WSU hockey kicked off game one of its weekend series against the University of Washington, falling 10-0 on Jan. 9 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wa. Despite the score, the night marked a historic moment for the Pac-8 conference. The game drew the largest crowd in conference history, setting a new attendance record of 4,742 people in the home arena of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans.
Coming off this long winter break, the Cougs faced the highly skilled UW Huskies in what head coach Johnny Lupinacci described as both a tough loss and an important learning opportunity.
“You play the best teams to get better,” Lupinacci said postgame. “UW is a great hockey club, and they’re the bar. If we want to win the Pac-8, we have to go through them.”
Lupinacci emphasized that the final score did not reflect the team’s quality of play and effort, noting the challenges of this being the first game back from break and the pressure of playing in front of the biggest crowd many of the players have experienced.
“This is a big mental hurdle for this group,” he said. “They have to believe they can beat UW. We’ve had them close before. It didn’t happen tonight, but that belief is what’s going to change things”
Physically, Lupinacci felt WSU could raise its level in certain areas, such as using contact to disrupt UW’s speed and skill.
“Physicality isn’t about being reckless,” he said. “It’s about taking away space and separating guys from pucks. Skilled teams don’t like that, and that has to be part of our game.”
One of the team’s bright spots came in net late in the game, when Wesley Martin made his season debut. Entering in the third period, Martin stopped all three shots he faced, including multiple high-quality chances.
“He is a perfect example of next man up,” Lupinacci said. “Big crowd, big moment, and he came in and did his job.”
Despite the loss, the message in the locker room was clear: reset quickly. While game one goes in the books, game two will be a run-time scrimmage, not counting toward conference standings. However, this game is far from meaningless for the Cougs. With Cougar pride on the line, Washington State will look to respond, reset and work hard to close the gap in this heated rivalry.
