Aggie hockey win in Provo
After trailing by three, the Utah State hockey club scored six unanswered goals to beat the Provo IceCats 7-5 Saturday night in Utah County.
After allowing a BYU shorthanded goal early in the second period, the Aggies scored six straight times, including a hat trick from Nick Thiros, to bury the IceCats for good.
“They outplayed us at first, but then we dominated,” Thiros said. “Heart is what won this game for us. We spotted them three goals up front which is a big hole to get out of. It took a lot of heart and determination to get in it again.”
BYU came out fast and scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the game to take an early lead.
“I don’t think anyone was playing until then,” Aggie defensive coach Ned Hillyard said. “We were not physical and we let them dictate the loose pucks.”
“We realized that it was time to get it together,” Thiros said. “We are twice as good as them, so three goals is nothing. We’ve got 20 solid guys on this team, and with that kind of firepower, we can comeback from anything.”
The IceCats scored first in four of the five meetings between the team last year.
“We just couldn’t bury the puck,” Aggie Robert Hashimoto said. “It happens sometimes. But no one doubted at all that we would come back.”
From the second period on, the Aggie defense took over.
“We began to play physical,” Hillyard said. “We attacked the puck and the player. We stayed right on it.”
Hillyard said when the defense plays well, it opens up opportunities for the offense because the puck is always on the opponent’s end of the ice.
Hashimoto said USU’s attitude was not right going into the game.
“We thought we would just smoke BYU,” he said. “But they scored their three goals in, like, seven minutes, but a hockey game is 60 minutes, so we knew we would come back.”
The Aggies are still working on playing a complete game.
“We played a lot like the first two periods of last week’s game in the last two periods of this week’s game,” Hillyard said.
The Aggies were tied with the Weber State Division-I team after two periods last week.
“[Not playing a full 60 minutes] is a problem, but we’re working on that,” Hillyard said. “We need to play three strong periods.”
USU will host Eastern Washington for games on Thursday and Saturday this week. The Aggies won every meeting with the Eagles last season, including a 6-0 shutout in Logan. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. in the Eccles Ice Arena in North Logan.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
Goalie adam laine stops a shot from a BYU opponent Saturday night in Provo. (Photo by John Zsiray)