The Oregon Club Sports hockey team swallowed two hard defeats against USC on home ice last weekend.
The Ducks fell to the Trojans 4-0 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday at the Lane County Ice Arena.
Friday’s loss was particularly painful. Oregon was in the game the entire time and had the most chances (35 versus the Trojans’ 28), but the Ducks didn’t execute the way they should have.
“It was pretty demoralizing,” Oregon captain Tyler Shaffar said. “We had the opportunity to beat them, but they embarrassed us in front of our own crowd.”
The Trojans scored the first goal within the first minute of the first period, a score that stood until the third period. In the final session, USC shoved in three more for the 4-0 shutout.
“It’s really disheartening,” defenseman Rob Starkey said. “We played really well, but we couldn’t get it past their goalie. Nobody has been able to step up and score.”
The Ducks tried new systems and lines this weekend, following tough losses on their Utah road trip in the weekend prior.
On the bright side, Oregon had many of the breaks and bounces in the game.
“We were all over them,” Shaffar said. “We can’t lose a game like that.”
The Ducks had 17 shots in the second period alone, but it wasn’t enough.
On Saturday, Oregon was no competition for USC despite the fact that a Trojan player dislocated his kneecap when he collided with one of his own players. The accident caused a 45-minute pause in the game, which threw the Ducks off, Starkey said.
But USC finished what it started Friday and drove the Ducks to the brink of hitting the panic button. The Trojans scored three goals before Oregon even got one in the net, and then they slapped in another two to finish off the Ducks.
“They were the better team,” Shaffar said. “They outplayed us. It’s so frustrating. You try to change everything, and it’s not working. We have a better team than last year, but we’re doing worse.
“Where do you go from here?”