Hockey: Bruins aren’t afraid of the big, bad Trojans
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 19, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Rivalry week has finally arrived.
And it’s not just football we’re talking about
““ the UCLA men’s ice hockey team will face off against
USC on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Disney Ice in Anaheim. The team
will then host the Trojans on Friday at 8 p.m. at HealthSouth
Training Center in El Segundo.
The Bruins (4-9, 2-6 Pac-8) are coming off two dominating wins
over Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine last weekend, and the team
expects nothing less than the same results against USC.
“We have confidence that we can and will beat them,”
sophomore defenseman and team captain Carlos Cazares said. “I
am truly confident in saying that.”
That confidence is necessary against the Trojans (10-1-1, 6-0
Pac-8), who are ranked No. 7 in the American Collegiate Hockey
Association West. USC went on a three-game road swing to Weber
State, Utah State and Brigham Young ““ and the Trojans won all
three.
USC defeated the Bruins in UCLA’s first game of the
season, 14-5, on Oct. 10. However, UCLA looks like a completely
different team than it was in early October.
“This will definitely be a different game than last time,
when there were major lapses,” junior forward and team vice
president Eric Allen said. “They got a few good players, so
we just gotta shut them down.”
Despite USC’s high-scoring roster and vaunted record,
Bruin coaches and players are not intimidated by the Trojans. In
fact, they’re more impressed by another California team.
“This team gets so excited about ‘SC,”
assistant coach Pat Masson said. “But I actually think Cal is
a better team. The team has a hangover from the past two seasons,
but eventually they’re going to recognize that they’re
a good team.”
UCLA has lost both games it has played against Cal this season,
10-1 and 3-2, but were leading 2-0 in the latter game.
USC beat Cal 4-3 and 8-2 in their two meetings this year.
This game will be the ultimate test for the Bruins to see how
much they’ve improved this season, and they believe the team
has progressed by immense proportions.
“We are all 12 games older and 12 games wiser from the
14-5 disaster in our first meeting,” Cazares said. “We
are going to play some good hockey, and we will set the tone for
USC, as well as the rest of the conference.”
