Blue Aggies beat crimson Aggies at home
The Utah State club hockey team broke its three-game losing streak Thursday with a 9-4 victory over Texas A&M; at the George S. Eccles Ice Center. USU had seven different players score a goal.
“It was better than it has been in a long time,” said captain Cooper Limb, who scored three goals. “Guys are moving the puck well, it looked good. We want to make sure and keep it going tomorrow.”
Utah State is now 4-9 on the season with three more games to play at home this week. Texas A&M; dropped to 6-12-1 for the year.
Limb opened the scoring for USU when he found the back of the net four minutes into the first period. Utah State scored three more first-period goals before Texas A&M; got on the board.
The A&M; Aggies scored twice in the final two minutes of the first period on two power-play goals. Forward Brennan O’Brien scored the first, while defenseman Harold Rambusch tallied the second. A 4-2 deficit was the closest A&M; came to Utah State.
“Overall they played a full 60 minutes,” USU head coach Jon Eccles said. “They had little breakdowns, but for the most part it was a good push by all the lines.”
The second period featured two more Limb goals. He scored first 13 minutes into the period on a slap shot off a feed from behind the net by forward Chris Videto. With 2:35 to go and playing three-on-five hockey, Limb broke free and scored short-handed to complete the hat trick.
“It felt really nice,” Limb said. “I’ve been struggling to put the puck in the back of the net. It was a good night to go out and score a few.”
Trailing 6-2 at the start of the third period, Texas A&M; started quickly. The team scored two minutes into the third and cut the Utah State lead to three. Seventeen seconds later, USU forward Drew Decker matched the goal with one of his own. Andrew Hoefer scored the last A&M; goal with 12 minutes to go in the game.
“What’s nice is if one line is shut down then another line steps up and scores,” Eccles said. “It takes the pressure off. Now they don’t know who to put the pressure on.”
Utah State added two more goals in the final nine minutes of the game to seal the victory.
— kalen.s.taylor@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @kalen_taylor