Hockey reaches out to community while awaiting nationals
The Utah State hockey club geared itself up for nationals Wednesday night by hosting a “Skate with the Aggies” night at the Eccles Ice Arena.
The event was intended to raise money for the hockey club so it could go to the national tournament March 3 through 6 in Laurel, Md.
The event was a positive experience for all who were involved. The arena was filled with fans – most of who were too young to be in college.
“I think it’s great,” said Aggie Nate Pierce. “Whether you like it or not, these kids look up to you. You see them running around, they’ve got the jerseys on, they’re swinging their sticks – they love it. It’s kind of nice having the kids look up to you.”
Fans had the opportunity to get one-on-one skating lessons from the players as well as autographs.
Aggie Ben Froehle liked the atmosphere.
“When I was little, I always liked skating with the older guys,” he said. “[The kids] are not going to be taking slap-shots or viciously hitting anybody, but they might learn a little backhand move from [Aaron] Burrell.”
The Aggies qualified for the tournament last week when the final rankings were released and they placed third in the region. The top four teams in each region qualify.
The Aggies are eagerly awaiting their trip to Maryland.
“We’ve been practicing really hard lately, getting in shape, getting moving,” Pierce said. “I think we’ll be ready. I think we’ll have a good showing.”
Jacob Guttormsen said, “We’ve been practicing great. We’re looking like a good team right now.”
USU was dealt another blow earlier this week when goalie Josh Groves broke his hand. He will not play for the rest of the year. This injury came less than two weeks after learning that forward Nick Thiros will also miss the remainder of the season due to a broken collarbone.
This raises some questions about the Aggies’ lines for nationals.
“The two injuries hurt us,” Froehle said. “Chemistry is a big thing in hockey. You can have a bunch of guys that are big, fast and strong, but if they don’t want to play together it’s not going to work out with the lines.”
Pierce was a little more optimistic.
“I think our chemistry is getting really good,” he said. “We’ll be ready to go.”
The national tournament will have 16 teams. The teams are divided up into four brackets of four. Each team will play the other three teams in their bracket. The winners of the four brackets will then play a single-elimination tournament to decide the national champion.
While more than half of the Aggies have never been to the nationals, the players still know the strategies of winning the tournament.
“The first three games in your bracket – you’ve got to win all of them,” Froehle said. “You can’t afford one bad period. We can’t afford to do that at nationals. We have to be there to play. Teams will pounce on you if you make mistakes.”
The Aggies are matched with New York University (No. 1 in Northeast Region), Davenport University (No. 2 in Central Region) and host Maryland University (No. 10 in Southeast Region) in their bracket. Maryland is the only team at nationals who did not place in the top four of their region. They were automatically invited because they are the host school.
“That gives us at least one game that’s a possible win,” Guttormsen said.
USU has two games remaining with BYU this weekend and will then be off until the tournament.
Some of the players will not enjoy the time off.
“I would rather play games right up to the day,” Pierce said. “I like the competition. I’d rather just go and go and go.”
Guttormsen said, “It hurts us. We’re going to go the next two weeks on ice then we go on a five-day stretch without touching the ice until we go to our first game at nationals. That’s definitely going to hurt us.”
But the Aggies still have high expectations for
nationals.
“We’re not coming home just satisfied,” Guttormsen said. “If I come home just satisfied, I’ll be mad.”
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu