Cardinal Ice Hockey Splits Matches against Spartans and Lumberjacks
Stanford's ice hockey team split its games this past weekend, winning 5-3 against Northern Arizona's grinding team on Friday night, but falling 9-5 to nemesis San Jose State on Satur day. The Cardinal now stands at 4-2, a record which assistant coach Eric Israel calls "respectable, but not com pelling." Indeed, with an upcoming weekend series at almost unassailable Arizona, Stanford faces the discourag ing prospect of a .500 mark after four promising weeks of play. Friday night, the Cardinal was in high form, beating the Lumberjacks and receiving a rock-solid perfor mance by netminder Nick Lemieux. The freshman goaltender repelled shot after shot. "He played really well in his first game," said team captain Stefan Teitge, "but we thought that was just
a fluke. After Friday night's game, Nick has made it clear that he is the new force to be reckoned with in the Pacific 8 Conference." Other standouts in the match included junior David Richardson, who has been playing center ice on the checking line this year. "Dave's a killer," said freshman Tom Terbell. "Dave's a mess. But I can honestly say, even though I just joined the team a few weeks ago, that Friday night's game was the best game of his career. [Head] coach [Ernie] Ferrari stopped yelling at him and even gave him some time on the penalty kill." But on Saturday, the Cardinal played undisciplined hockey. After falling behind 4-1 in the first period, the team pulled off a comeback, rally ing to tie the score at five going into the third frame. Unfortunately, the Spartans scored four unanswered goals before the clock expired, leaving the Cardinal thoroughly deflated. "I'm feeling a bit acrimonious about the loss," Ferrari said, "especially since we'll be playing the toughest team in the West this weekend. At Arizona, they usually have about 5,000 belligerent fans. If I have any say in it, there are going to be about 5,000 people crying in the streets next Satur day night."