Oregon’s hockey team opened the second half of their season by splitting a two-game weekend series with College of the Canyons this past weekend. The visiting Cougars play a division below the Oregon Ducks in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, but they were the national champions at their division last year. @@http://www.oregonduckshockey.com/?p=583@@ @@http://achahockey.org/schedule_team.php?league_id=1061&the_month=01&the_year=2012&team_id=13145@@
The Ducks won on Saturday, defeating the Cougars 2-1 on a Tyler Halverson goal nearly three minutes into a five minute overtime period. It was Halverson’s seventh goal of the year but his first game winner. @@http://www.oregonduckshockey.com/?page_id=11@@
“I kind of got stuck down low in the zone,” Halverson said, “and wound up in front of the net and the puck popped up to Patrick Thornton there. He took a shot low along the ice that was easy for me to tip and I just redirected it.”
Halverson said that the goal came as a result of being in the right place at the right time.
“It was kind of luck of the draw,” he said. “I wound up in front of the net and I’m a defenseman@@defenseman?@@, so that doesn’t normally happen for me.”
It wasn’t the only fortunate thing to happen to the Ducks on the night. College of the Canyons hit the goalpost several times, and the Ducks know any of those could have been goals.
“When that happens you got to make sure you battle even harder to make sure that next time those pucks don’t even get that far,” Halverson said.
But it wasn’t just the post keeping the pucks out of the net. Freshman goaltender Danny Cockriel made save after save, including a few key stops late to keep the game tied in the third period.
“I thought he had one of the best games of his season,” Halverson said. “He’s got really quick feet and he’s the reason we were in it tonight for sure.”
On Sunday, the Cougars outlasted the Ducks in an 8-6 goalfest. The Ducks entered the third period down two goals and could never get any closer than a one goal deficit, despite scoring four times in the final period.
Head coach Rich Salahor said this was because the Ducks were devoting so much attention to offense trying to tie up the game. @@http://achahockey.org/team_staff.php?team_id=13145&league_id=1061@@
“We were pressing offense pretty hard,” he said. “So when we hand off the puck when we’re pressing offense it doesn’t leave much for defense.”
Salahor said he was satisfied with the Ducks effort on the weekend, despite the fact the Ducks won just one of the two games.
“I would have liked to have won both games,” Salahor said. “But they battled hard both games and we battled hard both games, and that’s the way it ends up sometimes.”
Senior defensemen Dougo Reese was also impressed with his team.
“Two hard games like this after the break shows that we came ready to play,” Reese said. The Ducks captain said he was proud of the way his team stayed in shape over the winter break.
Salahor said he was unhappy with the officiating at times in both games, but that he understands that missed calls are a part of the game.
“They’re a part of the game; they make mistakes just like players do,” Salahor said. “It does tip both ways sometimes, and that’s the way it goes.”
The Ducks now turn their attention to this weekend’s series against archrival Washington. Oregon will play in Seattle this Friday and Saturday, and looks to avenge a pair of losses to the Huskies in Eugene earlier in the season. @@http://achahockey.org/show_team_results.php?team_id=13145&league_id=1061@@
The Huskies need just one victory to maintain control of the I-5 Cup for another year. If the Ducks can get two wins in Washington, however, the teams will have a postgame shootout to determine the winner of the rivalry’s yearly prize. @@http://www.huskyicehockey.com/@@
“The I-5 Cup is huge; there are guys like me on the team who are on their third year who have never won it,” head coordinator Matt Hanlon said. “Beyond that, what it boils down to is that we really don’t like the Huskies.”