ONLINE EXTRA: Team suffers losses over weekend

By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

There was some good, some bad and then more ugly.

The UCLA ice hockey team got off to an inauspicious beginning as
it was swept over the weekend by a combined score of 21-3.

Faced with the challenges of an inexperienced roster, a brand
new defensive scheme and speedy opponents, UCLA (0-2) came away
with an 8-1 loss to San Jose State on Thursday and a 13-2 loss to
Palmer West on Saturday at Healthsouth Training Center ice rink in
El Segundo.

“Overall I’m fairly happy with what our team did
tonight,” Bruin assistant coach Mike Siegel said after the
loss to SJSU. “We still have a long way to go, but I think we
have a lot of potential. They just need some more
experience.”

In Thursday’s season opener the Spartans jumped out to a
2-0 lead less than six minutes into the game before the Bruins
settled down. Play evened out during the second half of the first
period before a back-breaking goal with only five seconds left.
UCLA captain Eric Grahling lost the puck near the blueline and SJSU
winger Aaron Scott beat goaltender Matt Hsu down low on what might
as well have been a penalty shot.

Down 4-0 late in the second period, the Bruins would score their
only goal of the game during a 5-on-3 power play. Defenseman Mike
Mount, positioned at the right slot, took a pass from left winger
Dave Cokely and scored top shelf on the short side. The Spartans
would answer with another late goal, this time with 1:05 left in
the period to go into intermission up 5-1.

Even though they didn’t come out with the win, the Bruins were
upbeat after the game against the Spartans.

“I think it was a good experience for
everyone,”Cokely said on Thursday.

The story was close to identical on Saturday, as Palmer West
jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead, extending it to 7-1 by the
second intermission and adding six more in the final period to take
the game 13-2.

The Bruins had goals from wingers Robert Morel and Clarence
Monteclaro, but starting goalie Matt Miller faced 47 shots in the
first period before giving way to Hsu. UCLA was outshot by 60-30 by
the SJSU.

The new zone defensive scheme implemented by UCLA had mixed
results, as the Bruins allowed SJSU to penetrate the zone early on
and gave up a number of high quality shots. Once the team got used
to the speed of the Spartans, the forwards and defensemen no longer
backed off as much and stopped playing so timidly, said Siegel.

“We’re a hard-working team, and when we are
hustling, playing the system we want to play and have our heads in
the game, we can be exciting and fun to watch,” left winger
Justin Williams said after the SJSU game.

Also noticeable in the game versus the Spartans was the
Bruins’ grit. Using what Williams denoted as
“smart-hitting,” UCLA got a rise out of the crowd
whenever a SJSU was bodychecked ““ especially when Mount
flattened the same Spartan winger not once, but twice during a
shift in the first period.

“At times we were really clicking, and we were doing
well,” Williams said. “Those shining moments are what
I’m looking forward in the rest of the season.”

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