BYU hockey game gets ugly
The Utah State hockey club finished its regular season with an 8-2 loss to the Weber State Division-I team Saturday after beating the Provo IceCats 6-1 Friday.
Aggie Aaron Burrell, who was six goals short of 200 for his career going into last weekend, scored three against BYU, but was shut out against WSU to finish with 197 in his six-year career at USU.
Burrell is the Aggie’s all-time leading scorer.
“Numbers really don’t matter when it comes down to it,” a teary-eyed Burrell said. “It’s about the memories and the friends you meet along the way.”
USU’s effort wasn’t enough Saturday as the Wildcats scored seven unanswered goals to bury the Aggies.
Head coach Jerry Crossley said he was pleased with USU’s play in the first two periods.
“It was a good, hard-played game,” he said. “It was a good pre-tournament game for us. We were just hoping that we could keep it going.”
Early in the second period, Aggie Brandon Latham scored on a breakaway to give USU a 2-1 lead – its first ever lead against the upper-division WSU squad.
“It was pretty exciting on the bench,” Burrell said. “Everyone was smiling and we thought we had a chance to win it.”
Latham said he thought USU was keeping up well with the Wildcats.
“We were playing with them, but we definitely caught them off guard too,” he said. “I think we played with a lot of intensity and I think that will carry over well into nationals. It’s all about the intensity.”
Latham said if USU can skate with the WSU D-I team, then they can skate with any team they will play at the national tournament.
“They’re definitely better than who we’ll play in Detroit,” he said.
Robert Hashimoto scored the first goal for USU off an assist from William Winsa on a breakaway to tie the game 1-1 early in the second period.
Friday, the Aggies beat the Icecats in Provo’s final game of the season.
Goalie Chris Webber saved 30 of 31 shots to lead USU to its 21st win of the season.
“The guys played well together,” Crossley said. “As a team, we’re playing well right now. I think we’re about where we want to be right now.”
The game took an ugly turn in the second period when fights started breaking out.
Goalie Chris Webber said he thought the BYU players were trying to instigate fights to get USU players suspended for the national tournament.
“I was expecting more of a hockey game,” he said. “It was kind of sad. It was kind of a goon show. They were trying to get us [disqualified] for nationals and it wasn’t going to happen.”
“Those guys are classless and stuff like that doesn’t need to happen,” he said. “They know we’re not going to fight so it was kind of cheap.”
Crossley said he was pleased with the USU players not fighting back.
“It got uglier than I hoped it would be,” he said. “But I’m glad the guys kept their composure. We talked about it and it was a big test for our guys to keep control of themselves.”
Aggie Nick Thiros scored a power-play goal in a very unusual way in the second period.
Thiros was simply trying to clear the puck to BYU’s end of the ice. But IceCat goalie Tamio Stehrenberger misplayed the puck and deflected it directly into the net.
“I saw that and I was shocked,” Webber said. “It took me by surprise.”
Webber said he felt Stehrenberger’s pain.
“I actually gave up a goal like that in [little league] and I wanted to shoot myself,” he said. “Sometimes, stuff happens.”
BYU scored its only goal on a power play in the first period.
“That’s how they get their goals,” Webber said. “Unless they get more penalties against us, there’s no way they can score that many goals against us.”
The Aggies finished the regular season with a record of 21-15-2.
The national tournament will start Wednesday for USU when it plays the University of Indiana. The Aggies will then play Oakland University Thursday and Siena College Friday.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu