Writeup of California Cougars 4-2 loss to Santa Rosa on 1/29/12

The California Cougars nearly returned to full-strength and played tough in a close 4-2 loss to the division-leading Santa Rosa Flyers. The Cougars made huge improvements in the second meeting between the two squads, allowing 7 fewer goals and 25 fewer shots by the Bantam's presumed #1 seed.  The team also got on the scoreboard twice as many times and added 5 more shots on goal since the last meeting between the two elite squads.

The Cougars also took only one penalty in what was a physical affair.  Coach Rob Tenore told the team he was pleased with their performance and their improvement, as the team hustled to pucks and had a number of scoring opportunities.

Carson Murison, who had shared netminding duties with Nick Gary in the first meeting, made 26 saves in the contest, but a Flyer was able to set up in front and slip one in drom the crease as the Cougars fell behind 1-0 after one period.  The Flyers added another in the second stanza before the tenacious Cougars clawed back.  Captain Nash Berkowitz applied the pressure and blasted a shot that rebounded to Tal Horovitz, who was Johnny-on-the-spot in firing the rebound toward the net, and the puck bounced to John Bohac, who was well-positioned in the slot and bulged the back of the old onion sack to cut it to 2-1.

The Flyers took advantage of a seam in the Cougars defense to restore the 2-goal lead right before the end of the middle frame, and added another just 1:27 into the third on an uncontested shot from the slot that eluded Murison's glove.

Ryan Bockholt returned to the rink after an accident that cost him several games, but didn't cost him his on-air vision, as he spotted an open Adam Rosenduft, and sprung the swift forward on a coast-to-coast rush.  Once Rosenduft turned and burned and undressed the last remaining defenseman between him and the goal, he converted by firing a forehand past the goalie's outstretched glove to cut it to 4-2.

The Flyers must have thought Tom Beebe was their personal Crash Test Dummy as he absorbed 3 rib-shaking hits and one off the brain bucket, but stayed in the game.  Pace Farbstein dished out a team-high 10 hits in the physical contest, and was neutralized at one point by a wrestling maneuver that would have earned 15 yards for a holding call in football, but was worth only a 2-minute power play instead of a proper penalty shot call.

Matthew Lydon dished out several hard licks, knocking over a pair of Flyers forwards like bowling pins with one hit.  Shura Boz grinded along the boards and laid out a couple of Flyer forwards while fighting hard in the neutral zone.  Max Frenkel played on a line with Lydon and Farbstein and moved the puck well, forcing the action in the offensive zone and taking two shots.

Elliot Salazar hustled back on defense to assist linemate Kyle Tanaka, who rushed up and down the rink and made several poke-checks to break up scoring chances, laying out one time to knock away the puck to prevent a sure Flyer score.

Daniel Schmidt was a force on the boards, helping the team to a 12-10 edge in shots in the second stanza.  While Erik West showed some smooth stickhandling skills, Chase Bolling controlled the blue line and was effective in neutralizing the Flyers' top scorers, while showing good game management as he pushed the puck up the rink when necessary.