Pals have one final shot at glory
Ice hockey fans at Utah State have been rewarded this year as the Aggies have already made history, beating Weber Division-I for the first time and erasing an old 19-goal record with a 20-0 victory over Utah.
The casual fan might not realize that the seeds of this winning were sowed years ago.
One seed that has born fruit for the program was the construction of the Eccles Ice Arena, which means USU no longer has to drive to Ogden for “home” games.
Another valuable seed was sewn seven years ago in southern California, when current USU seniors Roberto Leo and Robert Hashimoto met.
Two friends’ spur-of-the-moment decision to head to Cache Valley for college together in ’02 has paid dividends for USU this year in the form of eight goals and 14 assists by Hashi and 11 goals and four assists by Leo.
“We just grew up playing at the same ice rink in southern California,” Leo said. “We got on the same team somehow and ever since then, we’ve just been on the same team and then came out to Utah State together, so it worked out pretty good.”
Both players got their start in the game playing roller hockey before moving on to the faster version of the sport played on ice.
Hashi said after they ended up on the same team, they became line-mates.
“When we were in high school, our coach put us on the penalty kill because Berto is so creative with the puck and I’ll just take off and he’ll hit me with the pass,” Hashi said. “That was kind of our play on the PK.”
During most of this time, Leo was driving half an hour to the rink, but in their senior year, due to changing circumstances, Leo was commuting an hour to skate.
He would pick Hashi up and the two would go to Hashi’s parents’ restaurant to eat before practice.
Hashi said a highlight of this period was “probably going to my parents’ restaurant before practice and eating tempura and sushi and feeling like throwing up right after hockey practice.”
Leo said, “I remember we used to go and eat at his parents’ restaurant in California before every practice. This one time we brought some extra food from the restaurant and we loaded it up with wasabi and we were giving it to all the kids on the team just to mess with them.”
It looked like those good times were over for the two friends as late as a week before college started. Hashi said the two had separate college plans in place, but decided to make one last recruiting trip to Utah State.
“Berto and I were recruited and they told us to come down to Utah State for a week and we both came here,” Hashi recalled. “It was a week before school started. Berto was going to the College of the Canyons and I was going to Cal State Northridge, all set up. But we came up here anyway and we were just like ‘Woah, this is a cool place.’
“We came back to California and school started in three days and then Berto gave me a phone call and said ‘Hey, I’m going.’ I said, ‘Geez … okay, I’m coming with you too.”
The two freshmen joined a team led by Aggie legends like Aaron Burrell, Nick Thiros and Rad Anderson and Hashi said they made an immediate impact.
In particular, Hashi had great chemistry with Burrell, the career USU goals leader, combining with him for scores the way he has with William Winsa and Kent Arsenault this year.
When asked to name each others’ best qualities on the ice, the two didn’t hesitate.
“Definitely his speed. His nickname is ‘The Flash’ and he definitely earns that nickname,” Leo said of Hashi.
“Berto has that roller hockey mentality and that’s why I think his hands are so good. Every time I’m out there with Berto, it’s always fun,” Hashi said.
Anyone who witnessed Leo’s circle-to-circle work of art of a shorthanded steal and goal in the home opener against Utah can attest Leo is a wizard with the puck.
Both players are excited to be on such a strong team in their last year at USU.
“It’s nice; it’s a piece of cake for me, actually,” Leo said. “I’m a senior and we’ve got all these good rookies coming up and everything, so that helps out. I like to be in that position I guess, it works out for me.”
Hashi has his sights set high for this veteran team.
“I don’t know what to say about last year, but this year I’m really excited,” Hashi said. “I mean, we’ve got scorers, we’ve got good D, we’ve got two solid goalies. I’m really excited and hopefully this year we come out with a nationals ring.”
It’s an exciting time in their lives – in the midst of a historic hockey season with a multitude of opportunities just over the horizon.
Hashi and Leo said pro hockey is a possibility, but both are also interested in exploring other opportunities.
“I’d like to, but you never know. Probably not but if the opportunity came up I would,” Leo said.
Hashi offered an ultimatum: “If we win nationals this year, I’m probably going to hang the skates up, but if we don’t, I might have to play somewhere. I was thinking about Europe or even Japan. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll probably be an English teacher in Japan.”
It’s always sad to see collegiate athletic heroes take off their Aggie blue jerseys for the last time, but in the case of these pals, their senior years are a jumping-off point, as well as the end of an era.
-graham@cc.usu.edu