Age-old Rivalries should stick to turf

On Friday Jan. 21, 2011 the age-old rivalry between the University of California Bruins and the University of Southern California Trojans met on the ice, to battle for the crosstown cup. Unfortunately, this is a rivalry that should stay on the football field.

During the first period, the first whistles seemed to be pretty bad calls. Either head ref Matt Robinson either really dislikes the Trojans, or he just likes calling tripping when there was nobody tripped. The first two calls were against USC for tripping. However, throughout the game it became obvious that most of the UCLA players were not very sturdy on the ice.

In the words of a spectator, "Stop sliding this is hockey, not baseball!"

The first goal of the goal of the game was scored by the Bruin's No. 13 Michael Madatovian at 2:47 in the first period. But USC tied it up a few minutes later at 4:57.

Just another few minutes later at 6:23 the last goal of the period was scored by UCLA, taking back the lead.

After the 15 minute intermission to zamboni the ice between the periods, the rivals came out to fight once again. However, the 2nd period came out to be all about hits. But remember the horrible skills on the skates mentioned earlier? Apparently USC wasn't any better.

The fans all loved the aggression and of course, college guys are almost always obnoxious at school functions, whether they know the sport or not. They were banging on the glass and yelling as loud as they could. But I'm sorry boys, I'd be more impressed with your checks if you could stay on your feet after hitting someone.

The Trojans tied the game at 18:55.

The 3rd period proved to be slightly more eventful. Robinson once again showed that he more than likely doesn't like the Trojans, although they were good calls, he seemed to turn away when UCLA made obvious penalties.

On two separate occasions in the 3rd period UCLA was on a power play of 5 on 3. They nearly took back the lead during one of the power plays but it was waved off by Robinson because the Bruin's forward was in the goalies crease.

USC ended up winning the game three minutes into overtime and took the crosstown cup back from UCLA. Although the fact that almost all of the calls were made in UCLA's favor, the coach was very upset about the waved goal and threw a stick at Robinson.

Other than the sticking-throwing, it was an uneventful end to a relatively uneventful game, this age-old rivalry is on that should stay away from a hockey rink.