No. 1 Aggie hockey slide past San Jose
Wing Kelly Froerer had a hat trick and goalie Adam Lain didn’t allow a goal as the Utah State University hockey team improved to 12-1-1 on the season with a 7-0 win over visiting San Jose State Saturday night in Ogden.
It wasn’t until late in the first period that Utah State scored their first goal.
After that though, they were able to score almost at will against San Jose State.
The team believes the key to their win was from everyone doing their job.
“We won tonight because our hitters hit and our scorers scored. That was the key,” left-wing Greg Sneed said.
As the Aggies pulled ahead in the second and third periods, penalties were being called left and right as San Jose State began to show the frustration of a team that had traveled 14 hours on a bus with nothing to show for it.
They had previously lost to Weber State and the University of Utah in prior days.
“Coach told us that they had just lost and so to expect some cheap shots,” Froerer said. “We knew that they would be frustrated but it was important for us to play smart and to keep our heads.”
Team captain Paul Amidon said, “There were a lot of times out there that I wanted to punch some guys in the head, but I knew that if I did I’d be out for our next game against Arizona State which could be our toughest game of the year.”
Behind Froerer’s three goals and additional goals from Deryk Anderson, Greg Howard and a short-handed goal from Nick Thiros, the offense proved to be too much for San Jose State.
“There were two or three great chances that they had to score, but [Lain] stopped every one of them, the shutout was all him,” Amidon said.
The modest Lain pointed the attention toward the great defensive play of his teammates.
“They really didn’t have many good scoring opportunities and that just shows what kind of defense everyone was playing,” Lain said.
The Aggies – ranked No. 1 in the West region in a recent poll – now look forward to a home match-up against Arizona State University on Friday night.
“Hopefully we’ll have the same fan support for Arizona State that we had tonight. Our fans are always great and they really help out, so I hope everyone comes out. It’ll be a great game,” Froerer said.
The game will start at 8:30 p.m. at the Ogden Ice Sheet.