Aggies complete season-sweep of BYU with 8-0 win
The Utah State Hockey team took to the ice Saturday night to face off against BYU for the third time in two weeks. USU defeated the Cougars 8-0 and with this win completed the sweep on the season.
Saturday’s game started off with physical play from both teams. For much of the first period, it looked as if the Aggies were out for revenge.
“BYU plays a little soft,” Utah State’s Chase Allington said. “So we knew we had to come out and play hard, hit hard and take bodies.”
And that’s just what the Aggies did, dishing out huge hits and coming strong again and again at the Cougars. So much so that Utah State outshot BYU, getting 20 shots on goal and holding the Cougars to just four shots in the first period. It was only a matter of time before shots started falling for the Aggies.
Brendan MacDonald got the Aggies’ first goal of the night with 12:16 left in the first. But the BYU defense stepped up and the physical play continued for another six minutes before USU was able to score again when Allington buried the puck in the back of the net.
Three minutes later, Jeremy Martin took a cross-ice assist from Matt Hamilton and put the puck past BYU’s goalie, Scott Mehr. Another three minutes later, USU’s Kent Arsenault added another point the Aggies score with 23 seconds left in the period.
The Aggies’ three late goals prompted BYU to switch goalies during the first intermission, giving Josh Antoniuk a chance in net.
It didn’t take long for Utah State to figure out the new goalie, though. At 16:57, USU’s Rylee Orr capitalized on a bad rebound and netted the first goal of the second period.
Even Utah State’s 5-0 lead did not succeed in easing the physicality of the play as the Aggie defense delivered hit after hit. It was BYU’s defense however that held off a fired up Utah State team for the next 10 minutes.
At 6:45 USU’s David Wyman added another point to the total, giving both Jay McFadden and Goalie Bryce Scherschel assists.
BYU got their best chance of the game in the third period with a break-away causing Scherschel to make a diving save leaving the goal wide open. The Aggie defense stepped up and helped their goalie out preventing a goal.
Utah State scored two more times to finish out the game with a goal from Brandon Blauer and a goal from Seth Armitage with 48 seconds left.
“Every period we just kept going at them and going at them and never backed off,” USU coach Jon Eccles said. The Aggies looked strong all game long. Everyone including the younger players stepped up and did their part.
“With a short bench they have to step up and play hard,” MacDonald said of the rookies’ performance, as Utah State was once again battling against both injuries and game misconducts earned in the Northern Arizona game on Thursday.
With the Aggies’ top three lines getting ready for regionals, it is important for other players to step up and take some of the pressure off.
“We’re trying to get a few guys in that don’t get a lot of ice time but we have to be prepared going into regionals,” Eccles said.
Another improvement on the Aggies part was the amount of penalty time Utah State served. Neither team earned any penalties in the game which was surprising considering the intensity of the play all night.
All season Utah State has been fighting their penalty time, but on Saturday they were able to keep their tempers in check and play clean.
“It just shows that we came to play and had our minds set,” Eccles said.
The Aggies will be back on the ice for their last home game on Feb. 18 versus the University of Utah. With just two regular season games left before regionals, USU is looking to keep the intensity from this game.
“Regionals are looking good right now,” said MacDonald. “We’re getting ready to come out hard.”
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu