HOCKEY PREVIEW vs. San Jose State Today 8:30
p.m. Health Training Center El Segundo
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
David Cokely has an explanation as to why the UCLA men’s
hockey team is unlikely to come out with a victory in
tonight’s season opener against San Jose State.
The Bruins are smart enough to know better.
“They don’t have the same admission requirements
that UCLA has,” said Cokely, UCLA’s first line left
winger. “It’s hard to find really smart hockey players.
That’s what we get, and they can obviously take people with
lower GPAs and lower SAT scores.”
“It’s really hard to find really smart hockey
players.” David Cokely UCLA men’s
hockey left winger
Them be fighting words.
Bruin goalie Matt Miller admits that the Spartans are probably
the most talented team they will face all season. San Jose State
has already defeated USC twice, and neither game was close (11-1
and 7-2).
According to Cokely, superstars on the UCLA team might not even
get ice time if they played for SJSU.
“We usually start out with an easier schedule, but this
year we’re jumping right into possibly the toughest on the
West Coast, if not the toughest,” Cokely said.
The Bruins will premiere a defensive zone scheme tomorrow.
Though Miller believes the change will turn out to be very
effective, he is realistic about the fact that the Spartans’
combo of speed and depth will leave him little time to catch his
breath.
“I’m expecting it to be a bombardment,” Miller
said. “All I can do is try to save the puck and let my
team’s offense worry about the score.”
The offseason departure of two top-notch offensive players to
graduation, captain James Campbell and assistant captain Ben
Theule, means the Bruins will face tough times while they try to
determine their lines.
The entire UCLA squad believes in the ability of its top two
lines to put the puck in the net, but Cokely was not alone when he
said the team will probably struggle during the season in terms of
determining its depth.
Not helping matters is the loss of first line center James
Costello to a back injury. Costello will miss at least the first
two games of the season.
“Since this is the first game, there’s going to be a
lot of line juggling,” Bruin assistant coach Mike Siegel
said. “We’ll put people in different positions and
different scenarios to see how they fit and how they
react.”
The Bruins want to be in sync by the time they begin Pac-8
conference play, as those games count toward qualifying for the
Pac-8 championship ““ not to mention that they provide a much
more realistic matchup.
Although an upset of SJSU can’t ever be ruled out, UCLA
knows better. Well, sort of.
“It’s definitely David vs. Goliath sort of
deal,” Cokely said. “And we’ve got the
slingshot.”