By Matthew Hargreaves
The three-game road trip to sunny southern California this weekend might be just what the IceCats needs to get them out of their cool play as of late.
A personal grudge might not hurt either.
“Personally, I”m looking for some revenge,” said junior winger Travis Little. “We played USC my freshman year and tied. It was my fault really, they [USC] passed the puck across the ice, and it hit my stick and went in the net. So I”m looking for some payback.”
Mired in a mini three-game loosing skid, the IceCats can look to their first opponent for motivation to win. Provo faces the University of Southern California, the three-time PAC-8 league champions, Thursday Jan. 16 in Los Angeles.
USC, 12-6-1, currently ranks 6th in the American Collegiate Hockey Association West Division. The Trojans are a very senior laden-team, and have three players with over 40 points, including captain Raffie Kalajian, who has recorded 36 goals and 29 assists.
One thing Provo has on its side is a size advantage. No player on USC is over 200 pounds. The tallest player, 6-ft 3-in, is the goalie. None of the team”s short-staffed defensemen, a position usually requiring size, is very large.
Although the teams haven”t met recently, coach Patrick Perrett expects USC to play a very tough game. The IceCats themselves have been working hard on defensive fundamentals and puck movement.
“We”ve been working on a lot of fundamentals,” Perrett said. “We want a less rigid system. We want to give the defense more freedom to move up with the puck and avoid the fore-checking of the other team.”
When asked about USC”s star forward, Perrett said they would want to assign their best defender to keep track of him.
Normally that would mean Travis Little; however, because of a disqualification during the game at Utah State, Little will have to serve a one-game suspension.
With the loss of Little, shadowing Kalijian may become the responsibility of junior winger Nathan Orr, who Perrett described as “a great fore-checker.”
After the USC game, the IceCats will move south to play California State-University of Long Beach. Long Beach, 3-6-1, is currently ranked 12th in the ACHA.
The two teams played earlier in the year, with the IceCats winning 5-3 in Provo. Long Beach expects to have a large crowd at home; however, the 49ers will not have complete dominance in the stands.
“A lot of members from the local wards will be coming to cheer for BYU,” said coach Perrett.
The final game of the trip will find the IceCats skating near the beaches of San Diego State University Saturday night.
SDSU, 5-8-2, has only won once in the last 10 games. Although the Aztecs are the weakest of the three teams, Perrett doesn”t want to take them too lightly.
“There are no easy teams to play against,” he said.
This week”s games come in the wake of coach Ray Bernier”s resignation from the team. Despite the loss of their leader behind the bench, Perrett says they have great leadership on the ice from their captain, senior forward Greg Ingram.
“Ingram is a great leader. The guys really follow him on the ice.”
