If hockey games didn’t include a second period, the Oregon Ducks would be quite the force.
Unfortunately for the Oregon Club Sports hockey team, second periods exist, and lately they’ve been anything but a force.
The Ducks (5-12 overall, 4-6 Pacific-8 Conference) dropped a pair of games to the USC Trojans over the weekend, both of which were close until the second period.
“Intermission kills us,” said Oregon head coach Garreth MacDonald. “It’s the same old story.”
Saturday, the Ducks fell to the three-time defending Pac-8 champs, 11-1. The game was close early as the Trojans led 2-0 until the 13th minute of the second period. Then, a power-play goal by Trojan forward Nick Nickson started a string of four goals in five minutes. Duck forward Doug Washburn stopped the run with the Ducks’ only goal of the game in the 19th minute, only to have Trojan forward Raffie Kalajian answer 30 seconds later, making it 7-1.
Nickson and Kalajian finished with four goals apiece.
“We can’t put 60 minutes together,” Duck assistant captain Cory Howard said. “We play a good 20, but unfortunately there’s 60 minutes in a hockey game.”
Penalties once again were an Achilles heel for the Ducks. Fourteen penalties led to three power-play goals for the Trojans, all in a three-minute span in the second period.
“Penalties killed us both games,” Howard said. “It’s the story of the season.”
The Ducks surrendered four power-play goals Friday in a 9-3 loss in which they were outscored 6-0 in the second period.
The game started promising for the Ducks as they jumped out in front 1-0 on forward Nathan Vogel’s putback with two minutes gone by. The lead was short-lived however, as Trojan defenseman Scott Sargent answered from the left wing a minute later.
The Ducks found themselves down 2-1 with 12 minutes remaining in the second period when a controversial call swung momentum in favor of the Trojans. Duck forward Steven Budke fired a shot straight on that appeared to go in the net and bounce back out off of the padding. The officials said the shot missed high and bounced off the top post.
“You can distinctly hear if a puck hits the post,” MacDonald said. “You would have heard a tink.”
Two minutes later, Kalajian scored the second goal of his eventual hat trick and the Trojans were off and running.
Howard and assistant captain Michael Tornabene added power-play goals for the Ducks in the third period.
The game marked the first action for newly acquired freshman goalie David Martin, who allowed seven goals and finished with 18 saves before removing himself during the 17th minute of the second period.
“I was looking for a better outing,” Martin said.
MacDonald said that Martin wasn’t the one to blame for the goals that were scored while he was in the net, due to the majority being power-play goals and putbacks.
“I don’t think any of the goals were (Martin’s) fault,” MacDonald said. “The defense hung him out to dry.”
Martin finished with 26 saves Saturday.
“USC’s a better team,” Duck captain Dan Rusler said. “They have little tricks to get under your skin and they don’t get caught.”
Saturday’s game was stopped for 10 minutes late in the third period when Kalajian was smashed by Duck center Nathan King in front of the Duck bench. It took several minutes for Kalajian to pull himself together, but when he did, officials mistakenly ejected Duck center Josh Friedman for intent to injure.
The Ducks play at home this weekend against Palmer West. Both games start at 8 p.m.