Colorado ends Ags’ hockey title pursuit
USU 3, USC 1
The Trojans gave USU a good tussle but eventually succumbed to the Aggies’ relentless pressure, the altitude and the Olympic-sized ice at the Eccles Ice Arena.
USU took the first step toward a trip to the ACHA national tournament behind goals from Kent Arsenault, Roberto Leo and Michael Filander.
USC goalie Matt Buttweiler came up with excellent saves throughout the game to keep the score close but was upstaged by USU’s Greg “The Force” Finatti, who was denied the shutout when a puck got its nose over the goal line in the third period. USC’s Ryan Farias was credited with the short-handed goal which made the score 2-1. Finatti said when he saw the puck brush the goal line he thought, “I’ll never get a shutout.”
Arsenault said, “Finatti shut the door tonight. He was phenomenal. When we need him to come up big, he certainly does come up big, and tonight was a good example of that. He was one goal away from the shutout.”
Farias’ shorthanded goal came just after Robert Hashimoto was denied a goal by the referees, and it could have easily taken the wind out of USU’s sails and opened the door for a comeback.
Hashimoto came tearing out of the penalty box and found himself supporting Filander on a break up-ice, into the teeth of a grabbing, holding USC defense. Despite being interfered with, Hashi buried the puck, but the referees argued that they had called a penalty on USC before he scored. The goal was deducted, and USC’s Shaun Smith was sent to the box.
Filander, however, ended all hope on the USC bench with just over two minutes remaining, combining with linemates Hashi and Will Winsa for a goal.
“Before the game, watching all the other games, stuff like that, I got pumped up and it turned out OK,” the Swedish center said. “It was a lucky shot. I didn’t even aim. I just ripped it.”
The most exciting moment of the game came in the first period when Finatti shut down an attempt and ended up flat on his back. The rebound came out to Smith at the point, and the Trojan wound up for a shot on a net that could not have been more wide open. However “The Force” managed to get a fingertip on the puck and poke it outside the goalpost, where he held it despite another Trojan digging away with his stick.
Colorado 5, USU 1
With a trip to nationals in Colorado Springs on the line, USU lost 5-1 to a Colorado Buffaloes squad that just seemed to want the win more.
Jay McFadden scored on a breakaway with 17 minutes to go in the first period, and the trip to nationals seemed real. But then Colorado started playing hockey, and USU was left looking for answers. PJ Bevan scored on a slapshot from the point to tie the game late in the first, and then the visitors owned the second period with goals from Andrew Neitenbach, Jeff Neitenbach and Matt Ridens.
“This year was fun, don’t get me wrong. It would have been really nice to get to nationals but not every team can go,” Arsenault said. “[There are] 135 teams and only 16 make it, so I guess we’re one of them that’s not making it today.”
Down 4-1 entering the third period, a rally to force overtime still seemed possible, but Colorado added a power play goal by Andrew Neitenbach with 16:16 to go. USU never found out if they might have been able to come storming back because the team couldn’t get one goal to start the process.
Hashimoto, one of the seniors who was hoping to go out with a chance to play hockey on the national stage, said, “It’s all about the experience of college. I’m getting a degree and I’ve made a lot of friends, and I’m definitely going to miss hockey but most importantly, I’ll miss my teammates.”
All things being equal, the power play killed USU. The Aggies were 0-for-7 on power plays while Colorado scored goals on 3-of-6 man advantages.
“CU played really aggressively tonight on their PK, and it seemed like we couldn’t get anything on the power play,” Hashi said. “CU converted on their power plays and we knew that from the start. We knew they’re a good power play team. We just made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized.”
Frustrations boiled over in the last 10 minutes of the third period as the reality that they were losing and there would be no comeback sunk in on USU. Maciej Michalik no sooner stepped onto the ice than he was dropping his gloves, delivering blows and wadding his opponent up into a little ball on the ice. Michalik showed the Colorado bench a vulgar Polish hand signal and pumped his arms like a heavyweight champ as he left the ice.
The next incident came with 7:54 to go, when Jimmy Knowlton and Arsenault got tangled up and were both called for slashing. Arsenault threw Knowlton’s stick up into the netting in disgust and was called for misconduct.
Later, Finatti came out of the crease, popped Jeff Neitenbach and looked around wildly for someone else to hit before Brett Fryslie finished the job, slamming Neitenbach into the boards. Knowlton and Neitenbach could be heard trading verbal barbs with Fryslie from their respective penalty boxes.
Team Captain Scotty John said there were no words to describe how the loss felt.
“We didn’t show up is the only thing I can say,” John said. “We’re one of the best teams in this league; everybody knows it. Colorado’s captain came up to me after the game and said, ‘You guys are a hell of a team. A hell of a team, you just didn’t have it today.’ That’s the bottom line. We just didn’t have it. There’s no excuse for it.”
With a strong core of young talent on the team, post-game talk focused heavily on the opportunity for next year’s hockey season.
“This is my life right here; it’s hockey,” Arsenault said. “We’ve got a good group of guys coming back here, and I think we’ve got good expectations for years to come here.”
The Aggies wrap up their 2006-2007 season with a slate of in-state games. This Friday the Aggies play a home game against Weber State D1 then travel to Ogden the following night to play the Wildcats again. On March 1, USU will play its final home game against BYU and the next night will end the season on the road against Utah.
-graham@cc.usu.edu