The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks cut down the Sacramento State men’s hockey team 12-0 yesterday in the first round of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Pacific Regional Tournament in Oakland, Calif. The number one seeded Lumberjacks overmatched the eight seeded Hornets, who were missing three players that did not play for different reasons.

Hornet sophomore right-winger Justin Ellison said, “I thought that we went into the game with the right state of mind. No one was going in there thinking that we were already beat.”

The Lumberjacks scored a pair of goals early in the game and after adding one more, they went into the second period up 3-0.

“We still had our heads up and everyone was still playing really hard,” Ellison said.

The Hornets gave up two more goals in the second period giving the Lumberjacks a commanding lead. The flood gates opened up wide on the Hornets in the third period as the Lumberjacks put in seven goals.

“The way the game was going, it really wasn’t as bad as it seemed,” Ellison said. “We were playing really hard and then in the third period we were dismantled. We were being out-skated, we were tired and we weren’t winning the races to the puck.”

The Hornets went into the tournament with the best record in the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association. The PCHA playoff tournament will be held in Bakersfield, Calif., from Feb. 29 to March 2.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]