Hockey experiences up and down season
A handful of crushing crosschecks. A dozen or so warp speed slap shots. A home victory over Division I club Arizona State which brought a crowd to its feet.
These three things are just a taste of what the Utah State hockey club’s 2002-03 season was like.
It was a season of extremes – both positive and negative.
Except for a few games where the action was lacking (namely the Aggies’ blowout victories at home against the University’s of Oregon and Idaho), the intensity from the crowd and team was consistently there.
Hockey is the only club sport at USU that charges fans (students included) before entering to watch men get angry on the ice. Nevertheless, the Aggies averaged around 1,000 fans per game – with contests against Weber State being overloaded enough to have to lock the doors for fear of being in violation with the fire marshal.
So, what attracts those fans?
“It’s probably the most involved of the club sports,” Head Coach Jerry Crossley said. “Hockey involves all elements other sports have.”
Forward Robert Hashimoto said, “Hockey can be graceful but at the same time be tough. That’s why I like hockey. There are so many things you can do on the ice.”
The Aggies, who finished the season 17-13-2, had that grace, and at times had to show that toughness. They were left out of the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament, though not necessarily because of their record (they were fourth place in the West Division, and four teams from each division qualify).
The team hosting the tournament receives an automatic bid. That team, the University of Southern California, happens to be in USU’s division and happily occupied the seat USU would have had, even though USC finished sixth in the West.
The Aggies were bitter, though they didn’t say it aloud. Hashimoto, who completed his first season as an Aggie, says the resentment has warn off – a little bit.
“[I’m not angry] right now, but before, I was so mad,” he said, citing how USU beat Weber State 3-1 in the season series, but WSU, who finished third place in the west, went to Nationals ahead of them.
Hashimoto looks at the positive of how closely his team competed against the eventual national champions.
“Colorado won. They were the national champions [at the D-II level]. It’s cool to know we played with them and we were really close,” Hashimoto said. “They beat us four times.”
There were high points in USU’s season, such as an undoubtedly thrilling 8-7 overtime win in mid-January at Weber State, which kept post-season hopes alive. Grace was shown as Hashimoto put in the game-winning slap shot before being mobbed by euphoric teammates.
There was a bumpy transition when toughness was a requirement. When the team came back from Christmas Break, its two netminders (Dustin Van Dyke and Dustin Merrill) had failed to make grades and were ineligible for the second half of the season.
Crossley called on freshman defender Josh Groves to fill the void since Groves had played goalie in junior hockey leagues in Salt Lake City.
Although stats don’t show it, the move seemed to rejuvenate the Aggies. Groves allowed almost eight goals per game, but USU finished the second half of the season 8-4-1, significantly better than the 9-9-1 mark USU had at the end of the fall semester.
The road was where the Aggies hit the dirt hard. USU won only one of nine contests played outside of Utah.
An early February road trip put the most hurt on the Aggies – both physically and in the standings.
USU traveled to the University of Wyoming (a D-III team), Colorado, and Colorado State on consecutive nights, losing each game. Groves was puking, defender Nat Pierce broke his left hand, and goal-scorer Aaron Burrell hurt his back. The losses shot down any chance at the post-season.
“We arguably played the strongest region in the country this year,” Crossley said. “That kept us from going to the national tournament. We just weren’t consistent.”
But, he said, the team is fortunate the fans have been consistent with their support, even when USU shared the Ogden Ice Sheet with WSU as its home rink.
“We’ve been lucky forever. Now having a home rink is even better,” Crossley said.
-samhis@cc.usu.edu