Aggies knock-out Cougars, scrape by Wildcats as season ends
Utah State won 13-5 at home against Brigham Young University on Friday and beat Weber State 3-2 on Saturday.
“We came out and played together as a team,” said USU goaltender Keegan McHenry. “They had a couple breaks in the second period, but we just got back to how we have been practicing, and we scored six goals in the second period. That’s doing what we want to do.”
Utah State was beating BYU 3-2 at the start of the second period, but by the end of the period they were wining 9-4.
“After the first period, we put it in auto pilot and were just doing what we know how to do,” McHenry said. “There was a lot of puck movement. At the end of the season you expect chemistry to be high, so guys just know where they are going to be.”
Shaun Gibbons scored his fourth goal of the game at the four-minute mark in the third period, giving USU a 12-4 advantage. Multiple fights broke out after the Aggie goal. Aggies Gibbons and Stew Hepburn, as well as BYU’s Josh Patrick, received disqualifications to go along with a a slew of other penalties.
The last four minutes of the game consisted of three-on-three hockey.
“The penalties shot us in the foot tonight,” said Utah State assistant coach Jonah Nelsen. “With the disqualifications that they got, three games, four games, five games, it’s pretty much the end of the season for them.”
Although pleased with the win, USU coaches know that the penalties and disqualifications were costly.
“They won’t be with us at regionals because of that,” Nelsen said. “With Shaun Gibbons being one of our top defensemen, it really hurts our defensive side. Its never good to lose players, and it really affects the team.”
Against the Wildcats, the Aggies got off to a slow start but came out strong in the second period.
Chris Videto scored one minute into the second period, and Gary Higgs quickly followed with another goal.
“The first period was kind of slow, but in the second period we decided it was time to start bringing the game to them,” said Higgs who plays defense for Utah State. “We revved up our attack a little bit and turned it into a couple of quick goals.”
In the third period Weber state was able to put one in the back of the net, cutting the Utah State lead 2-1. The Aggies answered back with a goal from Sam Goings six minutes later. The Wildcats score again on a power play, making the final score 3-2.
Weber State took a timeout with one minute remaining to try and tie up the score. Nevertheless, Utah State was able to hold them for the remainder of the game and seal the victory.
“These two wins give us confidence going into regionals,” Higgs said. “Guys have had to step up into different roles because of injuries and things like that. It all builds confidence, and we were working on some things we needed to work on. Those two wins right there propel us into regionals with that winning mentality. We are going in ready to win.”
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