The Oregon Club Sports hockey team dropped two more against Montana last weekend, making their losing streak five and counting.
Friday’s game score was 7-5 and Saturday’s 9-2.
“Overall, their team was faster than our team,” Oregon captain Tyler Shaffar said. “We were missing two of our best guys and Saturday we just played pretty crappy.”
Despite a tiring bus ride from Bozeman, the Grizzlies walked away with 7-5 victory Friday in a game Oregon could have come out on the winning end. Montana ruled the first period — scoring four straight before Oregon’s Scott Tedrick shoved the first puck in past the Montana goalie. But the Ducks stepped it up in the second period, and cut the deficit to 5-2.
Tedrick helped trim Montana’s lead down to two in the third period, but that would be the closest Oregon would come before Montana chewed them up.
For the Ducks, the worst was still to come.
A fresh Montana team netted a 9-2 win Saturday night in a game Oregon labels as one of the worst this season. Montana entered the third period with a commanding 8-0 lead. Oregon’s Nathan Vogel saved the game from becoming a shut-out with a goal, and Steve Budke scored at the buzzer for the Ducks’ second goal.
Defensive player Larry Platzke found that the weekend showed little team effort, inspiration and team intensity.
“There is one reason we come out, and that is to win,” said Platzke, who was disappointed with the play as much as the end results.
“I apologize to the fans,” Shaffar said. “They paid money to watch us play and we didn’t fulfill our part of that bargain.”
Shaffar mentioned how the team morale is falling, and that it is evident when watching the team play on the ice.
“Especially the younger kids get really down,” said Shaffar, pointing to the freshmen on the team. “They are not focusing on what they need to do.”
Platzke compared the losses to those in Los Angeles the week before. He pointed out that in L.A., although the team lost all three games it played, it was constantly improving and playing solid hockey.
“This [weekend] was as bad as it can possibly get,” Platzke said. “After this weekend, nobody has a safe spot on the team.”
Looking ahead, Shaffar and Platzke agree that the Ducks badly need a win against Lewis and Clark next weekend.
Lewis and Clark is a new team to the league, Shaffar said, who does not know what to expect from them.
“But at this point we have to assume that any team is going to beat us,” he said.
A win against Lewis and Clark would boost morale, although the game is a non-conference one. That boost will be dearly needed in Seattle Nov. 17-18 when the Ducks face off with conference rival Washington.
“We usually play well with UW,” said Shaffar, revealing some optimism towards the rest of the season.