Hockey rallies for a tie
This one couldn’t have started much worse for freshman goalie Dan Cornelius.
While the crowd was still filing into the Eccles Ice Arena, Cornelius and the Aggie defense gave up a goal to Jason Stelling. That goal was followed by a quick roughing penalty on Paul Reinhardt and a Jason Hastings power-play goal that put USU in a hole just three minutes in.
“It’s part of being a player,” Cornelius said of his performance after giving up the two quick goals. “You have to be able to get over those things, put it behind you and just play the game.”
USU was only down 2-0 for one minute before Ryan Osterheldt got assists from his linemates Jeremy Madigan and Will Winsa and used a backhand turn to score on Long Beach’s Frank Mitrano.
Long Beach was not done.
With 30 seconds to go in the first, Mike Weber got to Cornelius again for a 3-1 lead going into intermission.
In the second period, however, the Aggie side began to build confidence as the top line of Kent Arsenault, Jay McFadden and freshman Ben Tikka got in a groove. USU established a presence in the Long Beach zone with Arsenault and Tikka cycling the puck and McFadden cutting down the middle.
Several excellent scoring chances for Utah State were denied by the 49er defense, but the Ags kept the pressure on, and with 14 minutes to go, Arsenault got them within one. At first his shot appeared to be blocked, but after a few tense moments, the referees ruled that Mitrano’s pad nudged the puck over the goal line, triggering a wild celebration in the now-packed Eccles Arena.
Six seconds later, Arsenault’s line struck again, right off the face-off. McFadden fired a pass across the slot, and Arsenault tipped the puck in to tie the score and really get the crowd going.
From that point on the game became a question of which goalie would blink first. Cornelius was determined it wouldn’t be him and did his best impression of Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange,” which is to say he was wide-eyed. Corny was good for 39 saves as he shut Long Beach out through two periods and overtime.
Asked to grade his performance, Cornelius said, “I would say maybe a B plus. If it wasn’t for those first three, four minutes it would have been great. I feel like I let the team down in those first three minutes.”
Early in the third period, USU’s top line was broken up when Arsenault, charging hard in the offensive zone, crashed into the boards with Long Beach’s Jason Hastings. Arsenault went to the bench for a minute, but then was helped off the ice and taken to the hospital by team doctor Jim Davis to check on his concussion symptoms and possible internal injuries from the butt of a stick. Arsenault was fine by Sunday afternoon, when he said he didn’t think Hastings should have been disqualified for the hit.
Another reminder of the danger inherent in this fast, violent game came later on in the third period, when USU’s Heath Grover went low on a Long Beach skater in the defensive zone and left him lying on the ice. Grover was disqualified for the hit, and the Long Beach player appeared to be alright after he was helped off.
The Grover penalty put USU in a sticky situation, playing one man down for five minutes in the third period of a tie game against a formidable opponent.
But the penalty kill unit was up to the task.
The sluggish defense from the first period was a thing of the past, as penalty killers like Walter Voisard and Winsa sold out to block shots and keep the puck on the perimeter of USU’s zone. It helped that USU’s best penalty killer was between the pipes, denying several great Long Beach scoring opportunities, including a wide-open wraparound attempt that, by all rights, should have gone in.
McFadden came to the rescue late in the penalty, making himself a pest on the forecheck and drawing an interference call which made the sides even. Both teams were clearly exhausted by the time overtime arrived. Neither goalie was seriously threatened in the overtime period.
While USU was still clearly not firing on all cylinders, this game represented a clear upgrade in effort over last weekend’s 4-3 stinker of a loss to Utah Valley State College. The Aggies were more physical and took fewer penalties, which Cornelius attributed to some good coaching.
“(Coach) Jerry (Crossley) really got strict with us about taking stupid penalties,” Cornelius said, “and it paid off. Last game we were in the box the whole game and we lost. This game we tied, but it’s still better than a loss.”
New players like Tikka and Madigan also stepped up against Long Beach, providing much-needed aid to the scoring lines. Madigan created a couple of nice breakaways in the first period, which helped wake up his team even though his shots were stopped.
“I’m playing with Swede and Osty now. I love playing with those guys, they really push me to my best,” Madigan, an 18-year-old freshman from Ogden, said.
The addition of Tikka, a willing hitter and soft-handed puck-handler, to Arsenault and McFadden’s line, helped spark the two-goal second period and had USU fans abuzz.
“I’m more of an offensive defenseman, and they need help up top so I came and played forward,” said Tikka, a freshman who played junior hockey in Fairbanks, Alaska. “Our line is doing pretty well so far. Hopefully Kent’s alright and we can get back together. I haven’t played hockey competitively since February last year when I aged out of juniors, so I’m hoping to get in better shape.”
Next up for the Ags as they continue to grow as a team is a three-game road trip to Colorado. Last year the Colorado trip helped define USU’s team when they rallied behind Scotty Beard’s play in goal to defeat Colorado State after two disheartening losses to Colorado University and Denver University.
-graham.terry@aggiemail.usu.edu