New Ags ready for challenge

The Utah State hockey club has never beaten the Weber State Division I squad.

But that’s no reason not to expect the Aggies to break that streak this weekend, newcomer Maciej “Machy” Michalik said.

“We’re getting ready to whoop them,” he said.

USU will face WSU Friday at 8 p.m. at the Eccles Ice Arena.

Mikel Roy, who is also new to the team, said the team can’t get caught up in the history between the two teams.

“We have to prepare for it like every other game,” he said. “We have to play them like every other team.”

Roy last played at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. He assisted three goals in his first two games as an Aggie last weekend.

Michalik said all he has heard about the upper-division Wildcats is they are pretty small and pretty fast.

“That doesn’t mean they can’t get hit,” he said.

He said USU has what it takes this season to beat a team like WSU.

“We are a quick and physical team,” he said. “You could tell that after our first game with how many hits we had.”

Michalik is originally from Sanok, Poland. He said he was invited to move to the United States to play hockey for the Junior Connecticut Whalers when he was 15. He is now 21.

“I’m going back to Poland [to visit] at Christmas break for the first time,” he said. “I never had a break in juniors.”

Michalik said he never had the chance to play in front of so many fans in junior hockey. Last Saturday’s game against BYU drew 1,640 people.

“I loved it,” he said. “It’s the greatest feeling ever to go on the ice and see that many people. We only got about 500 people in junior hockey. That’s a big difference.”

The Aggies will play in against BYU again Saturday in Provo at the Peaks Ice Arena. The game will start at 8:15 p.m.

Michalik said it only took him one game to feel the rivalry that exists between USU and BYU.

“I could feel it after they hooked the shit out of me,” he said pointing to his bandaged elbow. “They’re on my nerves already.”

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu