Hornets break ice with win

Ice hockey may not be as big as other team sports at CSUS, but if Hornet Hockey keeps posting scores like the result from Saturday night's tilt against future Pacific Coast Hockey Association rival San Jose State, the frosty sport could become the biggest thing since frozen peas.

The CSUS Ice Hockey Club opened their 1998-99 regular season with a big matchup against the Spartans and destroyed them 12-2.

The Spartans were looking to show that the Hornets were still too green to be any good. And the Hornets were out to prove that last season's slugfest against UC Davis, filled with penalties and ended a 4-3 Aggie win, was no fluke and that they were the real deal.

The result this time was nothing like the near-loss in April. They beat the Spartans by ten, overpowering them in shots on goal with a 30-22 final advantage to be attributed to a sterling defensive effort at goal by Danny Haefliger. They were bolstered by an all-around team effort, with right wing Scott Folena and defenseman Joe Cox each turning in big games, with four goals apiece respectively to lead the scoring.

Center Tim Cleveland, defensemen Chris Murphy and Brian Sausser, and team president/center Mark Yuill each scored a goal as well to supply additional firepower to the Hornets' unstoppable hitting assault.

Club VP and center Josh Roberts was ecstatic about how well the team clicked together against the Spartans.

"It was unreal. It was just one game, but we skated hard and it was a great victory," Roberts said.

Defenseman Jeff Timpone agreed, but also felt that the team has only one way to go from here: up.

"We played a good game. We could've played better, and there are areas where we can improve. But for our first game, it was a great effort," he said.

Yuill was really excited to have a good showing by his group as a whole, as well as putting in a strong showing of his own. He scored his first goal of the season and administered a thorough thrashing for 45 fun-filled minutes to a banged-up Spartan line.

"It's a real boost to get that first win. It felt so good to score my first college goal," Yuill said.

Cox, who finished off the scoring assault in which CSUS scored the last nine goals with three straight goals in the third period, was equally glad at the performance of everyone down the Hornet line.

"Everybody contributed and that's what's important," he said.

Hornet Coach Dave Mello was cautiously optimistic about the significance of the win and stressed that the Spartans they saw Saturday weren't necessarily the team the Hornets will see next season, in terms of talent level.

"The score didn't really reflect how good (SJSU) is. They played a game (Friday) night and looked very tired playing us. Davis is gonna come out and play hard, and we need to come out and go right at them," Mello said.

He also stipulated that the Hornets' aggressiveness needs to come up a level if they're going to take it to the Aggies. He said they were a little too defensive this game and they need to be stronger offensively against UCD.

Left wing Carrie-Ana Carone concurred on that point.

"Their B team (the group of players on the team that doesn't play other college teams) was very tough for us to beat. We really had to skate hard to keep up with them, and that was important with the watching our every move, interested in seeing how well we play against other teams," she said.

Goalie Mike Schlottman was stoked throughout the game by the support of the crowd.

"Every time we skated back to the bench, we could hear the crowd's roar, and that pumped us up," he said.

Next on the ice for the CSUS schedule is a matchup against UCD on Saturday at 10 p.m. at Skatetown in Roseville. Admission is only $5, and all fans are encouraged to come out and see the team show the Aggies that they can play with the big boys and win.