Shorthanded Cal Ice Hockey splits with ASU, the Bears (2nd in PAC-8) to take on Santa Clara this Friday

This past weekend Cal traveled to Phoenix Arizona to take on the ASU Sun Devils.

When Cal arrived at the rink it seemed like an insurmountable feat to leave Arizona with a win. ASU had a full roster, 19 players and 2 goalies while Cal only had 9 skaters and 2 goalies due to injuries and a few players not able to travel.

In the 1st game Cal's top line of Wes Borja, Keiskue Teeple and JP McNicholas accounted for all 3 goals in the 5-3 loss to ASU; Goaltender Peter Tartaglia played great giving the Bears a legitimate opportunity to win the game, however, the lack of energy from travel and lack of players proved too be much to overcome.

In the 2nd game, the following night Cal came out with an umatched desire to win despite only having point 11 players. Captain Dan Sulitzer opened up the scoring from a sharp angle to the left side of ASU's goaltender with a snap shot to the top left corner. Star forward Wes Borja buried the Bears' 2nd goal to go up 2-0. In the 3rd period, seasoned veteran #8 Matt Henry rushed the puck up the ice and put a shot on goal -  TJ Wynn scored the game winner, despite playing with an injury when he knocked the rebound from Henry's shot into the net. An ASU forward looked to tie the game up with about 5 minutes remaining when he found the puck on his stick from a rebound and an open net yawning at him.

However, freshman goaltender Mat Bloomfield saved the game with a diving blocker save. Star
forward, #41 Alex Gordon played great all weekend long substituting in as a defenseman when Coach Allen deemed it necessary. Star forward #80 Keiskue Teeple showed his versatility and dynamic all throughout the 2nd game - playing as a top forward, backchecking up and down the ice and bouncing back after taking a dirty check from behind which drew an ASU penalty. Freshman defenseman Grant Brown saw much ice time being one of only 3 defenseman and proved to be effective drawing 3 penalites on the weekend, including an ASU 5 minute major in  which Cal scored on the ensuing powerplay.

via assets.sbnation.com

#24 Captain Dan Sulitzer and his counterpart, PAC8 Star Defenseman, #8 Matt Henry combined to be the cause of ASU's lack of offense

The California Golden Bears are 6-3-1 overall and 3-2-1 in PAC8 play (wins - loss - overtime loss). Cal is currently ranked 2nd in the PAC8 behind 1st place Oregon.

The Bears next home game is Friday November 13th at 7pm versus Santa Clara University. Come watch Cal's leading scorer JP McNicholas (10 games played, 28 points) lead the 2nd place Bears as they plan to Rollllll On past Santa Clara.

In conclusion, I think I speak for us all when I say:

GO BEARS!