The California Golden Bears hockey team swept its opponents over Veteran’s Day weekend to improve to a 16-0 overall record, 14-0 in conference. The weekend included two games against Eastern Washington University and two games against Washington State University - all games took place at the EWU student recreation center in Cheney, Wash.
A few weeks prior, Cal narrowly extended its win streak against the University of Washington. With 6.1 seconds remaining in regulation and the game tied 1-1, Berkeley forward Patrick Liu scored on a one-timer shot off a pass from forward Kodai Mizuno. The goal stood as the game winner to lift the Golden Bears to a 10-0 start to the season.
The winning continued the following weekend when Cal defeated the Western Washington Vikings in two shutout victories. Freshman goalie Aidan Comeau earned his third shutout of the season in a 6-0 victory and senior goalie Yusef Akbas earned his first shutout of the year in a 10-0 win. The Golden Bears collected four more wins over the holiday weekend. Comeau earned his fourth shutout of the season and improved to an 11-0 record in goal. Berkeley clinched the top spot in the Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference (PAC-8) with its wins over the holiday weekend. This season’s PAC-8 playoffs will take place February 7-9.
Comeau has been a trustworthy backstop for the Golden Bears this season - he’s accumulated a save percentage of 0.961 and a goals against average of 0.82 in conference play.
Cal will return home this Friday for what is always the most anticipated contest of the season - The Big Freeze versus Stanford. The Big Freeze is a battle that has taken place since the early 1900’s between Cal and its rival from across the Bay. The Cal Band will be in attendance to contribute to the best college hockey atmosphere in the Bay Area.
Berkeley will host California State University, Northridge for two games following the Big Freeze to conclude its home schedule for the fall.
All Cal home games, including The Big Freeze, can be streamed live and for free at bdehockey.com
