Utah State hockey wins three of four in Beehive Showcase
Utah State hockey played host for several other schools in this year’s Beehive Showcase featuring matches against: Arizona State Elite, Montana Tech, Arizona State Maroon and Northern Arizona.
Utah State won three of its four weekend games, losing only to top-ranked ASU Elite.
Coach Jon Eccles came into the showcase with a motivated team.
“This year’s showcase features eight of the top 10 teams in the west,” Eccles said. “Those are the teams you want to play.”
In the first matchup on Thursday night the Aggies were tasked with facing the number one ranked Arizona State Elite team. After a feisty, physical first period the teams were in a 0-0 deadlock.
As the 2nd period started the Aggies were left vulnerable on the penalty kill and couldn’t find an answer to the Arizona State power play unit. ASU Elite scored a goal in a 3-on-5 situation to take control of the game.
“Penalties are what has bitten us,” Eccles said. “We do well on our penalty kill, but the odds are against us.”
The 2nd period concluded with Arizona State on top of the Aggies 2-0.
The lead the Elite had proved to be too much in the end as they defeated the Aggies 4-1.
But USU had no time to dwell on the defeat as they faced a Montana Tech team coming in at No. 3 in the rankings versus the 4th ranked Utah State. In the previous matchup Montana Tech had defeated the Aggies 3-0 in Butte, Montana away from home ice.
There was a different feel coming into this matchup versus Montana Tech, the home crowd helped Utah State in the second meeting for the two teams.
“Our crowd is awesome every night,” said Alex Herman. “It’s always motivation for us.”
The Aggies’ thoughts of revenge would come to fruition on Friday night versus the Montana Tech Orediggers. USU beat MT 2-3 to mark the halfway point in the weekend tournament.
The third game came Friday against Arizona State Maroon.
Utah State came out and took an early lead, scoring two goals in the first period from Herman and Rylee Orr.
The Aggies continued to create many scoring opportunities but were held off the scoreboard until the end of the game.
“Their goalie played well,” Eccles said. “He wanted revenge for us beating them in regionals last year.”
Arizona State’s goalie wasn’t the only goalie standing out. For the Aggies, Christian Vivian was able to make several key saves, many on the penalty kill to keep the Aggies lead intact.
Unfortunately for USU, a scramble in front of the net caused the puck to trickle in on the penalty kill and Vivian didn’t get his deserved shutout.
An intense last 15 minutes were in store for the Eccles Ice Arena crowd as the Aggies held a narrow 2-1 lead. Thanks to a strong defensive effort and clutch goaltending from Vivian, the Aggies were able to hold until Herman put away an empty-net goal in the last minute of the game.
“It was a tough goal that went in,” Vivian said. “But, the penalty kill played great and helped me out a lot to even put me in that position.”
After beating ASU Maroon 3-1, USU had one final game against Northern Arizona. Utah State had beat NAU each of the three times the teams have met thus far in the season.
“It’s been a total of 21 to about 15 (between the 3 games),” Eccles said. “It’s been crazy so we really need to tighten up.”
The first period wasn’t ideal for Utah State as they had given up another power play goal to be on the wrong side of a 1-0 deficit going into the 2nd period.
As the 1st intermission ended, Cutshall was able to take in a quick equalizing goal within the first minute of the 2nd period and swing the momentum back in USU’s favor.
The Aggies were in another dogfight of a game versus the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, but were able to scrap in a 2nd goal through Captain Cooper Limb as it lead the Aggies to a third consecutive victory.
“Everyone has got bumps and bruises,” Herman said of the four-game stretch. “But when you’re out there you don’t think about it.”
— tparadise@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @tristan0010
More photos from the game can be found here: https://usustatesman.com/gallery/usu-hockey-vs-asu/