Hockey team comes to end of an era
Seniors Robert Hashimoto, Roberto Leo and Josh Groves formed the starting line for USU in an emotional 4-1 farewell loss against the Division-I Wildcats of Weber State.
After a scoreless first period, the Aggies jumped to a 1-0 lead midway through the second. Matt Geer scored the goal thanks to assists by Kent Arsenault and Greg Finatti. The lead was short-lived as Weber struck back with two quick goals by John Darby and Wes Hopkin, then added a Dane Ludolph goal later in the second.
USU had scoring chances throughout the game but was denied by Weber State goalie Kyle Gover. Aggie goalie Greg “The Force” Finatti faced 51 shots on goal as the Wildcats shot early and often.
Hashi said the team’s focus for this game was having fun.
“After we lost regionals, it’s pretty tough to get intense for these games,” he said. “We had fun. That was our main goal, and we did our best out there.”
There was also plenty of extracurricular activity throughout the game which had the crowd on its feet. In the first period, Weber’s John Vandervelphen was pinned to the boards by Paul Reinhardt. Vandervelphen took exception to the legal action by Reinhardt, started fighting, and found himself tackled to the ice for his trouble. Both players were called for roughing.
Then in the second period, Groves found himself absorbing repeated blows from Ludolph’s stick as the teams were skating in USU’s zone for an extended period of time. Groves retaliated, and the two players slashed at each other right in front of referee Ryan Kemp. Although the crowd’s reaction indicated many spectators saw Ludolph’s cheap shots, no penalty was called.
Asked if he was tempted to throw down the gloves and go after Ludolph, Groves answered, “He was kind of a little girl. I don’t think he really wanted to go anyway. He just wanted to do all the sticky stuff, so I didn’t worry about it.”
In the third period, Weber State’s Anton Volkov added an insurance goal, but the highlight of the entire game came when USU’s Matt Ferris and Vandervelphen engaged in an extended battle at center ice. Both players had ample opportunity to deliver blows until Ferris got Vandervelphen down on the ice.
“Ferris got him to the ground and he was on top of him,” Hashi said. “It was kind of funny because the refs were trying to separate them. Ferris was acting cool and the other guy was still trying to fight Ferris.”
The team captains said they wanted to dedicate USU’s great season to Wendy Leo. Records were broken and the victories far outnumbered the losses, and it was all due to the lady Jordan Francom called “the best hockey mom in North America, for that matter, in the world.”
Reflecting back on a glorious career at USU, Hashi said he wanted to thank “the crowd, the coaches, my teammates, and the friends I’ve made at Utah State University.”
Leo said his hockey-playing days will most likely be over after the Ags wrap up their schedule with three more road games against in-state rivals, with the exception of “beer league. I’m OK with that. We’ll see, but I’m thinking this is where it ends. It’s been fun, and it’s all been worth it.”
The third senior, Groves, said, “I just want to say thanks to all the teammates. They’re my boys, my best friends forever. And the crowd, it’s the best place to play because of the people.”
Hashimoto and Groves continued their farewell tour of Utah ice rinks, playing on the Ice Sheet in Ogden for the last time. The game was a neck-and-neck horse race with Weber State D1 pulling away for the last time with 2:38 to go off a Chris Cotsillis goal. USU’s third senior, Leo, watched the game from the stands with a wrist injury.
“I hate to say it but I’ll just be honest,” USU Captain Scotty John said, “for both teams last night it looked a lot more like a pickup game than an in-state rivalry. If we were giving everything we had we would have won the game with the way they were playing.”
The Aggies jumped up 2-0 on the D1 Wildcats in the first period. Michael Filander scored off assists by Hashi and Will Winsa, then Jay McFadden and Matt Geer assisted a Francom goal. Ian Soldano then scored for Weber with 19 seconds left in the first period.
After another close game against the Wildcats, John said, “It’s got to be mental. The fact that they are a D1 program, it’s like an older brother-younger brother thing. They just don’t want to lose to us. They’ll play hard enough to barely win.”
The second period was again a trouble spot for the Aggies, as it has been all year. Cotsillis and Dane Ludolph scored for Weber to put USU in a 3-2 hole.
Exciting, high-speed, end-to-end action dominated the third period. Twice USU would score to threaten overtime, and twice Weber State’s Anton Volkov answered for the home team. Jay McFadden combined with linemates Geer and Kent Arsenault to make it a 3-3 game, but was answered five minutes later when Volkov put one in behind USU backstop Scotty Beard.
With the score 4-3 John slapped home a rebound for his second goal of the year.
Commenting on his difficulties scoring goals this season, John said, “I was talking to my dad today. You know it’s pretty bad when your dad notices, who has never played before. We decided it’s not really been my year. I should have conditioned better, I think. Number two, we have so many guys who can do it that I don’t really need to score.”
Overtime was looming, but the Wildcats’ Volkov made sure the game ended on schedule. With just over two minutes remaining Volkov came flying down the ice on a breakaway. Francom laid out to block a shot that never came as Volkov served up a perfect pass into the slot for Cotsillis to one-time home.
“Francom made a pretty good play to keep him outside but unfortunately those guys always send guys in late and if there’s not a backchecker there then it’s up in the air if it goes in the goal,” John said.
Referee Matt Brennor was the only official working the game, and he let the teams play, only calling five penalties all game. All of the penalties were on Weber State and none were called in the back-and-forth third period.
-graham@cc.usu.edu