CAHA Championship game

April 4, 2004

The Cougars opened the scoring in the first minute when captain Mitch McCarthy stripped the puck from a Blackhawk in the Cougars own zone, passed back to Greg Sako who made a quick outlet pass to Andrew Gillis along the left boards.  That was followed by a quick snap pass to Bryon Paulazzo moving at speed in the center of the ice between three Blackhawk players.  So fast that he gets down the left wing stringing out the defense.  He passed the puck from the face-off dot across the slot to Keisuke Teeple who was trailing the play and going hard to the net.  Teeple, down low and ready easily directed the puck behind the goalie who had no chance on the play.  The Cougars had taken the lead that they were not to relinquish.

The second Cougar line energized by the quick score picked up where the first line let off. Big Oliver Gordon took the puck into the zone down the left wing, dropping a pass for center Nick Cruz who’s quick wrist shot was stopped by the Blackhawks goalie.

Following a Blackhawk penalty for high sticking, Paulazzo playing left wing on the power play passed back to McCarthy who’s shot on net was deflected by right winger Gillis.  The score was 2-0 for the Cougars less than three minutes into the game.

The Cougars offensive cycle kept the Blackhawks pinned in their own end for much of the first period the only relief coming when they iced the puck or when tired Cougars players shifted off mid-play allowing some release of the pressure.  With a punishing forecheck and aggressive body checking the Blackhawks turned the puck over numerous times providing good scoring opportunities for the Cougars.

With just under 8 minutes left in the opening period, a Joobin Mozaffarimehr shot from the point was ably stopped by the Blackhawk goalie but the rebound went right to Teeple who’s finishing attempt was stopped by a good second effort, denying what appeared to be a sure Cougar goal.  As the Blackhawks attempted to move the puck up the ice, the Cougars intercepted, moved the puck back into neutral ice then proceeded to dump and chase to reestablish the offensive zone cycle.

A high sticking penalty on Mauricio Schmidt gave the Blackhawks their first power play of the game.  Would the Cougars allow a power play goal like the Blackhawks did?  For the first 30 seconds the Blackhawks were kept in their own end, then the Blackhawks iced the puck. All Blackhawk attempts were stymied by an effective Cougar penalty kill unit.  The tough shots that did get through were seen through the screen, blocked and sticked aside by Cougar goalie Nathan Pham.  The penalty killing was so effective that the Blackhawks took an interference call which resulted in a four-on-four situation.

However, the four-on-four did not work to the Cougars advantage as a Blackhawk brought the puck into the Cougar zone with the defense playing a bit soft -- backing into the zone.  With Coach Morrisette yelling “pick up the guy” the Blackhawk let a shot go from the high slot at the end of the face-off circle that eluded Cougars goalie Pham.  It was now a 2-1 game.  Would the Blackhawks have what it takes to even it up and perhaps get ahead?

Right off the bat the Cougars had the answer.  The face-off was won by Paulazzo who passed back to McCarthy, up and into the zone the puck went deep for the Cougars to re-establish their punishing forecheck aptly done so by Keisuke Teeple.

On the ensuing face-off, won again by Paulazzo, the puck was pushed forward to Gillis then back to Teeple who quickly passed it back to the open point.  Joobin Mozaffarimehr did as he had practiced all year, put the shot on net without hesitation.  The shot was deflected by Gillis who was driving the net.  The Blackhawk goalie had to go down to make the save and the rebound came into the slot, right to Paulazzo who skated wide and shot it into the open net past the sprawling goaltender, untouched by the Blackhawks defenders.  It took just 24 seconds for the Cougars to respond and regain a two goal cushion.  Basic Cougar hockey:  strong checking, good face-off wins, heads up play, shoot the puck on the net and be ready in the slot for the “loose change”.

Again the Cougars second line came out firing and kept up the pressure.  A quick whistle at nullified a potential fourth Cougars goal by Kevin Kiaski off another rebound from a Mozaffarimehr slapshot from the point.

With a 3-1 lead, which team was going to take the initiative to start the second period?  The Blackhawks got-off to a good start when their speedy left winger made a nifty move with the puck and cut across the Cougars crease trying to slip the puck underneath goalie Pham who smartly countered with a push into the butterfly across the crease to foil this attempt.

Each team worked hard during the start of the period.  The Cougars looking a bit sloppy, which led to a few scoring chances for Yorba Linda.  Play went back and forth, end to end without nary a whistle.  Finally, four minutes into the period on a shot from the point, Cougars goalie Pham snagged the puck and held on for the whistle.

This seemed to calm the Cougars down because on the subsequent face-off from their own defensive end, Paulazzo won another important face-off.  Pushing the puck to the boards, Mozaffarimehr stepped forward past his man and chipped the puck up the ice and out of the zone to Teeple who was moving at full speed.  With Teeple’s man left far behind he carried the puck wide down the right wing with only one Blackhawk between him and the goalie.  The Blackhawk played it smartly, forcing Teeple all the way deep to the goal line and allowing another Blackhawks player to get back to break up the passing lane.  But it was for naught because as Keisuke crossed the goal line with one defenseman on him and another sprawled out across the ice to block the centering pass, he made a great pass to the top of the crease where Andrew Gillis was ready and waiting.  Gillis opened up his body to receive the pass and shot it by the goalie who didn’t have a chance on a perfectly executed (and pretty) play.  The Cougars had been sleepy for the first five minutes of the 2nd period but now looked to wake up and with the score being 4-1 were firmly in control.

A fired up Cougars second line of Nick Cruz (center) between the “twin towers” of Kevin Kiaski and Oliver Gordon again took the momentum and drove the puck to the net forcing the Blackhawks back on their heels.  There was to be no time to breathe for Yorba Linda, no respite from the Cougars attack by all lines.

Hard work and two way play signified the Cougars work as the second period ran on.  With two Cougars behind the net and two Blackhawks players battling them for possession right after Paulazzo was denied on a wraparound chance as the puck was pushed up ice he skated all the way back to break up the play as the Blackhawks player was free in the slot.  Now that they had the lead the Cougars were determined to keep it by back checking and gritty two-way play.

With the game half over the Cougars still found a way to pick things up.  With open ice to skate Mitch McCarthy, reminiscent of Bobby Orr (also #4, just like the Cougar captain), had room for the end-to-end rush.  With Cruz smartly covering the point McCarthy drove the net turning the Blackhawks defense inside out for a good scoring chance.  Switching back with Cruz the Cougars re-established the cycle getting three good shots with two good scoring opportunities within 10 seconds.  The blizzard attack had returned and the Blackhawk goalie was forced to cover the puck yet again to get some relief.

With just over six minutes left in the second period, an inadvertent knee-on-knee collision between Paulazzo and a Blackhawks player would give the Blackhawks a chance to get back into the game.  Since it was a five minute major penalty, the Blackhawks could score as many as possible and Paulazzo would remain in the box.  Playing 5-on-4 it would be a real test of the Cougars discipline, goaltending, physical fitness, and penalty killing skills.  If any opportunity was there for the Blackhawks to get back into the game early this was certainly it.

The calls from the Blackhawks coaching bench could clearly be heard “execute boys”, “hard shots”.

Yet each time the Blackhawks tried to move up ice and into the zone the Cougars were able to shift and seal off the skating lanes.  If they passed the Cougars stepped up and took the pass away.  With 1:37 expired on the penalty and 3:23 left to go, the Blackhawks had been mostly ineffective with two long range shots easily stopped by Pham and given to the defense to clear.

Continued physical play by Zach Bevens and the rest of the Cougar squad resulted in Blackhawk players being knocked off the puck and to the ice, allowing for an easy icing by Cougars defenseman Bryce Platt.

With time running out on the Blackhawk man advantage, and an exasperated Blackhawks coaching staff yelling “skate with it” the Blackhawks finally gained the zone carrying the puck behind the Cougars net and out in front for a shot ably stopped by Pham.  The Cougars, trained as a team as one, were playing as one.  For each situation of the game they knew exactly what to do themselves as a player and as a unit.  Now in the final game of the year, for the State Championship they were executing as their head coach Mario Morrisette had implored them all year (“know what you have to do, be ready, and just do it”).

A face-off in the Cougars zone finally would give the Blackhawks a chance to perhaps get at least one goal but it was not to be.  An errant Blackhawk pass resulted in the puck going all the way down the ice negating any chance the Blackhawks would have to score during the five minute major.

With :20 seconds left, Paulazzo (fresh from his rest in the penalty box) split the defense on a semi-breakaway only to be stopped by a combination of aggressive goaltending and a smothering Blackhawk defenseman knocking him off his feet as he drove the net.  It was a clear sign of the Cougar’s hunger and determination to win.

So why with 7.6 seconds in the second period, leading 4-1 in the Championship game did the Cougars pull their goalie for a 6-5 man advantage with the face-off in the Blackhawks zone?  7.6 is an eternity and anything can happen.  One wrong bounce of the puck to the Blackhawks and all they would have to do would be shoot it the length of the ice into the open net making it a 4-2 game.  But this bold move typifies Cougars hockey, aggressive and focused on the risk/reward or proper execution and discipline through training and preparation.  Winning the face-off the Cougars had one chance to put it on net but alas the puck caromed off a Blackhawks skate as time elapsed.

“It’s the last period of the year” intoned head coach Morrisette, “what’s the score”, “zero-zero” came the synchronized chorus of voices from the Cougars Bantam A players. The coach continued, “I want to see some smiles, I want you to go hard.  15 more minutes and it’s all done.  Over.  Finished. I want you to remember that this is the last time that we all play together.”

Cougars captain McCarthy led the team cheer “are you guys ready!” “yeah!” came the loud and boisterous reply, he repeated it two more times as if he needed to be sure.  To each question the answer was a hearty and rousing “yeah!” that one could hear clear across the rink.  All of the Cougars players were banging the boards with their sticks and skates as the final period of their season began.

Cougar rookie sensation Ryan Donato, got some first line big game experience starting the third period with Paulazzo and Teeple.  Still hungry for more, Paulazzo drove the net hard forcing the Blackhawks goalie and defensemen both back into the net, going sprawling over the goalie and knocking the net off  for a whistle on a strong scoring chance.

Two minutes into the final period, Cougar defenseman McCarthy was called for interference penalty as the Blackhawks drove the zone.  Would this now be the chance for the Blackhawks to come back and score some goals?  The face-off right outside the Cougars zone produced a long shot on goalie Pham who aptly caught the puck in the butterfly save position at the top of his crease.

Would it be the penalty kill as usual well it looked like it would be with the Cougars again not letting the Blackhawks into their zone?  No, this story was not going be that simple.  Cougars defensive sniper Mozaffarimehr took a penalty hooking a Blackhawk winger in the corner.  In the second period, the Blackhawks had been afforded a five minute man-advantage.  Now we were going to see how they would do two-men up on the Cougars for nearly 1:15.

A quick shot and a glove save by Pham right off the face-off on the 5-3 penalty kill. Reset.  Do it again.  “Move your head, move your shoulders, pick up a guy when he shoots” you could hear Coach Mario remind his players on the ice.  Another long shot stopped and covered by Pham lead to the most dangerous face-off of all which was won by the Blackhawks.  The puck was passed back to the Blackhawks left-defenseman, then the right defenseman.  More puck movement over to the left side then a shot on net through traffic.  The puck bounced off the screen in front and wide to a waiting Blackhawk.  A sprawling save attempt by Pham lunging on his side to the post and rolling onto his back with his legs in the air ala Brodeur was enough perhaps to hurry up the Blackhawk shooter into shooting it off the near post missing the open net.  Goalie’s best friend indeed!  As play carried on, stable Cougars defenseman Bryce Platt iced the puck with :22 seconds remaining in the 1st penalty forcing the Blackhawks to start again from their own end.  Strong goaltending by Pham enabled the Cougars to kill off the penalty and again ice the puck forcing the Blackhawks to start from their own end with :31 seconds left in the 2nd penalty (now 5-on-4).

A errant Blackhawk pass up the middle was easily picked off again by Platt who deftly dumped it deep into the Blackhawks zone enabling the Cougars to change on the fly.  Coming back across the ice Platt again made a strong play body checking the Blackhawks offensive player off the puck enabling his defensive partner McCarthy to take the puck safely behind the Cougars net and set up for a strong long hard icing of the puck. 

Frustration was setting in at the Blackhawks bench, you could hear the coach yelling “give me some players who want to play” with 10:24 left in their season, :05 seconds left in the 2nd penalty and nary a strong offensive presence throughout the game against the Cougars.  Time for the Blackhawks was running out.

And indeed it was for just as the Cougars killed the two-man Blackhawk advantage, their disciplined play gave them another 2-on-1 break that they put to good use.  Knocked over in traffic after winning the first even strength face-off after the 5 on 3 in the Cougars zone, center Bryon Paulazzo got up and received a great pass from left-winger Gillis.  Paulazzo again drove wide, directly to the face-off dot to the right of the Blackhawk goalie.  Reminiscent of the play earlier in the day, he again made a perfect pass to Mauricio Schmidt who smartly stayed onside on the right wing but then drove the net hard.  The left-handed Schmidt opened up to receive the pass on the right wing and made a great shot past the goalie to give the Cougars a 5-1 lead.

So at 9:47 leading 5-1 with the game strongly in hand, the storyline now turned to the change of the Cougars goalies.  Injured weeks before in a off-ice accident at school Cougars goalie Matt Carruthers had just been cleared to play in his recovery from a broken collarbone.  Having worked hard all through the season at special early morning one-on-one practices and late night goalie drills (along with Pham) Carruthers had been forced to sit out the Cougars contests at the end of the year and throughout NORCAL finals.  His teammates beamed with pride banging the boards as he took the ice.  Unfortunately, in a cruel twist of fate, Matt’s return to the ice, while heralded by his teammates was not meant to be.  In a show of “goalie rust” he was 0-2 on two shots on goal.

With the Blackhawks energized by their goals, Cougar assistant captain Andrew Gillis was called for boarding at 8:17 of the 3rd period.  The Cougars went right at it again, not letting the Blackhawks up the ice let alone into the Cougars zone to set up any scoring opportunities.

After neatly killing the penalty, and just over five minutes remaining, Mitch McCarthy neatly played the puck off the back of his own net confusing the Blackhawks player and allowing him to reverse direction and move the puck easily to Gordon who hit Kiaski for a long breakaway pass. With two Blackhawk players draped over him though it was all he could do to continue play on into the corner.  Nonetheless at 5:00 with Gordon firmly planted in front of the Blackhawks net with Blackhawk players falling down trying to move him the Blackhawks goalie had no choice but to smother the puck for a whistle.

The defense to offense transition continued and with 4:03 left to play Greg Dowty who’s wrist had been injured in the previous game, stepped up and shot a wrist shot that the Blackhawk goalie was forced to hold.  Gritty play like this by Dowty, Jackson and Schmidt were a key element to the Cougars success all year long, throughout NORCAL and continued to play a major role in the CAHA final.

Smelling a good chance to keep the play down in the Blackhawks end until the final buzzer, the Cougars #1 line of Paulazzo, Gillis, and Teeple went to work banging the boards and setting up a ferocious cycle which culminated in a goal from Paulazzo working his way into the slot with Teeple and Gillis creating traffic at the sides and in front.  The pass from Teeple to Mozaffarimehr then to Paulazzo was tape-to-tape and with the goalie down and screened, the puck was by him before he even knew it.

The hits kept coming to create the turnovers with a great one delivered just under two minutes to play David “the rookie” Starr taking himself and his Blackhawk opponent down.  Just like one of the last big hits of the game the final goal of the game was also one of the prettiest of the tournament if not the season.  Fittingly it was scored by hard working winger “big man” Oliver Gordon who worked a great give-and-go both stretching out the defense and confusing the goalie at the same time.  While not an official assist due to the give-and-go credit also should go to Mauricio Schmidt who made a wonderful breakout pass to hit Nick Cruz at full stride coming up the middle of the ice.  Without delay, Cruz hit Gordon (who was also at full speed) cutting from the left to the right of the ice.  Left handed shot Gordon baited the 1st defender to go wide with him and also brought the 2nd back checking defenseman along for the ride.  The trailing Cougar center Cruz, who had initiated the fast break, caught the quick drop pass off his left skate in full stride.  Kicking it back to his stick he drove Blackhawks defenseman the other way to the offensive left wing face-off circle.  The Blackhawk goalie was forced to transition again away from Gordon on the right wing to the new threat of Cruz on the left wing.  With Blackhawk defenseman a full step away and behind while driving hard to his left Cruz dropped his shoulder and got good wood on the puck to make a strong backhand pass across the slot and crease to the far low post.  Gordon, having broken free of his opponent, took a big strong step toward the open net, leaned forward and tipped the puck behind a yet re-transitioning Blackhawk goalie.

Just 1:01 left in the Cougars Bantam A season one that looked to be an amazing season of personal and team growth, hard work, dedication, some ups and down, good and bad breaks, a NORCAL championship, soon to be won CAHA championship and undefeated regular and post-season record to go along with it all.

And so with the final seconds ticking off the clock, the Cougars after a long hard season of work began a familiar friendly boyhood chant celebrating their joy at accomplishing the goal that they set out for themselves as a team long ago to go undefeated during NORCAL regular and post-season play winning both NORCAL and CAHA (the state championship):

“Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them.  We are the Cougars, the mighty mighty Cougars…” while Coach Mario leaned back on the bench and with a wink and a smile said: “Well, we’re outta here.  Practice on Tuesday boys 6:15pm see you there!”