Aggie hockey shoots for playoff spot
The Utah State hockey club will travel to San Jose, the former home of goalie Chris Webber, for a pair of games against the San Jose State.
The Aggies will play the Spartans Friday and Saturday.
This will be the first homecoming for Webber since he joined the USU hockey club this summer.
“I’m excited,” Webber said. “It’s going to be so awesome because I’ve got a good feeling that we’re going to kick the crap out of them.”
Aggie Scotty John said, “For him, it’s huge. He wants to do real well in front of his old squad, and I think he’ll step up to the challenge.”
The Aggies are confident they will sweep the two-game set.
“Our guys are coming together,” Webber said. “Practices are looking better. We’re looking more as a team.”
John said, “I think our lines are finally starting to gel.”
These games are very important to USU because three voters for the Division II rankings are from Southern California teams and the Aggies need to impress them or risk dropping in the rankings.
“We need to make a permanent mark on this team,” Webber said.
John said, “If we lose, we’re done. We won’t go to nationals.”
Aggie Ben Froehle said, “We’re definitely pumped up for this weekend. We have to win these games. If we lose any of these games, we’re done.”
USU currently ranks fourth in the West Region of Division II, which is the lowest it can be ranked to still qualify for the national tournament. The Aggies still believe they have an excellent chance of going.
“I’m very confident that we’ll make it to nationals,” John said. “We’ve got a great squad with a lot of talent and we’re finally coming together.”
Froehle said, “We can definitely make it. We just have to win the games we need to, which is all of them.”
The Aggies were scheduled to play the University of Denver’s club team last Friday, but the Pioneers decided not to make the road trip. Instead, USU played an intrasquad scrimmage.
“We had a lot of fans and we wanted to play for them, so we’re a little disappointed,” John said.
Webber said, “It’s kind of depressing because we wanted to have a game. We were so motivated to play.”
Froehle said, “We were pretty psyched up to play. It was lame, but we still had fun playing each other.”
Froehle is from Anchorage, Alaska and has been a big part of the Aggie defense this year.
He said he came to USU when he realized he wanted to play competitive hockey again after high school and he had connections with the team. He is majoring in history and wants to be a high school teacher.
Froehle said he is very pleased with the way the team is maturing this year and looks forward to going to the national tournament in Laurel, Md. next month.
The Aggies will host the University of Colorado and the Weber State Division II team next week.
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Aggie Josh Groves gets his body in front of a shot. Utah State will face off against Colorado and Weber State´s Division II team next week. (John Zsiray photo)