UO hockey encouraged) despite two losses
■Oregon drops two on the
road, eyes weekend’s game
with Washington
By Inge Scheve
for the Emerald
The Oregon club sports hockey
team re
turned
from its
Bay Area
road trip
with a
brighter
outlook
on the rest
of its season in spite of losing both
games it played.
“We just went out there and had
fun,” Oregon goalie Josh Hardin
said. "Before, we took it too seri
ously and played too uptight. We
didn’t let the game come to us.”
Last Friday, the Ducks felt the
long bus trip all through their bod
ies as they faced off against a fresh
and mature team from Palmer State
University. Oregon lost 8-2, mostly
due to a 5-0 deficit after the first pe
riod.
Even so, the Ducks didn't give
up.
“We finally scored a few,” Hardin
said. “We knew what we had to do,
and we went out there and played
some good hockey.”
Road games have traditionally
been hard for the Ducks, and that
Oregon had to play the day of its
long bus ride did not help its per
formance.
“They physically beat us up,”
said Oregon captain Tyler Shaffar
about Palmer State. “We’re pretty
sore, but we played a lot better
[than last weekend].”
The team spent Saturday morn
ing preparing for its game against
San Jose State that night. The Ducks
fell to the Spartans, 7-4, but Shaffar
said that the extra rest and relax
(( We're pretty sore, but
we played a lot better
[than last weekend].
Tyler Shaffar
captain
Oregon
ation helped the team’s perform
ance.
“The way we played on Saturday
made the whole team happy,” Shaf
far said.
The game was as equally physi
cal as Friday’s game was, and de
spite missing two key players — as
sistant captains Andy Waldera and
Larry Platzke — the team had a bet
ter attitude, Shaffar said.
After the first period, Oregon was
down, 3-1. Heading into the third
period it was 5-2, but then San Jose
State downed two more on Oregon,
which only answered with two of
its own to account for the final
score of 7-4.
Hardin’s job in the Oregon net
made the whole team happy.
“He played great,” Shaffar said.
Hardin was plenty busy. On Fri
day, he had 51 shots against him,
and Saturday's game produced 42
against the Ducks.
“I’m worn out,” he said.
The lighter attitude and the
Ducks being able to have fun play
ing the game again should transfer
Oregon hockey’s remaining schedule
Feb. 2 UO vs. Washington at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 3 UO vs. Washington at 5:15 p.m.
Feb. 10 UO at Western Washington
Feb. 11 UO at Western Washington
Feb. 16-17 Pac-8 Championships in Eu
gene
March: ACHA National Championships
in Bloomington, Indiana
Note: Home games in BOLD
nicely to this upcoming weekend.
Oregon plays Northwest rival
Washington at home in the 1-5 rival
ry that exists between the two pro
grams.
“The scoop of these games lost
mean little,” Shaffar said. “We want
to beat UW and win the PAC-8.”
Men’s
continued from page 7 A
it going in the Pac-10, and has
dropped five of its past six games.
Still, despite the fact that they
are heavy underdogs to Arizona
tonight, the Ducks appear confi
dent and say they are getting back
to playing the type of basketball
they did to open the season.
“Even though we’re not win
ning, we feel more confidence
every time we step out on the
court,” said Luke Ridnour, Oregon
freshman point guard. “We just
need to keep working hard, and
the wins will come.”
The Ducks can’t afford to be los
ing too many more games if they
want to participate in the NCAA
Tournament (a longshot), or
achieve a more realistic goal of be
ing in the NIT.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
gave his players Monday off to let
their bodies and minds heal after
two tough road defeats to the Los
Angeles schools. He knows he is
dealing with a younger team this
year, but is excited about the po
tential improvement that can be
made.
“I certainly feel that we have
gotten better this year,” Kent said.
“The competition level has
stepped up in the conference play,
and I hope to get results in the sec
ond half of the conference.”
The Wildcats pose a starting unit
that presents many matchup diffi
culties for the Ducks. Arizona is
led in scoring by junior forward
Michael Wright with 16.5 points
per game and is paced in the back
court by the talented sophomore
combination of Gilbert Arenas and
Jason Gardner. Junior forward
Richard Jefferson and 7-foot-l cen
ter Loren Woods round out the
starters.
Woods did not play in last year’s
game at Oregon because of a bad
back but tied an NCAA record and
broke the Pac-10 record for most
blocks in a game with 14 rejections
in the Wildcats’ 77-71 home win
against the Ducks last season. Ore
gon center Julius Hicks, who
missed the last two games because
of an ankle sprain, is questionable
for tonight’s game, which puts
much of the burden of containing
Woods on improving junior center
Chris Christoffersen.
“We have been able to play them
tough, but we don’t have those vet
eran players that we had last year,”
Kent said. “This is going to be a
challenge. We’re going to have to
play better than we have the last
couple of games.”
Oregon freshman point guard Luke Ridnour had an “outstanding weekend” against
USC and UCLA, according to head coach Ernie Kent.
WRC FORUM:
COME LISTEN & PARTICIPATE
The Senate Review Committee
has created a series of forums
designed to provide informed
opinions on the issues surrounding
the WRC controversy.
Forum One:
Globalization: Economic and Human Aspects
Thursday, February 1,2001 • 4-5:30 pm
Fir Room, EMU
Invited Guests:
Bruce Blonigen, Economics
Henry Goldstein, Economics
Ibrahim Gassama, Law
Lynn Stephen, Anthropology
Forum Two:
Monitoring: The Concept and Details
Pharis Harvey, International Labor Rights Fund
February 12, noon presentation
Fir Room, EMU
Forum Three:
International Labor Standards
William Gould, Stanford Law School and
Morse Professor
public lecture, February 28,7:00 pm
Room 175, Law School
Women’s
continued from page 7 A
After jumping to the top of the
standings with a 4-0 start in the
I conference, Arizona has lost three
I straight, most recently to Arizona
State, snapping a seven-year win
| ning streak for the Wildcats.
“We got out-hustled and out
played,” Arizona head coach Joan
^ Bonvicini said of the 67-57 Arizona
State victory. “The rebounding (42
I 25 advantage for ASU), I’m sur
prised we didn’t lose by more. ”
All three of Arizona’s conference
losses have been on the road.
“We’re going down there to their
home, and they’re going to be hun
| gry to win,” Shreve said. “I’m sure
| they’ll be all over us.”
Leading the ‘Cats charge is guard
| Reshea Bristol and forward Eliza
beth Pickney, who combine for
more than 28 points per game. Bris
tol leads the league in assists with
nearly seven per game and steals
(3.2). Freshman Aimee Grzyb has
been starting for the Wildcats pour
ing in 8.5 points per contest.
“Arizona is a young team on the
perimeter, but they’re very athletic
— much like USC,” Runge said.
“We have to stop their dribble pene
tration, and keep them off the offen
sive boards.”
Having never finished better than
fifth in the Pac-10, Arizona State has
We're going down
there to their home, and
they're going to be hungry
to win.
(Courtney Shreve
sophomore
point guard
11
proven to be the biggest surprise
this season. The Sun Devils are tied
with Oregon for the top seed.
Three of Arizona State’s starters
are transfers this year, with junior
Amanda Levens, last week’s confer
ence player of the week, leading the
way with 14.4 points per game.
The Ducks have an 11-game win
ning streak against Arizona State,
with the Devils’ last victory coming
on Jan. 28,1995. Oregon holds a 24
8 all-time series advantage.
Pac-10 women’s hoops standings
Team Pac-10
Oregon 5-2
Arizona St 5-2
Washington 5-3
Arizona 4-3
Stanford 4-3
Oregon State 3-4
USC 3-4
Washington St. 3-5
California ’' 2-5
UCLA 2-5
Overall
12-5
13 6
12-6
14-5
10- 7
11- 6
8-9
8-10
6-11
3-15