The Oregon Club hockey team embarked on new territory this weekend, defeating Washington twice for the first time since the introduction of the I-5 Cup in 2000. Oregon dominated the Huskies 7-2 Friday night and then won a thriller 3-2 Saturday evening. The Cup, modeled after UCLA and USC’s Crosstown Cup, is a best-of-four game series between the two Northwest rivals. Just as important as winning in the Cup, the Ducks are now 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Pacific-8.
“It feels great,” senior Justin Keeland said. Keeland scored the game-winning goal
in Saturday’s contest with 14:25 left in
the game.
“They tried to dump it in the zone,” said Keeland, a defensman from Portland.
“I stopped it with my skate.”
Keeland sent the puck down the rink
toward Washington goalie Matt Hazzow, hoping that a teammate could get a quick
deflection into the net.
“It went through (Hazzow’s) legs. I didn’t even see it,” Keeland said.
After Keeland’s score, the Ducks kept
defensive pressure on the Huskies, sealing
Oregon’s victory.
Washington started the scoring on a goal by Jamie O’Brien with 3:14 left in the first
period. Oregon then opened the second
period with goals by defensman Whit
Ackerman and wing Ryan Jones to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Ducks at the 9:06 mark.
The Huskies tied the contest when Conor Foley found the net five minutes later, setting the stage for Keeland’s game winner.
Defensively, freshman Matt Nuernberg had 26 saves on 28 shots, shutting down an always-competitive Husky squad.
“The level of play really stepped up the last 14 minutes,” Nuernberg said about the game following Keeland’s goal.
In Friday night’s contest, sophomore Mike Roley led the Ducks with two goals and two assists. Washington took an early lead at the 14:24 mark in the first period to go up 1-0 on an O’Brien goal. Roley answered by scoring with 4:42 left in the period, and the Ducks never looked back.
“(The goal) really got us going,” Roley said.
Oregon scored the next six goals of the game, going up 7-1 before allowing a last minute shot with less than two minutes to play. Left wing Sam Driver, center Mike Tornabene, Jones, wing Dorian Dolinajec and wing Scott Tedrick all tallied one goal each for the Ducks during the offensive outburst.
Nuernberg started his stellar weekend with 12 saves on 14 shots during Friday’s blowout. Oregon’s defensmen completely shut down the Huskies’ offense, spending almost the
entire game on Washington’s side of the ice.
“Defense has been playing strong all year,” Nuernberg said. “They make my job that much easier. The few shots they allow are bad-angle shots.”
Oregon will take its winning streak
to Berkeley, Calif., this weekend to face
California, the Pac-8 co-leader with the Ducks.
“These are the games we have to win,” Keeland said. “Everyone’s very excited after this weekend. These upcoming games are the toughest of the year.”
Cal, the pre-season Pac-8 favorite and
defending conference champion, is the first major hurdle in the Ducks’ quest for the
Pac-8 championships.
“Having four wins already is a great step towards making the Pac-8 tournament,”
Keeland said.
Roley was equally excited about the Ducks’ postseason aspirations.
“We’ve got a chance of winning the Pac-8 and going to nationals,” Roley said.

Beau Eastes is a freelance reporter for
the Daily Emerald