USU hockey drops two on road trip
The Aggies began their Colorado road trip games on the right note Thursday night, conquering Metro State College 19-3.
Forward David Wyman said, “I think we played a pretty good game considering we were coming off a bus. We didn’t start until 9 p.m. and even then we were able to beat them pretty badly.”
Team manager Jon Eccles agreed.
“We played extremely well. We had a chance to skate and loosen up a bit after the bus ride before the game and that helped a lot,” he said.
Eccles said that a highlight of the game was goalie Greg Finatti.
“(Finatti) played really well,” he said. “It was his first game back since being injured and he had more than 30 saves.”
Also impressive was the number of goals the team was able to achieve that night. Captain and right wing Kent Arsenault and left wing Brendan MacDonald each scored 6 goals, with center Billy Gouthro and forward Jay McFadden securing 2 goals each.
Wyman said lots of different people contributed offensively, mentioning Martin, Arsenault and MacDonald.
“I think everyone as a whole just played really well,” he said.
Although the team played well, Eccles said something to work on would be the number of penalties the team received.
“Most of the time we were playing a man down,” he said. “I think it is a matter of the team being able to notice the different ways different refs make calls. We really need to learn how to adjust to how the game is being called and play accordingly.”
The game ended with USU receiving 19 penalties and Metro receiving 14.
Wyman also noticed the need to work on lowering the number of penalties called.
“We got away with it (Thursday) but it’s something we need to stop,” he said.
Penalties were one contributor to Friday’s 6-1 loss to Colorado State University, said defenseman Jeremy Martin.
“During the second period there were so many penalties we were down players and they definitely had an advantage,” he said.
Also in the second period goalie Greg Finatti was kicked out of the game.
Martin said the penalty that got Finatti kicked out wasn’t wholly unprovoked.
“Their guys just kept going after our goalie, which I think made a lot of us really angry. After Finatti got hit again he kind of went after the guy and got taken out.” he said. “The replacement goalie Cory Palmer came in and was excellent. I think we just got caught up in the motion of the game. We started off the game on a bad note getting outplayed pretty badly. We got behind and then we couldn’t catch up.”
Although the loss wasn’t too devastating, being this early in the season, Martin said it would have been a great game to win.
Having seen what their competition entails, Martin said the loss would definitely change how the team plays.
“I think we’ll come off with more intensity and more effort. As far as skill levels we are pretty evenly matched up, they were just able to play better than us Friday night,” he said. “The team is already looking forward to the rematch in a couple of months.”
After losing to Colorado University Saturday night, Aggies will again be looking forward to a rematch. Team manager Jon Eccles said although the ending score was CU 3, USU 2, it was still a great game for Utah State University.
“Lately we have come out in the first period pretty flat and non-aggressive, but tonight we were more pressing. It took CU at least the first five minutes to even get in a shot,” he said.
He added that the problem Saturday wasn’t so much the penalties, with the players adjusting a lot better to the game and to the refs. “I think we just needed to play better in the second period.”
Forward Seth Armitage played his first game back since his injury. His participation in the game was helpful, Eccles said.
“Having Seth back definitely helped,” he said. “He’s still not 100% yet but his speed and enthusiasm were important to us.”
And with key players Greg Finatti and Billy Gouthro unable to play due to fighting the night before and Brendan MacDonald out with a sore shoulder, it was lucky the team stepped up to the challenge of filling the void they left behind. Goalie Dan Cornelius saved 41 shots and CU scored only on power plays when USU was playing a man down.
“We had plenty of opportunities, especially in the third period, but we played really well and didn’t give up,” he said.
Aggies play Metropolitan University next Saturday at the George S. Eccles ice arena at 7 pm.