Thursday, November 13, 1997
Hockey team glides to top of Pac-8 with recent wins
RECAP:
Strong offensive, defensive play makes for lopsided Bruin
victoriesBy Rocky Salmon
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Another bear bites the dust, while the 49ers were sent to sieve
for gold somewhere else.
The UCLA ice hockey team met up against Cal on Friday and netted
a 6-1 victory.
A night later, they returned to the same arena and shut out Long
Beach State, 8-0.
Leading the charge for the Bruins over the weekend were wings
Dumas Maugile and Ben Theule, who combined to notch four goals
apiece and three assists. Center Reinhart Kramreither set up most
goals, picking up five assists over the week end.
Usually overshadowed by the dominating offense, Mike Michelena,
the UCLA goalie, only allowed one goal, giving him a .954 save
percentage.
As the season has progressed, the defense has tightened their
blades and checked their opponents to low-scoring games.
"We pretty much stuck to our game plan," Mike Siegel said. "We
tried to control the game from the opening face-off so we wouldn’t
have to play catch-up. Everyone on the team executed."
By sticking to their game plan and by avoiding selfishness, the
Bruins find themselves in unfamiliar territory: first place. With
an undefeated record, the Bruins have vaulted in front of
second-place Southern Cal, who they defeated earlier this year.
With two wins against the two top teams in the league, the
Bruins will have to face a tough challenge when they travel outside
of the Pac-8 to battle San Diego State.
"SDSU is a pretty tough team and who ever plays the strongest
will come out with the victory," said Siegel.
What makes the game even more strenuous for the Bruins is that
they have to leave Los Angeles and travel to San Diego for a 3 p.m.
game. The three-hour drive on that same day should tire out the
Bruins a bit and give the Aztecs a slim advantage.
"Traveling will definitely affect us," Siegel, a co-captain,
said. "We will have to leave early in the morning and it could tire
us out before we even hit the ice. But I think we have enough depth
to overcome it."
The Bruins need this victory to provide momentum for next week’s
game against cross-town rivals USC. In a match of the two top teams
in the conference, the winner of this five-game series looks like
they will come out with the Pac-8 trophy.