Aggies pound Weber State at home
The Utah State hockey team struggled to keep up its intensity against the Weber State University Wildcats on Saturday night.
Despite the slow start, however, USU picked up a 10-4 win over Weber State.
Utah State was playing with a short bench due to a combination of grade issues, injuries and two players sitting out from game disqualifications.
“We’re only running six defenders,” Utah State head coach Jon Eccles said. “On the D side, people are trying to adjust. We’ve got some new matchups. Our forwards, again, have a bunch of new lines.”
Aggie forward Stu Hepburn picked up his first start and made it count, as the freshman notched four assists on the night.
“Stu will work hard wherever we put him,” Eccles said. “He just gives us another guy down there crashing and working hard in the corners.”
Hepburn started in place of Tyler Mistelbacher, who earned a game DQ in last weekend’s game.
“Stu’s not the same type of player as Tyler, but he plays a big role and he does it well,” Aggie captain Brendan MacDonald said.
The Aggies scored first when forward Tyler Firth one-timed the puck into the net for his first goal of the season.
A combination of the adjusted lines and a hangover from the 17-4 BYU game last week took its toll, when Wildcat forward Chris Roberts scored midway through the second period to cut the Aggie lead to one at 3-2.
“We have a lot of skills and we depend on it sometimes,” MacDonald said. “Our skills aren’t going to show unless our work ethic matches the other team’s.”
The Aggies responded in a big way, scoring five straight to open up a big lead. Forward Cooper Limb got a backhanded goal during the run.
A minute and a half later, MacDonald looped around after a failed attempt to steal the puck from a Weber State defender. The forward found himself open at the opposite blue line for a pass from Hepburn and faked a couple times before putting the puck behind Wildcat goaltender Jonas Jorgersen.
“We’re all just brushing up from the week we’ve had off,” MacDonald said. “I think our work ethic really took over in the second half of the game.”
MacDonald scored again followed by defender Alex Lund, who scored from the blue line, and forward Billy Gouthro, who gave the Aggies a six-point lead.
The Wildcats scored twice more, but the Aggies held on for the win.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu