UW and EWU players tangled up in front of the Huskies’ goal during the Apple Puck game at the Winthrop Rink last weekend.
Now that was a hockey game.
The sounds of skates screeching over the ice and bodies slamming into the boards carried clearly in the still, cold night air on Saturday (Feb. 17) as the University of Washington club team earned a hard-fought 4-3 win over Eastern Washington University in the second annual Apple Puck at the Winthrop Rink.
In last year’s inaugural event, the Huskies rolled over the short-handed club team from Washington State University, 8-0, at the regulation-size, open-air rink.
Saturday’s game was not the same kind of mismatch.
The Eagles, who lost earlier in the season to Washington, 4-1, came out aggressively with revenge in mind. EWU scored first, taking a 1-0 lead with just 21 seconds left in the 20-minute first period.
The Huskies responded with a quick goal a little more than two minutes into the second period, then added another one at the 14:31 mark. Ten minutes later, the Eagles scored a short-handed goal to knot things up, 2-2, going into the third and final period.
Once again, Washington struck first, finding the net just 43 seconds into the third period. It didn’t take long for Eastern to return the favor. They scored at 18:22 to reclaim a tie game, 3-3.
The game’s deciding goal came at 13:20 when the Huskies got the puck past Eagles goalie Tyler O’Donnell. The rest of the period featured rugged play that included shoving, bone-shaking checks and minor altercations. For the most part, the referees let them have at it.
O’Donnell and Washington goalie Debbie Chen, the only woman on the ice, both gloved or deflected a number of sizzling shots.
Each team had a contingent of fans who loudly made their loyalties known.
UW and EWU are both members of the American College Hockey Association, which represents about 450 club teams around the country at colleges that don’t have an NCAA hockey program. ACHA teams are responsible for raising their own funds for travel, gear, jerseys and referees.
UW plays in the Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Association, which also includes Oregon, WSU, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Arizona State. Eastern Washington is a member of the Northern Pacific Hockey Conference.
