Cal Ice Hockey Suffers Its First Loss, Falls in Pac-8 Title Game

Cal’s club ice hockey team suffered its first loss of the season when the Bears lost to Washington 7-5 in the championship game of the Pac-8 tournament on Sunday in Cheney, Washington.

Despite the loss, the Bears’ season may not be over. They might be invited to the regionals in Westminster, Colorado, February 20-22, depending on where they are ranked in the Division II rankings to be released this week. If Cal is invited to the regionals and wins it, it would advance to the ACHA national championships in St. Louis in March.

Cal entered Sunday’s game with a 27-0 record after beating UC San Diego in the Pac-8 tournament quarterfinals 7-2 and rallying to beat USC 3-2 in overtime in the semifinals.

The Bears had another rally on Sunday, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to get within 6-5 in the third period. But with the Cal goalie off the ice as Cal tried to get the tying goal, the Huskies scored an empty-net goal with 16.5 seconds left to set the final score.

Sean McAvoy scored three goals for Cal, but it was not enough.

Cal played Sunday's game without Kodai Mizuno, who was the team leader in points during the regular season but suffered a broken clavicle in Saturday's semifinal contest.

Cal was hoping to win the Pac-8 championship for the first time since 2004, but fell just short in the loss to Washington, a team Cal beat during the regular season.

Cal was the No. 1 seed in the Pac-8 tournament and Washington was No. 2. Cal has overcome a number of barriers in this club sport that offers no scholarships and requires each Cal player to pay $4,000 a year to participate.

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