Division I Wildcats still a challenge for USU
The Utah State club hockey team lost to the Weber State Wildcats’ Division I team 5-1 Saturday in an intense and penalty-filled game.
Three players were ejected as the two teams combined for 113 penalty minutes.
“We had momentum, we got some power plays then we screwed it up by getting penalties,” said Aggie Roberto Leo. “It’s our own fault.”
USU goalie Josh Groves said, “That’s just Weber/USU. Once it went to like three goals up, it just [became] dumb on both sides. That’s just Weber-USU hockey.”
Groves had a spectacular night in goal, saving 47 shots taken on him. Weber State out shot USU 52-22, shooting at least twice as much as the Aggies in each period.
Although it was a tough loss, the USU players tried to take what they could from the game.
“We haven’t played together that much,” Leo said. “I think we only have three games under our belt. This Weber team has been together for a while. During the summer they went to Canada and stuff like that. I guarantee by the end of the year we’ll be beating this [Division] I team. We already own their [Division] II team.”
Aaron Burrell scored the only goal for USU off a steal in the Weber zone to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period.
But three minutes later, TJ Nykiel scored the first of his two goals for the Wildcats after a USU penalty ended a power play for the Aggies.
Weber State scored the final four goals of the game.
The Wildcats opened the scoring in the first period when Eric Johnson got the puck past Groves on a power play with 4:47 remaining in the period.
The contest took an ugly turn as the two teams totaled 67 penalty minutes in the third period alone. There was even an incident where Weber State players in the penalty box squirted water onto USU fans in the crowd.
Many Wildcat players taunted the crowd throughout the game.
Aggies Ben Froehle and Brandon Lang were each ejected from the game in the third period for fighting. Wildcat Ian Soldano was also ejected in the third period for cross checking.
The Aggies lost Nick Thiros for the game in the first period with a broken thumb when his glove came off and a Weber State player slashed him in the hand.
Many Aggie fans wore shirts that read “Slaughter Sucks,” referring to Wildcat player Eric Slaughter. He responded to the attention by accumulating no points and one penalty.
The shirts were being sold at the game by USU fans for $5.
Thursday, the Utah State hockey club fell 5-4 to the Colorado State Rams
USU overcame an early two-goal deficit only to give up two more goals in 19 seconds in the third period that would ultimately win the game for the Rams.
“I’ve watched that pattern over the years and it’s amazing how many times a team gets a goal and in the next minute, minute and a half they get another one,” said Head Coach Jerry Crossley. “And that’s something that teams need to be aware of and you’ve got to buckle down.”
The game was very physical from start to finish with both teams laying big hits on each other.
“That’s the kind of game we knew they’d bring,” Crossley said. “They’re a good team.”
Nick Haase and Robert Hashimoto scored two goals apiece and each assisted another goal. Jacob Guttormsen also assisted three goals.
With the game tied at three, Josh Bowers of CSU scored his second goal on a wraparound with 5:50 remaining in the game.
Ram Tom Owens then put a wrist shot past Aggie goalie Chris Webber with 5:31 remaining to give CSU a 5-3 lead, which would end up being the game winning goal.
USU tied the game at three when Hashimoto slapped the puck from underneath the CSU goalie’s legs into the net with 10:53 left in the game.
CSU scored with a man advantage with 9:24 remaining in the second period to take a 3-2 lead.
Although the Aggies had only three penalties called against them, the Rams scored on two goals on power plays.
The Aggies scored their first goal with 4:13 left in the first period with Haase shooting the puck into an empty net after the CSU goalie was fooled by a pass from Hashimoto.
Colorado State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period after Bowers scored his first goal off a faceoff.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu