Hockey club preps for season opener against Weber
After playing exhibition games last week against BYU and the USU alumni, the Utah State hockey club is ready to start its regular season.
“A couple exhibition games gave us a look at what we need to work on,” head coach Jerry Crossley said. “Now it’s time to get down to business.”
Crossley and the players said they are excited at the potential the team has this year.
“This is probably the deepest team we’ve ever had,” Crossley said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. Now it’s a matter of whether or not they can play together and they decide to play the right kind of game to win.”
“I think we can be real good,” newcomer William Winsa said. “I think we’re pretty good offensively. We’ve got a good spirit with each other.”
The hockey team qualified for nationals last year by finishing third in the West region and they have added new players.
“All the new guys are great,” goalie Chris Webber said. “The guys we picked up this year disguise major holes we had last year in depth.”
One of the key new players is Winsa, who scored the game-winning, short-handed goal against BYU with 22 seconds left last Thursday.
“I told him a few weeks ago that I expect him to be a star in this league,” Crossley said. “He has the right kind of flow, tools, and sees the ice well. We’re going to try to hook him up with a couple of our better guys and I think the combination will end up in points.”
The team also picked up two new goalies, who will most likely be sharing time in net with Webber.
“I don’t care to be honest,” Webber said. “These are the kind of goalies that I want to share time with just like [Josh] Groves last year.”
Groves has moved to forward this year.
USU will face a challenge in its season opener against Weber State, a Division I team that beat them in every contest last year by at least four goals.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Crossley said. “It will require our best game to win.”
“It’s going to be different this year,” Webber said. “We’re working on defense. Those guys had nothing but odd-man rushes on us all last year, so that’s the kind of shots we’re probably going to be facing.”
Every player for the Aggies will be eligible to play against WSU. Four players had to sit out the alumni game for fighting the BYU team last Thursday. In the second period of that game, an 11 player brawl broke out when Aggie Roberto Leo knocked the BYU goalie down.
Despite the preseason spat, the team remains focused.
“As long as we get to nationals, that’s all I care about,” Webber said.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu