Hockey team beats Siena in OT
Aaron Burrell scored in overtime to lead the Utah State hockey club past the Siena Saints 6-5 Friday at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division-II National Tournament.
Nick Thiros had three goals and two assists in his and Burrell’s final game for USU.
“That’s about as good as it could get right there,” head coach Jerry Crossley said.
Aggie Josh Groves said he thought it was perfect way for Thiros and Burrell to end their collegiate careers.
“It could get no more fitting than that,” he said. “Burrell getting an overtime goal and Thiros to get the tying goal to go into overtime.”
USU was down 5-3 halfway through the third period when Robert Hashimoto scored on a breakaway to start the Aggie comeback.
“We knew we were a better team than them and we knew our stars would come up and put some pucks in the net,” Groves said.
Crossley said the Aggies were still down from losing to Oakland University Thursday until the third period.
“In some ways, I think we were a little disappointed after [Thursday’s] game,” he said. “[USU] wasn’t playing its best hockey early in that game. And that other team didn’t want to go away.”
It was the second overtime loss of the tournament for Siena after the Saints lost 8-7 to Indiana Thursday in the extra period.
USU is expected to finish fifth or sixth place at the tournament – the highest ranking from the West Region – after going in ranked No. 16.
“The Colorado coach came and told us, ‘There’s a winner from the West and it’s not CU this time,'” Groves said.
Burrell said even though USU didn’t advance to the semifinals, the win over Siena still meant something.
“It was really good to get that overtime win to make a name for ourselves,” he said.
Groves said the biggest game for USU was the win over Indiana Wednesday.
“We turned a lot of people’s heads after beating Indiana,” he said.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu