“Wait,” I hear you say, as you read the title, “UW has a hockey team”? They sure do. The Husky hockey team competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division 2, as part of a PAC 8, of sorts. They normally play their games at the Kraken Iceplex in Seattle, but for this game, the Huskies and Cougars settled the Apple Puck in Kennewick, Washington at the venerable Toyota Center.
The Toyota Center has hosted everything from graduations (both my high school graduation and graduation from WSU Tri Cities were held there) to concerts (I saw Peter Frampton there about 10 years ago, he was great!), but it’s mostly known for being the home ice for the WHL’s Tri City Americans. When this event was put on the calendar about 3 months ago, I knew I had to attend, because I didn’t think I would get to have an opportunity like this again.
I vastly underestimated the hype for college hockey. I thought there would be a smattering of fans in attendance, along with the parents of the players, but I was wrong, as the Toyota Center was packed to the rafters with fans!
Problem was, it was about an 80-20 split between Cougs and Huskies. The throngs of Coug fans would learn very quickly that their squad was outmatched in nearly every way by the men in purple and white! The scoring started early thanks to a goal from Cameron Britt, who took the pass from Jake Furgeson and quickly shot a short wrist shot above the head of the Cougar goalie and into the back of the net. The offensive onslaught continued shortly after, with forward Dominic Wolfe, chipping in another short one off the pass from fellow forward Benjamin Lampman. Captain and Defenseman Darren Morris capped off an incredible period for the Dawgs as he scored the team’s 3rd goal off of a behind the back assist from Britt.
From there, a hush fell over the majority crimson crowd. I’m sure some Coug fans thought that they were going to go watch their team beat the Huskies and it was going to be a great Friday night. Little did they know, this was a tournament team a year ago, with the Huskies currently sitting 3rd in the conference at 15-7, with 43 points, and the Cougars sitting at 12-12, with 35 points. This performance was emblematic of a Husky team that was very well prepared. It felt like they skated faster, played heads up defense with aggressive poke-checking and hard hits, and frequently spent time in the offensive zone, putting all kinds of pressure on the Cougar goaltender. But that’s only part of the story, as the team wouldn’t have been in this position if not for the outstanding goaltending of Zach Reddy, who was a brick wall in the net, shutting down every Coug opportunity, and recording his 4th shutout of the season.
The Huskies went up 5-0 at the end of the second, and were up 8-0 when I decided to beat the traffic and leave the venue. Ultimately, the Huskies put up a touchdown, extra point and field goal on the Cougars, winning 10-0. It was so lopsided that after the Huskies’ 8th goal, the PA mistakenly played the Cougar fight song. I didn’t mind though, because I always love Apple Cup dominance, regardless of sport! Benjamin Lampman finished with 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist), Dominic Wolfe had one goal, and Logan Maloney chipped in 2 of his own! Overall, it was a very fun night of hockey and one that I won’t soon forget! Both the Huskies and Cougars will play again at the Toyota Center at 4:05 before the Tri City Americans’ game at 6:05!
