Santa Clara faced perhaps its toughest test of the young season
in their match-up today against the Oakland Bears. It was a contest
that could have gone either way, but ended up in the Blackhawks' favor
thanks to smothering goaltending from Willie
Matthews and timely goals by Sean Scarbrough
and Nick Costa. This one wasn't decided
until Kyle Nunn put away a power play
empty-netter with less than thirty seconds remaining. For Matthews,
it was an outstanding performance, not so much because of the twenty-three
shots he stopped, but because he gave up virtually no rebounds, smothering
every shot that came his way.
Everything looked to be going Santa Clara's way when Sean
Scarbrough picked the pocket of an Oakland skater and moved in for
a breakaway goal on the Blackhawks' first shot, at 12:59. But the
early goal may have caused the Hawks to relax a bit, because Scarbrough's
shot would also be the last for the Blackhawks for more than ten minutes,
and one of only two shots they would manage in the entire period.
Meanwhile, Oakland fired eight shots on goal in the opening stanza, but
goaltender Willie Matthews was ready for
each and every one. Matthews' best
stop of the period came when he squeezed the pads on a howitzer slapshot
at 6:26. Santa Clara's best chance for a second goal came at 5:20,
but Sean Scarbrough was tripped-up after
he maneuvered around a defender and his shot ended up wide as Scarbrough
slid into the net. Santa Clara successfully killed two Bears power
plays in the period and the Bears killed Santa Clara's lone power play
as well.
In early second period action, Willie Matthews
smothered a wraparound attempt at 14:35. Oakland was whistled for
a minor penalty at 13:16 and it looked like the Blackhawks were going to
get 55 seconds of five-on-three time when the Bears were whistled for another
infraction at 12:11. But Santa Clara committed a penalty of their
own during the short delayed-penalty call, and then they added an unsportsmanlike
conduct penalty to boot, and instead of a five-on-three, the Hawks' power
play was over. Nonetheless, Santa Clara had a golden scoring opportunity
when Phillip Wong got behind a defender
on an open rush at 11:54, but Wong lost
control as he set up to deliver the shot and the puck slid harmlessly away.
Oakland handed the Blackhawks a second opportunity to skate five-on-three
later in the period with penalties at 5:05 and 4:07. This time, Santa
Clara got to use at least a portion of their five-on-three time, but it
was cut short by 29 seconds when they committed a minor penalty of their
own at 3:34. After Oakland's two penalties expired, they had a brief
power play and were able to deliver a close-range slapshot on Willie
Matthews, but once again Matthews
gathered in the shot and covered. With the final seconds of the second
period winding down, Santa Clara lit the lamp for the second time in the
game, and it was a beauty. Phillip
Wong raced an Oakland defenseman to the puck as it skittered into the
Bears' zone. Wong made a headlong
dive in an attempt to sweep the puck to center, but he only managed to
get a small piece of it. The puck went just a few feet away where
Mitch Venosta collected it and then spotted Nick
Costa with a pass as he was racing down the middle of the ice through
the slot. Costa took the perfect
pass and and sent a slingshot through the goalie's legs and into the back
of the net. The score came with less than one second left on the
clock and it gave Santa Clara a 2-0 lead.
Despite Santa Clara's advantage on the scoreboard, Oakland was still
carrying much of the play, as evidenced by their 17-10 shooting advantage
after two periods. But Santa Clara came out strong in the third period,
with Patrick Castagna leading the way.
After Castagna failed to register a
shot in the first two periods, he delivered two shots on goal on the opening
shift of the final period, and six shots overall. But it would be
the Bears that would score next, getting on the board with a power play
goal at 13:35. Taking the puck behind his own net, an Oakland skater
raced up the right wing and penetrated the Blackhawks' zone without facing
any opposition through the neutral zone. Going wide with a full head
of steam, he got around the Hawks' defense and stuffed a shot through Matthews
to cut Santa Clara's lead in half at 2-1. But with the game on the
line, Santa Clara picked up their offense, registering twelve third period
shots. Defensively, they limited Oakland to just seven shots, though several
were good scoring chances. Kyle Yedlicka
ripped a hard backhander into the Bears' backstop at 11:05. At 7:15,
Willie
Matthews made an exceptional save and cover on a short Oakland breakaway.
Matthews
then made another heads-up save, covering a close-range shot at 6:50.
Then, at 4:16, Matthews went far out of
his crease to smother a hard slapper from inside the right faceoff circle.
Santa Clara came back with a good scoring chance at 3:22, on a nifty pass
from Billy Kiernan to Sean
Scarbrough. Although Santa Clara was unable to score, Oakland
took a penalty on the play hampering their chances to get the game back
to even. Oakland killed the penalty and then pulled their goaltender
with about a minute to play. They applied heavy pressure in the Blackhawks'
zone, but then took yet another penalty, giving Santa Clara their eighth
power play of the game. Santa Clara would finally deliver a power
play goal, albeit an empty-netter, when Kyle
Yedlicka spotted Kyle Nunn with a
pass into the Bears zone. Nunn flipped
it into the mesh giving Santa Clara their final margin of victory.
Santa Clara travels to Logitech Ice next week to meet the San
Jose Jr. Sharks. Although San Jose lost its first two preseason
games, both contests were close. San Jose will get one more game
under their belt, tomorrow versus the Tri-Valley Blue Devils, before next
Sunday's game against the Blackhawks.
Oakland, 1
| TEAMS |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
TOTAL |
| Oakland |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Blackhawks |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Blackhawks, Scarbrough 2 (unassisted),
12:59. Penalties: Costa, Santa Clara (hooking), 10:15;
Romero, Oakland (crosscheck), 3:02; Holt, Santa Clara (tripping),
0:58.
Second Period
Scoring: 2, Blackhawks, Costa 2 (Venosta,
Wong), 0:004. Penalties: Tan, Oakland (high-sticking),
13:16; #44, Oakland (crosscheck), 12:11; Yedlicka, Santa Clara
(roughing), 12:11; Castagna, Santa Clara (unsportsmanlike conduct),
12:11; Bonnett, Oakland (tripping), 10:56; Romero, Oakland
(hooking), 9:46; Mercier, Oakland (slashing), 5:05; Bonnett,
Oakland (charging), 4:57; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (hooking), 3:34;
Gregg, Oakland (roughing), 0:37; O'Brien, Santa Clara (roughing),
0:37.
Third Period
Scoring: 3, Oakland, Raimondi, Oakland (Mefford),
13:35 (pp). Blackhawks, Nunn 3 (Yedlicka), 0:27 (pp) (en). Penalties:
Yedlicka, Santa Clara (tripping), 14:14; Nixon, Oakland (roughing),
3:32; Vicencio, Oakland (roughing), 0:40; Yedlicka, Santa Clara
(slashing), 0:01.
SHOTS ON GOAL
| Oakland |
8
|
9
|
7
|
--24 |
| Santa Clara |
2
|
8
|
12
|
--22 |
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara - 1 of 8;
Oakland - 1 of 6. Goalies: Santa Clara, Matthews (24 shots,
23 saves; record 2-0-0). Oakland, Denton (4 shots, 3 saves) and Mefford
(17 shots, 16 saves).
Plus/Minus: +2(Holt)
+1(Costa,
Draper, Fredericks, Kiernan, Scarbrough, Pienkos, Venosta, Wong); even(Castagna,
Hernandez, Nunn, O'Brien, Yedlicka);
DNP(Brevoort).
Hits: 5(O'Brien); 2(Wong,
Castagna, Nunn); 1(Scarbrough, Venosta).
PRESEASON & EXHIBITION RECORD
2004-2005 NORCAL Preseason Standings
Hawks
Open Preseason with 5-2 Win in Fresno
