Hockey proves to be mortal with first loss to CSU
The Utah State hockey club hosted two games this weekend resulting in a 6-1 victory over the University of Northern Colorado Saturday, following its first loss of the season in a 6-5 loss to Colorado State University on Friday.
The loss to the Rams comes on the heels of a three-game road trip in which Utah State pulled off a sweep of UNC, CSU and Colorado University.
Utah State returned home from that sweep to face off against CSU again, but got off to a rocky start, falling behind 2-0 within the first seven minutes of the game. Utah State didn’t do itself any favors either, racking up three penalties within those first seven minutes, a problem that has been hanging over the team’s head for much of this young season.
“We’ve got to crack down on it,” team captain Kent Arsenault said of the penalties. “That’s the only thing that’s hurting us right now. If we cut that out there’s no team that can beat us.”
Following a holding penalty by CSU’s Parker Harrison, the Rams’ first of the game, Utah State’s Billy Gouthro needed just 11 seconds of power-play time to bury the Aggies’ first goal of the game to close the gap to 2-1.
The Rams responded just three minutes later on a goal by Casey Schermerhorn to open the lead up to 3-1.
Another CSU penalty with just more than two minutes remaining in the first period set the stage for another power play goal by the Aggies, this time coming off the stick of Matt Hamilton, just 26 seconds into the power play.
Utah State’s Tyler Mistelbacher netted another goal just 33 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3 going into the first intermission.
Early into the second period, Utah State capitalized on the power play yet again with a goal by Dave Wyman to give the Aggies a 4-3 lead, their first lead of the game. CSU’s Harrison answered that lead with a pair of goals to close out the second period with a 5-4 lead for the Rams.
Mistelbacher netted his second goal of the game early in the third period to knot the game back up at five goals apiece, and at one point it appeared that Utah State had taken a 6-5 lead, but the would-be go-ahead goal was disallowed by the officiating crew.
The Rams’ Paul Jenkins, with 8:23 remaining in the game, scored the eventual knockout blow to USU, giving CSU a 6-5 lead.
Utah State head coach Jon Eccles attributed the loss to inconsistency throughout the game as well as the efforts of some players that he felt were lacking.
Eccles said, “If we would have played 60 minutes of hockey, we would have won, but we had kind of peaks and valleys.”
Despite the loss, players and coaches alike are keeping their optimism about the season as a whole.
“It’s kind of a good wake-up call to get it over with early and to a good team,” Arsenault said. “We didn’t expect to go undefeated this year so it’s good to get it out early and just work on it from here and go out tomorrow and start fresh.”
Eccles said, “A loss will get everyone refocused and probably working that much harder.”
Saturday afternoon was the first chance for the Aggies to show their resolve in the face of some adversity, and they did just that, coming out to a dominating 6-1 victory over the Bears of Northern Colorado.
Looking particularly for improvement in his team’s effort, Eccles said he was pleased with what he got from his entire squad in Saturday’s game.
“Everyone came out and played a full 60 minutes,” Eccles said of the win. “Even our fourth line got out there and did awesome. I felt that we came out a lot more up-tempo and we sustained that tempo pretty much the whole game.”
The Aggies also showed a vast improvement Saturday in keeping themselves from visits to the penalty box, logging four fewer penalties against UNC than they did against CSU.
The weekend’s games leave Utah State’s record at 8-1 on the season, a number that the Aggies will look to further improve with four of their next five games at home.
The Aggies will be back on the ice this weekend as they face Colorado University Thursday, and the Jr. Idaho Steelheads Friday. Puck drops at 7 p.m. for both games.
– matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu