Hockey finishes season: Aggies get swept by Weber Division-I
In its final weekend of the season, the Utah State hockey club was swept by the Weber State Division-I squad 7-4 Friday and 11-1 Saturday.
The Aggies ended their year with a 17-21-1 record.
Aggie Roberto Leo said even though USU had a strong spring semester, he still feels like the season was disappointing.
“We have such a standard here of going to nationals,” he said. “We went to regionals and had a chance, but you can’t play at your peak all season.”
Head coach Jerry Crossley said he is excited for next season.
“We have a good, solid core here and we have some good guys coming on,” he said. “You never know until the season gets here, but we’re really positive for next year.”
USU is only losing two seniors this season.
In Saturday’s game in Ogden, the Aggies were without Robert Hashimoto, Leo, Maciej Michalik, Brandon Holthaus and Brett Fryslie and goalie Greg Finatti played forward.
In Friday’s game at the Eccles Ice Center, the Aggies scored the most goals they have ever scored against the upper division Wildcats, but it wasn’t enough.
“We played them well the first two periods,” Crossley said. “We started getting fatigued. We had some little lapses and ended up being back-breakers.”
Six of the seven WSU goals came on power plays or off turnovers.
Crossley said his team needed to play perfect in order to win.
“That’s what competition is all about,” he said. “I’m pretty pleased with the guys tonight and the effort level. They were playing for pride and for the fans.”
Leo said he felt USU was in the game until the end.
“Even when they started scoring in the third, we thought we could win,” he said. “We made a couple mistakes that cost us.”
Leo said even though the games technically didn’t mean anything, the Aggies were still motivated to play.
“We wanted to come out and have a good game,” he said. “A fan [Michele Gardner] gave a speech to us before the game and got us pumped up.”
Aggie Nate Pierce said even without the motivational speaker, USU still would have been ready.
“It’s Weber D-I,” he said. “It’s easy to get up for them.”
Pierce said there is still a big rivalry against the Wildcats, but it is not as strong as it used to be.
“It’s not quite as ingrained now,” he said. “This year there’s more in-state rivalries at the same time. Years ago, it was just us and Weber.”
There were 1,609 fans in attendance, the third-highest ever at the Eccles Ice Center.
In their previous home game, the Aggies drew more than 2,000 fans against BYU.
“If you get turned away at the door against BYU, you’re going to come back next game,” Pierce said.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
Utah State’s Jordan Francom gets hooked by a Weber State Division-I player during Friday’s game at the Eccles Ice Center.