The Ducks swept Lewis and Clark 10-1 and 14-2 in last weekend’s games, ending their five-game losing streak.
“Our top two lines had a lot of fun and scored a lot of points,” Oregon’s captain Tyler Shaffar said.
Key players Mike Tornabene and Brett Ledders were back and things fell into place for the Ducks.
Starting in Portland on Friday, the Ducks outplayed the Pioneers in a fairly non-physical game, said Shaffar, who scored four points in that game.
Both Tornabene and Steve Budke scored their first hat tricks of the season during these games, and Tornabene had six points during the Saturday game.
Other stellar performances came from Andy Waldera, who had five points on Saturday, and Tim Gibbons, who scored his first Oregon career goal. Replacement goalie Joe Fagliano stepped in for Josh Hardin at the start of the second period and did not let in another goal for the rest of the night. A total of eight Ducks scored multiple goals that night.
“We were able to give all four lines time to play. It was great to give them some ice time,” Shaffar said. “Usually we play two lines pretty hard.”
The Pioneers joined the ACHA this year for the first time. Many of their players are freshmen or just players without much experience, Shaffar said.
“But they have a phenomenal goalie,” Shaffar said. “Yeah, we scored a lot of goals on him, but that wasn’t all his fault.”
The Pioneer goalie had to tend 42 blows on the Portland goal Friday, compared to Oregon’s 14.
“In a few years I think their program should be developing nicely,” Shaffar said. “It’s nice to have a team that’s building. It’s a close team, so it could turn out to be a good rival.”
Of other housekeeping items, Oregon’s goalie Hardin is out for two to four weeks after a freak home accident left the tendon on his left ring finger nipped. That leaves only a slight chance that Hardin will tend the goal in the important games against Washington two weeks from now.
“We’re gonna have to step it up for Joe,” Shaffar said. “But I have confidence in Joe.”
Fagliano has not allowed a goal in 72 minutes.

ROTC
The Oregon ROTC Ranger Challenge teams ran, threw, pulled and sweated into a third and a fourth place in the six-team competition Saturday.
Defending champion Portland can hold on to that traveling trophy for yet another year. The competition, held on the UO campus and by Autzen Stadium, featured most of the prominent Oregon schools.
“We had some good showings, but it just wasn’t enough to get us up there as the best team,” said Jon Dinsmore, the Duck coach and ROTC faculty adviser.
Dinsmore was impressed with the Ducks’ junior varsity team that finished fourth overall.
“They beat some teams that were picked to win over them,” he said.
The Ducks won the grenade throwing event, came in second on the rope bridge construction, second on the 10 Km race and second on the Army Physical Fitness Test, Dinsmore said.
Portland finished ahead of the second-place Beavers. Fifth place went to Western Oregon University, and a second Portland team came in sixth.