USC 6 UCLA 0
By Kimberly Edds
Daily Bruin Contributor
There was a little more love on the ice than normal when the
UCLA ice hockey team met up with USC Friday night in Anaheim.
Not that the teams had anything to do with that loving feeling.
That was all the doing of USC fans Kelly and Dan Briggs who chose
to skate into marital bliss between the first and second periods of
the rivalry game.
Complete with skates, hockey jerseys, and even a black mouth
guard for the bride, the newlyweds shared their joy and their love
of hockey with the fans and USC players who participated in the
ceremony.
The intermission vows didn’t exactly give the Trojans that
warm feeling as they showed the Bruins no love in the second
period, scoring five second-period goals in under 12 minutes to
turn the scoreless match into a Trojan takeover and an eventual 6-0
USC shutout.
With the reappearance of center Ben Theule into the UCLA lineup
after missing the Bruins’ San Jose road trip last week due to
injury, things seemed to be looking up for the Bruins.
They looked even better as UCLA held the Trojans at bay for the
entire first period, going into the first intermission with a
scoreless game.
That optimism didn’t last long. Crucial injuries to UCLA
defensemen Mike Mount and Stewart Szuch within minutes of each
other forced the Bruins to shift their already depleted defense
around and bring Theule and wing John Hodder back.
The Trojans took full advantage of the opportunity, scoring
their first goal on a power play right after Szuch and Mount went
down.
The shift destroyed UCLA’s first line, leaving it with
little offensive power, and drained its defense. USC was allowed to
play the majority of the game in Bruin territory and take the shots
it needed to get the puck past UCLA goaltender Michael Michelena
and a remastered Bruin defense.
Trojan wingers Jim Muntean and Jorgen Slots terrorized the Bruin
defense, with Muntean recording two goals and an assist while Slots
chipped in a goal and two assists of his own.
Usual UCLA offensive stars Dave Cokely and captain James
Campbell, meanwhile, failed to retaliate. Cokely was still feeling
the effects of a concussion he suffered last week and Campbell
spent six minutes of the second period in the penalty box serving
time for his three infractions.
Even third-liner Lenin Pacas, who had a three-game scoring
streak going into the game, couldn’t make anything happen for
the Bruins and UCLA handed USC goaltender Clay Hix his first
shutout of the year.
This is the second time this season that the Trojans have
defeated UCLA, having handed the Bruins a 5-2 loss just the week
before. The win gives the Trojans a 2-0 edge in the best of five
Cross-town Cup Rivalry with the third and possibly deciding game to
be played on the Bruins’ home ice at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at
Healthsouth Training Center in El Segundo.
Before that, the Bruins face the undefeated Washington Huskies
on Sunday Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. at the same locale.