Hockey club dominates southern rival USC
Amber Simons
Issue date: 10/5/09 Section: Sports
An enthusiastic crowd cheered as the Spartans beat the Trojans 10-2 Saturday night.
The SJSU hockey club played USC Friday and Saturday, outscoring the Trojans by a combined score of 22-4.
During the first two periods, SJSU dominated the offensive zone, repeatedly scoring on USC while keeping the puck out of its defensive zone for the majority of the game.
Robbie Vaughan scored a goal in each period for a hat trick.
The Spartans began the third period sloppily as they racked up penalty minutes. However, the team had a six-goal lead against the Trojans at the beginning of the period.
"I thought we played well for the first two periods, but the third period we really started scrambling and lost it," said head coach Ron Glasow. "I wasn't really happy with the third."
Andy Dickerson, SJSU hockey club president, said the team has depth.
Mickey Rhodes scored two goals and assisted on goals by Sam Cimino and Andy Dickerson.
Defender Scott Moring scored a goal in the third period on an assist by James Lopez and Vince Kilduff.
"I don't know if any one player stood out," Glasow said. "I thought we played very well in the first two periods. I liked some of the new guys that have been playing really well.
"I thought Vince Kilduff did really well. This was his first game ever, and he played very well tonight.
"And our defense has been looking well, Neil Schumaker and Eric Jones … both of them played very well tonight."
Most of the penalties came in the third period. Some of the penalties called were tripping, slashing, hooking, boarding, roughing and even slew-footing.
Slew-footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent's feet from under him, or pushing an opponent's upper body backward with an arm or elbow while at the same time kicking, causing him to fall violently, according to the National Hockey League.
Slew-footing is an automatic game misconduct and results in the player charged with the penalty to be kicked out of the game.
"Staying out of the box is important," Vaughan said. "Our team over the past couple of years has got a lot of penalties, and we need to figure out how to stay out of the box."
In the last nine minutes of the game slew-footing was called on Rhodes, who had to leave the ice.
"I don't know if it was a slew-foot like they said," Rhodes said after the game.
Rhodes' 19 penalty minutes brought his career total to 316.
"I don't think it was really warranted," Dickerson said. "He really didn't do what they said he did. But the good thing is that he can still play the next game."
Glasow didn't think the penalty on Rhodes was warranted either.
"He took down a guy in front of the net," Glasow said. "Because, I mean, the guy had given him a butt-end right in the throat.
"He actually didn't do bad, he controlled himself very well. I had no issue with Mickey and his reaction, and the referees saw it a different way, but the referees didn't see what started it."
Although the Spartans won the weekend games against USC, the team sees room for improvement.
"I'm happy with a lot of things, but just things got pretty ragged, and we lost our defensive zone coverage in the third period and just started running around, and that's not what we need," Glasow said. "We just gotta end that now."
USC wasn't the great challenge that Rhodes said he was expecting, but he was happy with his team's work.
"The lines really came together as one," Rhodes said. "All four lines scored and that's always a good thing."
Team members described the games against USC as a sort of preseason preparation for tougher games ahead.
"Discipline got away from us a little bit at the end, but I think we really need to shore up our defensive zone," Dickerson said. "We're playing better teams in the coming weeks. They're going to take advantage of a couple of our holes if we don't do something about it."
Richie Norris said he thinks the team's area for improvement is pacing. He said at the end of the game, the pace slows down, and the team loses intensity when it slows down.
The team's next games are not expected to be as easy as this past weekend's games.
"We play UNLV Friday and Saturday night next week," Glasow said. "And those will be two really tough games. These first three games were not as difficult as I thought they were going to be, but coming up, we're gonna be in a war from here on out."
The SJSU hockey club played USC Friday and Saturday, outscoring the Trojans by a combined score of 22-4.
During the first two periods, SJSU dominated the offensive zone, repeatedly scoring on USC while keeping the puck out of its defensive zone for the majority of the game.
Robbie Vaughan scored a goal in each period for a hat trick.
The Spartans began the third period sloppily as they racked up penalty minutes. However, the team had a six-goal lead against the Trojans at the beginning of the period.
"I thought we played well for the first two periods, but the third period we really started scrambling and lost it," said head coach Ron Glasow. "I wasn't really happy with the third."
Andy Dickerson, SJSU hockey club president, said the team has depth.
Mickey Rhodes scored two goals and assisted on goals by Sam Cimino and Andy Dickerson.
Defender Scott Moring scored a goal in the third period on an assist by James Lopez and Vince Kilduff.
"I don't know if any one player stood out," Glasow said. "I thought we played very well in the first two periods. I liked some of the new guys that have been playing really well.
"I thought Vince Kilduff did really well. This was his first game ever, and he played very well tonight.
"And our defense has been looking well, Neil Schumaker and Eric Jones … both of them played very well tonight."
Most of the penalties came in the third period. Some of the penalties called were tripping, slashing, hooking, boarding, roughing and even slew-footing.
Slew-footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent's feet from under him, or pushing an opponent's upper body backward with an arm or elbow while at the same time kicking, causing him to fall violently, according to the National Hockey League.
Slew-footing is an automatic game misconduct and results in the player charged with the penalty to be kicked out of the game.
"Staying out of the box is important," Vaughan said. "Our team over the past couple of years has got a lot of penalties, and we need to figure out how to stay out of the box."
In the last nine minutes of the game slew-footing was called on Rhodes, who had to leave the ice.
"I don't know if it was a slew-foot like they said," Rhodes said after the game.
Rhodes' 19 penalty minutes brought his career total to 316.
"I don't think it was really warranted," Dickerson said. "He really didn't do what they said he did. But the good thing is that he can still play the next game."
Glasow didn't think the penalty on Rhodes was warranted either.
"He took down a guy in front of the net," Glasow said. "Because, I mean, the guy had given him a butt-end right in the throat.
"He actually didn't do bad, he controlled himself very well. I had no issue with Mickey and his reaction, and the referees saw it a different way, but the referees didn't see what started it."
Although the Spartans won the weekend games against USC, the team sees room for improvement.
"I'm happy with a lot of things, but just things got pretty ragged, and we lost our defensive zone coverage in the third period and just started running around, and that's not what we need," Glasow said. "We just gotta end that now."
USC wasn't the great challenge that Rhodes said he was expecting, but he was happy with his team's work.
"The lines really came together as one," Rhodes said. "All four lines scored and that's always a good thing."
Team members described the games against USC as a sort of preseason preparation for tougher games ahead.
"Discipline got away from us a little bit at the end, but I think we really need to shore up our defensive zone," Dickerson said. "We're playing better teams in the coming weeks. They're going to take advantage of a couple of our holes if we don't do something about it."
Richie Norris said he thinks the team's area for improvement is pacing. He said at the end of the game, the pace slows down, and the team loses intensity when it slows down.
The team's next games are not expected to be as easy as this past weekend's games.
"We play UNLV Friday and Saturday night next week," Glasow said. "And those will be two really tough games. These first three games were not as difficult as I thought they were going to be, but coming up, we're gonna be in a war from here on out."
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