Road woes sealed USU hockey’s fate
Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve.
But the Utah State hockey club didn’t – that is, they didn’t perform well enough in their 2002-03 campaign for a trip to the post-season. Though the Aggies faired better through the second half of the schedule (8-4-1 compared to a 9-9-1 mark up to the Christmas Break; 17-13-2 overall), they failed to qualify for the American Collegiate Hockey Association National tournament for the second time in the club’s nine seasons.
The reason? A lethargic showing in road games outside of Utah.
If you want to call playing at the Ogden Ice Sheet ‘the road’, fine. But the facility was USU’s home the past seven and a half seasons before the Eccles Ice Center was built in North Logan last January. And the Aggies competed at the Ice Sheet as if it still was their home, defeating Weber State in both contests there.
They went to the Skatin’ Utes facility, Steiner Arena, winning once and tying the other game. And the Aggies took both games at the Seven Peaks Ice Arena, home to the BYU Ice Cats.
Going outside of Utah was USU’s nemesis.
The Aggies were a combined 1-8 at the homes of Colorado, Colorado State, Arizona, Arizona State and Wyoming.
“We didn’t do well on the road,” said Aggie Head Coach Jerry Crossley. “That’s the difference [in the season].”
Colorado and Colorado State, No. 1 and 2 respectively in the ACHA Division II West Region rankings, put the biggest hurt on the Aggies, going a combined 7-0 against them (two home wins and two road wins for Colorado; two home wins and one road win for CSU).
Maybe it was the elongated time sitting in a bus or the unfamiliar feel of a motel bed. Whatever it was, the Aggies know if they were to do it all over again, they would do it right.
“The biggest problem with Nationals is that I think we beat ourselves out,” said senior defenseman Aaron Sutliff. “We had the chance to go, we just didn’t win the Colorado games — that would have sent us.”
Next season
Being a club team has its disadvantages. The team doesn’t get funding from the university, and they had difficulty scheduling reasonable practice times at the Ice Center (practices this season were held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and started at 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and sometimes as late as 10 p.m. Wednesdays).
But most importantly, knowing who will be back next season is almost an unknowable fact.
This season’s seniors — defenseman Marlon Marquez, Paul Amidon and Sutliff — are done for sure. Forwards Colby Thurston and Nick Thiros can play one more year if they want to or are able to get into graduate school.
And everybody else?
Freshman forward Robert Hashimoto has said he is still unsure if he will play next season. Forward Aaron Burrell, one of USU’s most prolific scorers who has one year of eligibility remaining, said he is making arrangements to compete next season if things go right this off-season.
“We’ll see how things go this summer,” he said after the Feb. 14 home finale against the Wildcats. “If I can make a little bit of money we’ll see what happens, but I’m planning on [coming back].”
–samhis@cc.usu.edu