With four more contests remaining in the regular season, Oregon is flirting with the possibility of ending with a better record than it did two seasons ago – a year the Ducks finished 22-4-2 and won their first ever Pac-8 Championship.
“I think it is right on the doorstep there for us,” Oregon coach Scott McCallum said last week. “We have had an excellent year.”
At 18-3 overall and 12-2 in the Pac-8, the Ducks are second in conference standings (trailing only USC in points) and are ranked ninth with 64 points in the American Collegiate Hockey Association West Region poll.
Oregon has one less conference loss than USC, which has dropped three Pac-8 games. Coordinator Jeff Gibb said because the Ducks lost to the Trojans when Oregon was a one seed and because Oregon beat USC when the Trojans were seeded second to complete the split series, USC gets ownership of first place in the Pac-8 standings.
Guaranteed a spot in the Pac-8 Championship in Los Angeles on Feb. 9-10, the Ducks will most likely enter as the second seed, in front of Arizona State and UCLA. The Ducks would also earn a birth into the regional tournament in Logan, Utah, Feb. 16-17, as one of the top 10 teams in the West Region if action started today.
Last year, the club came one ranking short of regional post-season play.
Most recently, Oregon won its third consecutive I-5 Cup Series against Washington, sweeping the Huskies 16-1, 9-0.
Junior Cameron Forni scored a game-high four goals in game one and sophomore Tom Stocklin had two goals and three assists.
If history repeats itself, the Ducks may well be on their way to another Pac-8 title. Oregon will battle Montana State on the road this weekend in Spokane, Wash., and then face Western Washington in Eugene to conclude its regular season.
In 2005-06, the Ducks downed Western Washington (6-3,10-3) at home and then swept Montana State in Spokane, 4-2 in both games. Oregon did not show signs of fatigue to end last year’s regular season either, finishing 4-0 with wins against USC and the University of Puget Sound. Overall, the Ducks finished 19-5 in the regular season and 1-1 in the post season.
This current Ducks team has only extended the pace set two years ago by an upstart program headed by McCallum, who was named Pac-8 Coach of the Year in 2005. But one looming memory still hangs: Closing in on its second consecutive championship, Oregon’s victory over California last season in the single-elimination Pac-8 Championship semifinals was overshadowed by the 4-3 overtime loss to USC in the finals the following day. The memory doesn’t haunt though, it serves to motivate.
“USC is our biggest rival and losing to them was tough,” Gibb, a defender, said last week. “Ever since then it has been our focus to bring the title back to Eugene.”
Earning back the Pac-8 conference title and succeeding in regional competition are at the top of McCallum’s list of goals. He believes that with hard work, the Ducks might have a chance.
“Everything has gone really well,” McCallum said. “We feel close, but nothing’s for sure. We still have to play the games.”
Having already traveled nearly 5,000 total miles round-trip to play at road games in Berkeley, Seattle, Los Angeles and Utah, the desire to succeed in the post season is at the heart of the Ducks’ drive.
“From the beginning of the season, the goal was to make it to regionals,” Steinmann said last week. “So far we are looking good. We have put ourselves the best position possible.”
“We are hoping to win out in the next six games,” Gibb said.
The last ACHA regional rankings will be released Feb. 3, McCallum said.