The Vandals lost four to zero during Saturday’s hockey game against the Washington State Cougars.
During the second Battle of the Palouse the Cougars came back for revenge outplaying the Vandals at Palouse Ice Rink.
Assistant coach and former player Nick Grover said that the Vandals came out with low energy and weren’t dialed in as much as they could be.
“Everything was a little bit sloppy from the very get go, even during warmups it didn’t seem super tight,” Grover said.
The game started with some huge hits by the Vandals, but the team was playing the man rather than the puck.
After two WSU penalties, the Vandals were playing five on three during a two-time power play but were unable to capitalize on this opportunity.
Senior forward Dustin Pierce takes off down the floor during warmups for the Washington State game on Saturday Palouse Ice Rink.
The first period ended with no goals by either team.
Momentum picked up for the Cougars in the second period with two goals within five minutes leaving the score two to zero with 10:52 left in the second.
The Vandals had a few good fast breaks and one drive the resulted in what looked like a goal but was waved off by referees.
Head Coach Kyle Watne had words with the officials saying that he wasn’t in the correct position to wave off a goal.
The official said that he was being un-civilized and any more words from him would result in Watne being kicked out of the arena.
The second period ended with the score being two to zero for WSU.
The third period continued with the momentum in the Cougars hands scoring two more goals finishing the game four to zero.
“We saw them [WSU] a lot more prepared from the game previously, the seemed to take it just a bit more seriously,” Grover said.
Because of the overflowing arena for the last game between the two Palouse rivals, rink staff were on high alert with plenty of security to prevent too many fans getting in.
Team captain Kasey Peach talked about things the team needs to work on after this game.
“The game comes down to one on one puck battles and if you win everyone of those you are probably going to come out top on the game,” Peach said, “We’ve got stuff we need to work on, and we saw guys that didn’t seem awake and that isn’t what we want to see.
For the 2019 battle of the Palouse there is a win for both the Vandals and WSU.
“I think we got used to beating WSU and that caught up with us because they are becoming an actual contender in this battle of the Palouse thing we have going on,” Grover said.
Connor Swersey can be reached at [email protected]