Breaking the ice
they are up to the challenge.
“We’re going to be better than last year,” defenseman Nate Pierce said. “Overall, we’re a better team. We have better depth and better talent.”
Head Coach Jerry Crossley shared the same enthusiasm.
“It’ll be a fun season,” Crossley said. “I’m encouraged by the team’s attitude and the talent depth.”
The Aggies will begin their season this weekend at home with exhibition games against USU alumni on Friday and BYU on Saturday. All home games start at 8 p.m. at the Eccles Ice Arena in North Logan.
USU added 11 new players for this season, which Crossley said will be a big asset to the team.
“It’s a new generation team,” he said. “It’s that next group. If this team matures, we can be every bit as good as last year, if not better. I’m as encouraged as I’ve ever been.”
The Aggies will not only see a big change on the bench, but also in the schedule. UVSC will begin playing this season as well as UNLV.
“It creates a more diverse schedule,” Crossley said. “We don’t have to play Weber five times.”
Crossley said it’s nice to have another in-state team, but it is not new to have four Division-II teams in Utah because the University of Utah had a team until two seasons ago.
“[UVSC]’s another in-state rivalry,” he said. “It’s good to have teams close by. They make for fun games.”
The way teams are selected for the national tournament will also change this season. Until this year, the top four teams in each region in the official ACHA rankings were automatically invited to nationals. This season, only the top two teams will get the automatic bid and the teams ranked No. 3-10 will play a regional tournament for the other two spots at the national tournament in Rochester, N.Y.
“Who goes to nationals will also be decided by a tournament,” Crossley said. “Every team in the top 10 is in the hunt. It changes strategies a lot.”
UNLV will be hosting a tournament with USU, BYU and the Weber State D-II team in early December. Crossley said it will be a good opportunity for the Aggies in case they do not finish in the top two.
“Tournaments are more physically demanding,” he said. “They are mentally challenging. It will be good to prepare for that kind of atmosphere.”
This will be the first full season USU will have with the expanded seating capacity at the arena. Midway through last year, 1,000 new seats were added on the north side of the ice, which doubled the capacity to 2,000.
“We hope to fill the seats with the new setup,” Crossley said. “We hope the fans have a good time. It’ll be a good show.”
Tickets have been reduced to $3 for students, but will remain at $6 for non-students.
Here is a more in-depth look at the team:
Offense
Despite losing their all-time leading goal scorer, Aaron Burrell, the Aggies still feel like they will be able to be productive offensively.
Forward Robert Hashimoto said the Aggies will play more as one and not lean on one player to score all their goals.
“This year is more of a team,” he said. “We’re not going to count on two guys anymore.”
Hashimoto said this is his year to be the offensive leader.
“I’ve been in the shadow of Burrell for the last three years,” he said. “I need to step up and try to lead this team to nationals.”
Forward Roberto Leo said the team expects Hashimoto to have a breakout year.
“We’re looking for big things from Hashi and the older guys,” he said. “But we have enough talent that anybody could have a breakthrough season.”
Crossley said he is not sure yet how the lines will be made up for the season.
“I’m still toying around with them,” he said. “We’re sorting out the team chemistry.”
Crossley said he is confident that no matter how the lines work out, USU will score a lot of goals this season.
“We have the potential to be a very good team,” he said. “We’ve got guys that will score goals. We’ll have a pretty solid four lines. I like the depth.”
Defense
After struggling with depth last season, the Aggie defense now has eight solid defensemen for the first time, Brett Fryslie said.
“It’s real nice,” he said. “We do not have to play 40 minutes a game now.”
Although last year’s big man Ben Froehle will not play this season, the Aggies have added another large body in Maciej “Machy” Machalik.
Machalik played for the Junior-A Puget Sound hockey team last season along with newcomer Ryan Osterfeldt.
“They just showed up out of the blue,” Fryslie said. “[Machy]’s really smart. He won’t take dumb penalties.”
Crossley also said he likes both Machalik and Osterfeldt’s decision making on the ice.
“Machy will help on defense,” he said. “He has good techniques and he makes good decisions. I’d imagine Ryan will be a good player too.”
Fryslie said with the added depth the Aggies are looking to finish even higher than last year.
“We’re looking to be national champs,” he said. “A lot of us are in the best shape we’ve ever been in. We want a championship. We want to go to Rochester and win.”
Goaltending
Last season, the Aggies had two starting goalies in Chris Webber and Adam Lain. With Webber signing a pro contract to play in Madrid, Spain, over the offseason, the net appears to be all Lain’s this year.
“I’m excited about getting more games,” Lain said. “I feel I can be a better asset to the team. I’m ready to take it on.”
Lain said the consistency in net will help him, although last year’s system was not a bad one.
“We both had our higher and lower points,” he said. “We were both very streaky. But it turned out to be a good season.”
Lain said even if he had the net to himself last season, he wouldn’t have been as good as he will be this year.
“I got my feet wet these last two years,” he said. “I’m more prepared this season.”
Crossley said he hopes he can have another go-to goalie in case of emergencies.
“I’d rather have two or three go-to guys,” he said. “Something always happened where you needed one more guy. It’s good to know you have a solid leader, but you don’t want to put all your eggs in that basket.”