Writeup of California Cougars 4-1 loss to Capital Thunder on 1/22/12

The Cougars took to the ice to resume league play after over a month minus defenseman Ryan Bockholt, who is still recovering from an off ice injury, and power forward Pace Farbstein, who was unavailable for action.  Assistant coach Christian DeJesus also couldn't make the trek to Roseville.  The Cougars could have used Farbstein, as it was a very physical contest.  The Cougars struck first, with defenseman Kyle Tanaka executing the breakout to perfection, getting the puck up to center Nash Berkowitz, who took the puck into the Thunder zone, and fired it deep, where speedy winger Tal Horovitz chased it down and took it behind the net where he cycled it across to winger John Bohac, who promptly found Berkowitz in the slot where he cashed in for a 1-0 Cougar lead.  The Thunder tied the score later in the period, and after a series of questionable non-calls, the Cougars quickly found themselves down 2 men to start the 2nd period.  The trio of Matt Lydon, who delivered 3 bone-crushing hits in the game, Chase Bolling and Max Frenkel successfully defended the Thunder's 5-3 advantage.  Shortly after that, goalie Carson Murison broke a pad strap, and instead of being able to fix it, much to coach Rob Tenore's dismay, Murison was instructed to go to the bench and goalie Nick Gary had to quickly grab his stick and blocker and head into the game.  It was soon after Murison's return to the game that a second on ice official showed up and the Cougars finally got a whistle to go their way.  "It was about time" said assistant coach Devin Ernst after another hit to the head finally found the Cougars with a man advantage.  Although the Cougars found themselves down 2 after the 2nd period, all the Cougars were skating hard, especially playing with only 4 defensemen.  Elliot Salazar and Tommy Beebe, along with fellow defensemen Bolling and Tanaka, were a combined +12 on takeaways to giveaways.  With winger Daniel Schmidt playing his usual solid game and hard hitting forward Shura Boz delivering some of his bone crushing hits the Cougars were looking for an opening to get back into the game when center Adam Rosenduft, using his speed and grit got the Thunder to take a penalty.  The man advantage quickly became a 2-man advantage.  With big forward Erik West camped in front of the net screening the goalie, the Cougars were only able to get 1 shot on net.

Game notes:

The Cougars were outshot 30-11.  The penalty kill was a perfect 2-2 but the power play was 0-4.  Cougar centers won 25 draws, with Berkowitz and Lydon winning a combined 20 of the draws.  Cougar goalies stopped 26 of 30 shots.

The team moved to 5-3-2 on the year, with 12 points.  The Cougars magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 2.

Goals

Berkowitz (24)

Assists

Horovitz (5), Bohac (20)

Plus / Minus<

+1:  Berkowitz, Bohac, Salazar, Tanaka

 E:  West, Boz, Rosenduft

-1:  Schmidt

-2:  Horovitz

-3:  Frenkel, Beebe, Bolling, Lydon