Hockey team avoids close call, sweeps Weber State
The Utah State hockey club won both its games against the Weber State’s Division II team this weekend with a victory in Ogden and a close game at home.
The Wildcats hung with the Aggies throughout the game Saturday, but USU pulled ahead in the final period to hold on to win 5-4 in North Logan.
Friday, the Aggies pummeled the Wildcats in Ogden 8-5 with more USU fans in the crowd than Wildcat fans.
The two wins put USU back at the .500 mark with a 6-6 record on the year.
Mike Lewandowski scored the winning goal for the Aggies Saturday with 1:38 remaining in the game.
“You always want to get the winning shot,” he said. “It feels good. My linemates did a great job setting me up.”
Utah State goalie Chris Webber was up to the challenge of a close game.
“It was very exciting, really exhilarating,” he said. “I love close games, but it was a little too close for comfort.”
Lewandowski said, “It’s totally emotional against Weber. We want to come out and be bigger, faster, stronger than they are. I think we did tonight for the most part. We had a couple of breakdowns but for the most part we played well and came out with a win.”
Saturday’s game looked to be one of the most physical contests the Aggies have played this year. The teams combined for nine roughing calls on the night. There was one instance where seven players were sent to the penalty box at one time for fighting.
USU trailed 4-3 for most of the third period before Robert Hashimoto slapped a rebound past Wildcat goalie Joey Schmidt to tie the game with 4:38 remaining.
Weber State jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. But the Aggies stormed back by scoring three goals in the first period to go into the first intermission with a one-goal lead. Schmidt had a huge night making many tough and clutch saves throughout the game. He saved 45 of the 50 shots taken on him while Webber saved 32 of the 36 shots taken on him.
In the second period, as a response to an incident on Oct. 24 involving USU fans and an Eastern Washington player, the Weber State penalty box assistant sported a rain poncho when a Wildcat player got angry with the fans.
The Aggies ran away from the Wildcats Friday in the third period, outscoring them 4-2 with one of the Weber State goals coming with less than 10 seconds remaining.
Despite the victory, USU felt like it could have done better.
“We played maybe one period together,” said Aggie Ben Froehle. “We need to bring a whole game to beat teams like CSU and CU. We need to start stringing those together against the weaker teams.”
Schmidt had another brilliant game in goal for the Wildcats, but couldn’t survive the onslaught brought by the Aggies. Early in the second period, he almost kept USU from scoring on a 5-3 advantage, but the Aggies finally found a way to get the puck past him after five or six close calls.
Goalie Josh Groves also had a big night for the Aggies, making many crucial saves where Weber State could have gained momentum with a goal.
“I thought I played pretty good,” he said. “I just want to stay in there and keep our team in it. I don’t win it for us. I just don’t have to lose it.”
Weber State players started to lose their cool in the third period, resulting in Wildcat Eric Slaughter to be ejected for joining his teammate in trying to fight against Froehle.
The Aggie defense was without Nate Pierce who has been a valuable player for the team.
“It’s pretty rough on our defense [without Pierce],” Webber said. “Pierce is one of our top defenders. But the defense is coming through big. That’s what I’m really proud about.”
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu