COLUMN: Hockey skates over competiton too easily
A 3-2 victory over the No. 1 team in the American College Hockey Association, a late victory over DePaul, a 3-3 tie with Michigan State and the Aggies are already over their toughest stretch of the regular season.
Simply put the Utah State hockey team is good.
To be fair, in-state rivals Weber State and BYU are nowhere near as good as advertised. BYU is limping along with its displays of mediocrity — in all honesty, the Cougars probably won’t even make it to the regional tournament.
Weber is no doubt deeper than they have been in years past and freshman goalkeeper Craig Peterson is turning heads in Ogden with his impressive saves, but the Wildcats’ play is far from the bone-crushing action advertised on their website.
The Aggies themselves had a few questions heading into this season. The skaters were facing an empty roster — weak in almost every position.
Then Brian Gibbons came to town and racked up four-goal games in his first two starts as an Aggie. Fans are speculating the rookie will be better than Aggie great Kent Arsenault, who set the record for most career goals last year. I’m inclined to believe it.
Unlike Arsenault, Gibbons stays out of the penalty box, which is just what the Aggies need — a cool-headed goal scorer.
Aggie veterans deserve credit as well.
Forward Jeff Sanders transitioned into a new role on the Aggie offense with the attitude of playing whenever and wherever he’s needed.
It’s not like his play was affected by the position change. As a defenseman last season Sanders notched four goals and 11 assists.
For the record, right now, the junior has four goals and 11 assists, seven games into this season. Sanders is quietly standing out in a new-look Aggie offense.
But perhaps the most deserving of them all is Brendan MacDonald. The captain stepped into big skates at the start of the season. Head coach Jon Eccles emphasized before the season how invaluable MacDonald’s leadership is to the young team.
I realize the first four games of the season were nothing more than an excuse to rack up stats. And the Aggies did just that. Seven Aggies had hat-tricks in the home and away series with BYU and Weber.
But rolling over their opponents by a combined score of 54-6? That’s a whole different level.
This past weekend’s ACHA Showcase pitted the Aggies head to head with some of the top teams in club hockey, and the Aggies prevailed.
They returned home from St. Louis undefeated, but the baggage is still trailing behind them.
Since the Aggies don’t play Division I hockey there will always be skeptics. The fans realize it, the coaches realize it, but most of all, the players realize it.
It’s clear. The Aggies do not get the kind of respect and recognition in the hockey world that they deserve.
Their big wins this weekend are great for bolstering a record, but they are even better for bolstering a program. I believe they can hang with the big boys. Now it’s time for the rest of the league to follow.
– Meredith Kinney is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, and she’s an avid hockey fan. She hopes to one day be a bigshot sideline reporter working for ESPN. Send any comments to meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu.