Hockey bounces back after only loss
The USU hockey team rebounded after suffering its first loss of the season to Arizona State Thursday and won three straight road games at the Western Classic in Colorado.
Utah State 5, Colorado State 3
Two goals from Matt Hamilton lifted Utah State over Colorado State 5-3 Friday night. The Aggies bounced back from a rough outing the night before and came back from a 3-1 deficit to get the win.
“It seemed to always be clicking for us this weekend,” USU head coach Jon Eccles said. “It was phenomenal hockey by our boys.”
After the first period, the Aggies were down 3-1. CSU got on the board scoring the first two goals quickly.
Utah State forward Jeff Sanders scored on the power play, but the Rams answered 40 seconds later when Andrew Lord found the back of the net against USU goalkeeper Bryce Scherschal. All goals in the first period were scored before the 10-minute mark.
Utah State center Tyler Mistelbacher picked up goal number 28 of the season 38 seconds into play.
The Aggie defense held Colorado State off for the rest of the game with big stops to keep Utah State in it.
“In both the second and third periods, we dominated them in the zone,” Eccles said. “It was very seldom that they would get out.”
Heading it the third period down 3-2 the Aggies found some offense. Forward Dee Fontaine scored to tie the game and Hamilton picked up his two goals to give the Aggies the win.
“He played well, he played hard,” Eccles said. “The blue line really played extremely good.”
Hamilton had a third goal that was called back because of a penalty.
“It was a great feeling when the third one went in,” Hamilton said. “To get it called back was a bit of a disappointment but, at the end of the day, the team won the game and that’s all that really matters.”
Utah State 8, Northern Arizona 5
USU defeated a very physical University of Northern Arizona Lumberjack team 8-5 on Saturday.
The Aggies have struggled to control their penalty minutes against physical teams this season, but they matched up well against NAU. Utah State only incurred two penalties on the night.
“They were a very physical team,” Eccles said. “We really played very disciplined hockey.”
Utah State ended the first period in a 2-2 tie.
“We started off a little slow,” Eccles said.
USU came out of the locker room in the second period and scored three goals.
The Utah State offense was rolling, but the Aggie defense allowed two Lumberjack goals and it was a 5-4 game heading into second intermission.
Utah State picked up another three goals in the third, and the Aggie defense held NAU to one goal on the period.
Utah State 10, Northern Colorado 5
Seven different players scored in the Utah State hockey team’s 10-5 victory over the University of Northern Colorado Sunday.
Aggie forward Tyler Mistelbacher notched four goals on the night to help USU over the Bears.
“The boys knew it was the last game,” Eccles said. “They took care of business and got the weekend over with on a positive note.”
Utah State got on the board early with the first goal from Mistelbacher and then took a bigger lead with a shot from Alex Lund to go up 2-0.
The Bears got their first goal of the game on the power play just before first intermission with an unassisted goal from Corbin Fitzgibbons.
The Aggies got three goals in the second period as Brian Gibbons scored on the power play and Stu Hepburn added another. Then, Mistelbacher got his second of the game with 59 seconds left in the period.
Northern Colorado added two goals to bring the score to 5-3, heading into the third.
The Aggies picked up five more goals in the third period and the Bears added two more before time ran out.
“It was a good team effort tonight,” Eccles said.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu