Ags hoping for momentum

Momentum is on the side of the Utah State hockey club right now.

After nearly knocking off top-ranked San Jose State on Nov. 4 and obliterating No. 2 Denver 8-1 last Friday, the Aggies travel to Washington to take on the Huskies Thursday and No. 5 Eastern Washington Friday and Saturday.

USU tied the Eagles 3-3 on Oct. 8 at the Eccles Ice Center in North Logan.

“We’re a lot different team now,” goalie Adam Lain said. “We’re just now finding out what we can do. We want to keep that momentum.”

Lain said this will be a key weekend for USU.

“This road trip will say a lot about the team,” he said. “I feel good about it.”

Defenseman Alex John said the team still is not getting the respect it deserves.

“We should have beat SJSU,” he said. “That rout of Denver was a huge boost of confidence.”

John said although EWU should present a much bigger challenge than Washington, the Aggies can’t let down at all.

“Basically, every game is big,” he said. “Every single game. But at the level we’re at, if we play like that every game, we’ll beat every team we play.”

Lain said the game against the Huskies will be a good warm-up game for him and goalie Greg Finatti, with whom he will be sharing time in goal.

“The coaches said I’ll split time with Finatti [in the Washington game],” he said. “We’ll both play against EWU.”

Lain said although Finatti got the start against Denver and played excellently, he is not worried about any lost time in net.

“I’m glad for Finatti,” he said. “Even if we have two goalies, it’s important. It’s hard playing three back-to-back games. You get worn out. It’s a good idea to have two goalies.”

Lain said the Aggies still have the element of surprise against EWU because USU was not playing its best hockey when the Eagles were in town. He said Denver fell victim to the same thing.

“We played a different game than in Denver,” he said. “We have better passing now.”

Lain said the team goes through a rough time every season when it struggles to find some chemistry.

“It just took us a little longer to get our legs under us this year,” he said.

Three Aggies, Maciej Michalik, Ryan Osterheldt and Brandon Holthaus, played in Seattle last season for the Puget Sound Tomahawks, a Junior B club. None of those three players will be playing in Seattle on Thursday when USU faces Washington. Michalik will be sitting out because he was disqualified in the Aggies’ last game.

Osterheldt will be serving the second of an eight-game suspension for receiving his third DQ of the season against UVSC on Nov. 5. Holthaus arrived at USU too late in the season to be eligible to play this semester.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu