VACAVILLE, CA - Despite a slow start in the first, and a Davis penalty shot to tie the third, the Fresno State Bulldogs held on to take a 4-3 win over the UC Davis Aggies.

            Rookie Ross Piche netted a shorthanded goal at the 13 minute mark in the first to put the Bulldogs on the board first. The Aggies would answer back scoring a power play goal by Bachman in the second, however another Piche goal gave the Bulldogs back the lead. A goal by Jacob Kessler at the 3:17 mark gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage heading into the third.

            The Aggies continued to play aggressively and opened the third scoring a goal by Whitmeyer within the first minute of play. Davis scored again just two minutes later however the goal was waived off and replaced with a penalty shot taken by Bachman. Bachman beat starting goalie Joe Ricupero to tie the game at three heading into the last half of the third. Despite the instigation of Davis players, Fresno State continued to stay focused and a goal by Aaron Brackett with 4:18 left in the game would give the Bulldogs their third straight win.

            Even though Piche has gotten several assists this season, the game marked his first goal as a Bulldog.

            “It felt pretty good,” said Piche, “I was just kind of tired, kind of winded, but it felt good.”

            Along with netting two goals, Piche took a lot of physical punishment to create scoring chances for himself and his teammates.

            “After I got hit I was just thinking I need to get back and play,” said Piche, “so I just got up as fast as I could and tried to get back into the play before they have a scoring chance.”

            As his teammates struggled with a slow start and with the continuous shoving matches from Davis players, Ricupero fought his own battles trying to make the saves despite the bad calls and body blocks.

            “That’s the first time this season that we’ve had to deal with something like that, guys crashing the net,” Ricupero said. “We thought our D-men, especially in front, Chris [McCormick] and [Trent] Fisher did a good job of clearing them out.

            Head Coach Marcel Bourdase continued to stress the idea of discipline to his players reminding them to keep focused and play their style not Davis’

.

            “I stress discipline,” said Bourdase, “at the end of the day we won this game because we were more disciplined, we didn’t get caught up in the after the whistle stuff. We went and played clean, finished our hits, and that is what is the difference at the end of the game, and that’s why we won.”

            Piche, following Bourdase’s rules of discipline stated he and his teammates tried to remember that especially when issues between the teams heated up in the third.

            “We need to keep our heads, don’t let them get into our heads, don’t retaliate cause we don’t need those penalty minutes,” said Piche. “That’s pretty much with us, that’s our mindset.”

            Another thing Bourdase stresses to his players is the issue of identity, something that has been missing the past few seasons.

            “I just said we need to play our game and we have to play bulldog hockey,” said Bourdase. “That identity is something I’m extremely excited to see. I saw it, a lot of grit, a lot of determination, and guys want to win, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes at the end of the game to come out on top. And that’s something that’s a very good thing to have as the season moves along.”

            In order to get that identity Bourdase continues to make changes to his lines, including the move for last night’s game moving fast skating forward Tyler Esswein to center and playing him on the gold line and moving forward Aaron Brackett to winger.

            “At the end of the day who got the game winning goal, Aaron Bracket, so I think winger’s not a bad position for him,” Bourdase said.

            The Bulldogs look to continue their winning streak facing off against Sacramento State Saturday night by doing what they always do.

            “You know same style of hockey in Roseville, same thing you know just keeping our heads, staying out of all the garbage,” said Ricupero.

            Bourdase will continue to push and remind them not to underestimate their opponents.

            “I think we’re taking the teams in the PCHA a little bit for granted right now, and we’re not working as hard, and it’s something we got to get fixed,” Bourdase said. “We need to learn how to play 60 minutes regardless of who our opponent is.”

         The Bulldogs will take on the Sacramento State Hornets at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Roseville. Fresno will be going for their fourth straight win while the Hornets will be looking for their first win of the season. Fans can listen live at http://bulldogicehockey.com.