Ag hockey gets Thiros back
It’s been a long five weeks for Utah State hockey club center Nick Thiros to wait for his right index finger to climb back to 100 percent.
But he had patience, and relief is here. He was cleared to play in this weekend’s games by team doctor Jim Davis before Wednesday night’s practice in the Eccles Ice Center.
USU will host Weber State (13-4-2) Friday at 7:30 p.m. before traveling to Provo Saturday night to face BYU.
Thiros broke the finger Nov. 1 at Arizona State as he dove to stop a puck in USU’s defensive zone.
The significance of his return to the starting line is easily seen given the accolades the coaching staff gives him for his constant desire to be back on the ice, no matter what.
Aggie assistant coach Ty Newberry said, Thiros competed in a few games of pickup hockey over the Thanksgiving Break without medical staff approval. Newberry wasn’t happy with this, but he didn’t hurt himself.
“I give him a hard time saying that there’s no more heroic way in hockey to get injured than to sacrifice your body by laying down to take a shot for the team,” Newberry said.
The Aggies will look to carry over the confidence they gained from defeating Division I club Arizona State Nov. 23. That win gave USU a .500 record for the first time since Nov. 1.
USU Head Coach Jerry Crossley said the team was a little rusty Tuesday night in its first practice after the week off, but “all in all, they look pretty good.”
With USU’s 8-8-1 record this season, WSU is superior statistically, though USU defeated them 6-4 in Ogden on Oct. 4.
The rivalry between the teams is a giant one, so records can be tossed from the mix. Add in the fact that until January 2002 the Wildcats and Aggies shared the same arena — the Ogden Ice Sheet — and this is as close a rivalry as the two teams have.
“When it comes to this game, all the guys from both sides of the fence know that if there’s a game to win, it’s this game,” Newberry said.
USU has had the reigns held tightly around the neck of BYU over the past few years, even beating the Cougars 9-1 in this season’s first game.
“They have 2,000 fans there,” Thiros said. “BYU is not going to be a pushover, especially [due to] playing Weber the night before. Weber beats us up quite a bit. They play a physical game.”
Christmas Break makes one season feel like two
After this weekend’s games, USU won’t be in action until Jan. 10 — a long time for a team to be away from each other and instantly be as good as they were when they come back.
No other college sport competes as long and as often in one season as hockey does, Newberry said. Add in all the practices which allow only one day a week off — Sunday — and some players become burned out and don’t want to look at a sheet of ice again.
“Some guys come back after having a month off and say, ‘You know what? That was nice. I need more of this. I need to get back to my academics, or I want to be a college kid and be able to go out Friday and Saturday night and hang out with my friends,'” Newberry said.
“Every coach hates [the Christmas Break]. I hate it,” he said. “But it’s a level playing field because [all the teams we play] go through it.”
–samhis@cc.usu.edu