Gibbons leads Aggies over Utes
The Utah State hockey team didn’t have much riding on its matchup with University of Utah Friday. The Aggies had already clinched second place in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Western Division and were handed an auto-bid to the national tournament.
That didn’t stop them from picking up a 9-3 victory over the Utes on Senior Night at the Eccles Ice Center. Utah, who is sitting sixth in the Western Division, put pressure on the Aggies early on and didn’t let up.
“They are a great team,” said Aggie forward Brian Gibbons. “They’ll head to regionals next week, and we’re kind of pulling for them. It would be nice to have two Utah teams at nationals.”
Gibbons led the Aggies with a hat-trick on the night.
“All my goals came off great plays from my linemates,” Gibbons said. “I didn’t really have to do much. They got me the puck, and I put it away.”
The center’s three points pushed him to the century mark with 100 points, as he joined fellow forward Brendan Macdonald, who finished the regular season with 108 points. MacDonald had four points on two goals and two assists on the night.
The Aggies were hitting hard from the beginning, showing off their new forechecking scheme.
“I don’t think I was hitting too hard tonight, but other guys stepped up, and they were hitting really well,” said Utah State defenseman Jordan Kerr.
Utah State got caught on its heels early on, though, when Utah wing Beav Bertagnoli put the puck past USU goaltender Allesandro Mullane.
“We tried to tell our D-men to push the forwards outside,” said USU head coach Jon Eccles. “I don’t think they pushed them far enough.”
Mullane was caught deep in his goal, unable to move to stop the shot.
“From that point on, Mullane played phenomenal,” Eccles said.
The Aggies added two goals on the period, a backhander by forward Joel Basson and a one-timer from Gibbons, for a slim Utah State lead heading into intermission.
Utah State settled into its offense in the second period, however.
“We played great tonight as a team,” Gibbons said. “We’ve played great all season.”
Two goals from Gibbons and one from Brendan MacDonald gave the Aggies a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
“The second period, we really opened it up,” Eccles said. “We just kept building up on it.”
The Aggies finished out the game with three goals in the third period to pick up the win.
“We all started at the beginning and finished together as a team,” Gibbons said.
The Aggies have three weeks off before heading to Ft. Myers, Fla., for the ACHA National Tournament March 12-16.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu