2000

Huskies end season on high note

HOCKEY: Ice Dawgs finally beats Ducks after three long years of frustration

Amirav Davy

The Daily

When the final buzzer of the season sounded on Saturday night, there was a huge sense of ecstasy and relief in the locker room of the Husky hockey team. The UW (10-8-0, 4-6-0) was unable to beat Oregon (9-11-1, 8-8-0) in hockey for the past three years, but on Saturday night nearly everything went the team's way. After a sluggish performance on Friday night, in which they were shutout 3-0, the Dawgs were a completely different hockey team the following evening, ending the season on a high note with a 5-2 win.

"It was all emotion," said forward Jason Adams, who chipped in with a goal and an assist. "We played them three times already and we knew we could beat them. We just didn't have (the emotion), but tonight we came out flying and we killed them."

And the Huskies' intensity clearly showed as soon as they hit the ice. The Dawgs came out physical and tore the Ducks' defense apart with speed and crisp passing, often catching Oregon in a number of odd-man rushes. The tenacious Huskies drew first blood at the 7:20 mark of the first period with a goal from Clay Josephy.

"It was nice that we got some quick goals and we could hold up for the rest of the period, which allowed us to play physical for the rest of the game," goaltender Scott Southard said.

In the second period the Huskies found themselves in quite a predicament. The referees were quick to blow the whistle as the UW logged in an unprecedented number of penalty minutes, and at one point, overloaded room capacity in the penalty box with five players sitting out. However, the Dawgs' short-handed defensive unit succeeded in frustrating Oregon for most of the period.

"We were short handed a lot in the second period," Southard said. "Our boys did a very good job of killing the penalties and I did not have to work terribly hard on the kills, which is nice."

With the Dawgs being shorthanded for most of the second period, the Ducks finally capitalized 13:55 into the frame, cutting the Huskies' lead to one. The Ducks' power play goal may have shifted the momentum of the game, but the UW quickly reseized it, scoring 30 seconds later when freshman David Gasperino found the back of the net on a wrap-around.

"This team finally reached what it was striving for," said senior Clay Josephy. "And then the domino effect took over and everyone on the team came together and accomplished what we have been working for all year. The guys that are coming back next year will have this game and the emotions will be there."

On Friday the intensity of the Husky offense was non-existent. The UW fell behind Oregon early and could not recover, as the Ducks posted their first shutout of the year. The loss to the Ducks on Friday ended the Huskies hopes of qualifying for the conference tournament. Washington finished one point behind Stanford and 6.5 points behind Oregon, due to its worse conference record.

With the win the following evening, though, the UW was able to post its second winning season in a row. The Huskies have established OlympicView Arena as a difficult place for opponents to play, posting a 9-2-0 home record this season, barely missing the conference tournament in fifth place. A number of young athletes return to the ice next year as the Dawgs look to be a force in the Pac-8.

"We ended the season above .500, which is a great thing," Husky coach Cindy Dayley said. "The program is still in growth. We are getting more and more players, and this will lead into next year where we can pick it up with a winning start and look for the Pac-8 championship.