With USC stuffing seven goals the night before, the Cougs were eager to get some revenge. On the receiving end of that ire were the San Jose State Spartans, as the Cougs won 6-2. 

Senior forward Samuli Sihovnen broke the ice after sixth-year student Luke Juergensen wrapped a pass around the net and connected with the man from Finland out in front. That goal marked the second time in the Showcase that Sihovnen and Juergensen connected. 

“If it’s working it’s working,” Sihovnen said. “[Juergensen] came in and we just started playing together and it’s working.” 

Their chemistry was a theme throughout the game, which even head coach John Lupinacci noted.

“Oh beautiful,” he said. “I mean, that whole line is playing really, really well together.”

The game cooled off for much of the first period, until the Spartans were able to get the equalizer late in the frame. Junior Kirill Konoplianko fired a pass to sophomore Brian Brehm who zipped a shot past sophomore goal tender Alexei Kuhl.

Tied up heading into the second period, the Cougs decided to put the game away. Four unanswered goals made it 5-1 in the second frame. Sihovnen stuffed his second after receiving a feed from junior Cole Carlson. Next in line was sophomore Max Lazarro who camped out on the far side and cleaned up a pad save by the Spartan’s goal tender. 

The next two tucks came off the stick of Carlson, who made Cougar hockey history on his second goal.

“Carlson hit 100 points with the club today,” Lupinacci said. “That’s huge.”  

Although Carlson made history, the Cougar bench was initially oblivious. 

“Nobody knew,” Lupinacci said. “It was our managers who came over to the locker room after and said ‘hey he had 100 points tonight’. I think the guys were more happy just to see the whole team get off the snide.” 

Once he heard the news, Carlson could not help but acknowledge the significance. 

“It’s exciting. It’s a huge milestone, obviously, that I have been looking forward to for a while now,” he said. “But like I said before it’s a team sport, so I had quite a few guys along the way [that] helped me to get there.”   

Capping off the evening was defenseman Keegan Lucas who scored in the third period to make the final score 6-2.

“I was missing a lot of shifts because I was not on the PK or power play today, so I was starting to get pretty mad,” Lucas said. “Finally got an opportunity to skate the puck and made a move around guys… I was glad I could celebrate this time… Super good memory to have my first real goal.” 

The conference win was particularly meaningful for Lucas, who has a special connection to their next opponent. 

“The main thing is my dad graduated from USC,” Lucas said. “The first loss is a little demoralizing. He was kind of giving it to me a little bit. But, I’m looking forward to being able to give it back to him.”

Beating SJSU was a needed bounce back performance for the Cougs. 

“Well, we’re just trying to forget yesterday,” Lupinacci said. “We reset and showed good team play today.” 

The win makes the Cougs 2-1 in the PAC-8 Showcase as they prepare to take on USC once again on Nov. 10 at the Eastern Washington University Rec Center.