Writeup of California Cougars 4-1 win over SLT Grizzlies on 12/17/11
The California Cougars traveled into the mountains to take on the South Lake Tahoe Grizzlies in a pair of weekend games. While defenseman Tommy Beebe couldn't make the trip due to being under the weather, Elliot Salazar took the trip and worked the bench in his Cougar blue cast. Down 2 defensemen, flexible forward Kyle Tanaka filled in Beebe's skates and turned in a defensive performance for the ages, keeping the Grizzly forwards at bay while triggering the breakout like a grizzled veteran. Tanaka's d-mate, Chase Bolling continued his physical play, knocking down Grizzlies all over the ice. As solid as the pairing of Tanaka and Bolling were, they were upstaged by the other defensive duo of Ryan Bockholt and Max Frenkel. Bockhol's steady play and active stick thwarted many a Grizzly attempt to close in on goaltender Carson Murison, who stopped 24 of 25 Grizzly pucks put on net.
It was Frenkel, just minutes into the game, who using his long reach kept a puck in the Grizzly zone, firing it hard along the boards, where winger Erik West dug it out of the corner, finding Center Adam Rosenduft in the slot. Rosenduft's one timer over the glove of the Grizzly goalie gave the Cougars the early lead. The high scoring killer B'z, Nash Berkowitz, John Bohac and Shura Boz helped the Cougars dominate from the opening face-off, and it was their relentless back-checking mid-way through the second period that opened the door for 3 Cougar goals in a 3 minute span. It started with Tankaka clearing the puck up to Boz, who taking advantage of a quick change by Assistant Coach Christian DeJesus, found fleet footed Tal Horovitz stepping onto the ice behind the play. A slick deke later, and the Cougars were up 2-0. Before the fans could stop cheering, and before Head Coach Rob Tenore and Assistant Coach Devin Ernst could finish congratulating Boz and Tanaka, Frenkel was back at it again. With big forward Pace Farbstein streaking towards the net after a face off win by Center Matt Lydon, Frenkel fired a shot from the boards on net. With Farbstein looking for a deflection, and a mere 23 seconds after Horovitz put the Cougars up 2-0, Frenkel's shot deflected off a Tahoe defenseman into the net, giving Frenkel his first lamp-lighter of the season. Minutes later, it was Tanaka holding the puck in, firing it deep to Horovitz, who wrapped the puck around the post for his 2nd of the game, and a commanding 4-0 Cougar lead.
The game settled down from there, until mid-way through the third period when back-up netminder Nick Gary, seeing teammate Daniel Schmidt, playing another solid game alongside Farbstein and Lydon, block a Tahoe pass at center ice, started cheering for Schmidt who broke in on the goalie. Only an acrobatic save by the Tahoe netminder could keep Schmidt off the scoreboard.
Game notes:
The Cougars outshot Tahoe 30-24, their second straight league game over 30 shots. Even more impressive were the Cougar Centers, who won 81% of their draws, with Berkowitz winning 12 of 13, Lydon winning 10 of 12 and Rosenduft chipping in with 9 wins. Berkowitz saw his regular season scoring streak stopped at 7 games. The Cougars killed off both short-handed situations they faced while failing to convert on their only man advantage. Carson Murison stopped 23 of 24 shots for the win.
The team moved to 4-2-2 on the year, with 10 points. More importantly, the Cougars moved into a virtual tie for second place in the division.
Goals>
2: Horovitz (2, 3)
1: Frenkel (1), Rosenduft (6)
Assists
1: Tanaka (5), Frenkel (2), West (5), Boz (4)
Plus / Minus
+3: Horovitz
+2: Tanaka, Bockholt, West
+1: Frenkel, Rosenduft, Schmidt, Boz, Bolling, Berkowitz
0: Bohac, Farbstein, Lydon