Aggies tie with Northern Arizona in 8-8 shootout
When Utah State hockey ended in an 8-8 tie against Northern Arizona University, USU head coach Jon Eccles said he wasn’t surprised.
“I told the boys it would be a tough game all week long,” he said. “NAU never gives up, they just keep coming and coming. They are a very disciplined team in that way, they don’t get down.”
The game could have sealed USU’s auto-bid for nationals.
“I can’t pinpoint it,” Eccles said. “Every area of the game for us, our D-men would play good and then they would play bad. Our forwards were good and then bad.”
The Aggie struggles were exacerbated as their penalty minutes started to add up. Utah State’s history with NAU took its toll as both teams battled hard in the corners and dished out big hits.
USU beat the Lumberjacks in last year’s American College Hockey Association West Regional Tournament knocking them out of national title contention. The rivalry between the two teams was stirred up again Saturday.
“Instead of being focused and working on the things we want to accomplish,” Eccles said.
“We got tied up in these little one-on-one battles.”
The Aggies found themselves in an unfamiliar place down 1-0, six minutes into the game. Cooper Limb went top-shelf a minute later to tie it up.
“It was a back-and-forth battle,” said Utah State forward Brian Gibbons. “It’s hard to describe. It was a shootout.”
Another NAU goal was quickly answered by Utah State’s Jeremy Martin.
“I believe that we accomplished some good things,” Eccles said. “We didn’t buckle when they would go up. We kept fighting, we kept coming back.”
Down 3-2 with seven minutes to play, Eccles made the decision to pull starting goalkeeper Allesandro Mullane.
“We came out to play,” Mullane said. “There were just some bad bounces — some bad
things that happen.
Mullane’s stint on the bench was short-lived. Midway through the second, goalkeeper Bryce Scherschel skated off the ice with an injury, and Mullane was back in goal.
“I was thankful for the chance,” Mullane said. “Any athlete will tell you that any time you lose or mess up, you just want another shot. I got that shot.”
Mullane ended the game with 34 saves.
“It was a rough game, but I never gave up,” Mullane said. “I never want to let the boys down.”
The Aggies found themselves facing an 8-7 deficit with 10 minutes left to play. With four minutes left, USU forward Matt Hamilton took a shot that trickled past NAU goalie Quinn Mason.
Utah State forward Billy Gouthro finished the goal off when he got his stick on it, sending the game to overtime with the late goal.
“Billy’s playing really hard,” Eccles said. “He’s very focused as a team player.”
Despite Gouthro’s last-second heroics, overtime ended without a goal from either team and the game ended in a draw.
The Aggies are back on the ice Feb. 10 against the Brigham Young University Cougars at the Eccles Ice Center.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu