Trojans win the rematch 7-1.
It was clear that USC, when it has the majority of its players at a game, is significantly better than LMU and the Trojans proved that tonight.
After a sloppy first period, USC held a 2-1 lead before getting yelled at in the locker room and going on a 4 goal blitz in the second period. The third period was back and forth with only one goal scored by either team. Some notes and observations:
- Michael Joyce had perhaps his best weekend ever as a Trojan. On the weekend, Joyce had 4 goals and 9 assists for an incredible 13 points between the two games. He had 8 of those points against CSUF before tacking on another 5 tonight. The captain really took control, playing incredibly well with Alex Lofthus.
- Lofthus didn't have such a bad weekend himself. He scored 4 goals and tallied 4 assists. A number of the goals were assisted by one another. They were especially deadly on odd-man rushes, creating them with bursts of speed and finishing them off with chemistry.
- An unexpected promotion was earned this week. In order to balance out the scoring between the top two lines, Coach Wilbur has officially promoted Mitchell Landsinger from the third line center to the top line. Wilbur made the move because of Landsinger's ability to win faceoffs cleanly and serve as the grinder/checker on a line with two prolific scorers.
- Michael Nijjar returned and handled the demotion to the second line well. He was productive, showing a great finishing touch on both of his goals, especially his second one.
- Two sweet assists tonight. Noah Comisar's feed to Tyler McLinn was especially interesting because he fanned on the first attempt before putting the second attempt right into McLinn's wheelhouse. Jason Bush's pass from the top of his faceoff circles right onto the stick of a streaking Michael Nijjar was a thing of beauty as well.
- Dante Caravaggio had a heck of a game. He essentially scored last night against CSUF (a puck that was tipped by McLinn on its way in) and rocketed in the eventual game winner 5 seconds into a powerplay tonight. When Dante has his stick, he can really rip the puck. He even took a chance and blasted one on net from center ice.
- Matt Buttweiler had the game we've been expecting out of him all year long. He made it look easy by being in the right position on every shot. The one goal scored wasn't really his fault because there was a massive defensive breakdown right in front of him. The stark contrast between Buttweiler and LMU goalie Chris Marks was very apparent. Marks made some spectacular saves, but only because he had to recover from being out of position so frequently.
- Tonight was the last home game for one hell of a penalty killer. Mark Koechling won't be at the last UCLA home game and has seen his last game at Anaheim Ice as a Trojan.
- Tyler McLinn had a sweet and sour game. He scored a goal that crushed the life out of LMU and set up a relatively low-key third period, but then ruined a productive weekend (4 goals) by getting a DQ near the end of the game. That'll keep him from playing in at least the first game at ASU if he makes the trip at all. That's a shame because McLinn has returned from injury well, finishing off a lot of pucks, and this could halt his momentum.
- Josh Cerasuolo didn't dress because he was running the scoreboard.
- Expect a story on Thursday in the Daily Trojan about the weekend's slate of games.
One more note... I will not be in Arizona to cover those two games. You can tune in to ASU's broadcast at
www.audiosportsonline.net/AZState/Hockey2008.htm . Their broadcaster Kyle Glaser does a pretty good job.
Official scorers coming shortly
