Hockey splits exhibition
OGDEN – Disheartening.
That is exactly how Utah State junior goalie Chris Webber would describe his debut as an Aggie in the net.
USU fell 11-2 to Weber State’s Division I team in an exhibition game at the Ice Sheet on Saturday night.
“We have a lot of talent, but to be honest, we were just being out-worked,” Webber said. “We were not clicking. [The Wildcats] were clicking. They beat us fair and square to everything. It kind of hurts to have my first game like this, but it is only preseason.”
The Aggies continue preseason play against Weber State’s Division II squad on Friday at the Eccles Ice Center.
Utah State Head Coach Jerry Crossley said he isn’t sure what to expect out of the lower level team, but Webber said he thinks the game will be more evenly matched.
USU will play the Division I team three more times, while the Division II team will have five regular season competitions against the Aggies.
To earn a bid to nationals, Webber said he thinks it is essential to beat the top Wildcat team – and it all begins with him.
Although no starting goalie has officially been named, Webber and returning goalie Josh Groves will likely fight for ice time.
Groves, who played in Friday’s exhibition win over the Provo Icecats, gave up three goals on 19 shots in almost 24 minutes of play. He recorded 15 saves.
Webber, who started the game against the Wildcats, gave up eight goals on 36 shots in almost 37 minutes of play. He recorded 28 saves.
Although Crossley said he felt bad for Webber because he wasn’t getting the help he needed out front, the San Jose State transfer said he didn’t blame anyone else for the number of goals he allowed.
“I never look at it as other players,” he said. “I always look at it personally. I know the stuff that I need to work on. I was facing too many second and third shots.”
Webber played three years at SJSU and said he transferred to Utah State because of the solid team chemistry and defense.
Greg Elliot scored the first goal for the Wildcats at the 10:16 mark of the first period. He scored again with less than five minutes to go in the second period. TJ Nykiel scored the second goal for WSU and the last goal of the game with 1:27
remaining.
Ian Soldano got the puck in the net three times for Weber State.
Ben Froehle and Nick Thiros scored the only Utah State goals.
Korrie Vinton played the complete game for Weber State, finishing with eight saves on 10 shots on goal.
“We played a better team on Saturday, that is the biggest difference,” Crossley said about the weekend games. “We just have to find the kind of game we’ve got to play to win against [the Wildcats]. I think we just did a lot of little things that added up and created situations [for them to score]. That is good play on their part and a little letdown on ours.”
Despite the blowout, Crossley said he was especially impressed with Nick Haase’s play. The junior had one assist and played a “disciplined game,” – something that is always difficult against USU’s biggest rival.
The Aggies spent a total of 32 minutes in the penalty box, including 12 minutes by Aaron Burrell, 10 of which came because of
misconduct.
The Wildcats had nine players with penalty minutes for a total of 57 minutes. John Darby and Erik Milliron each totaled 12 minutes, mostly because of misconduct, while Taryn Culverwell had 19 minutes, including a 10-minute break for misconduct.
USU 7, BYU 3
Burrell scored two shorthanded goals in the first period as the Utah State club hockey team started its season with an impressive 7-3 win over the Provo Icecats on Friday.
Down 1-0 and the Icecats having a one-man advantage after a USU penalty, Burrell took a misplayed puck deep in the Provo zone and shot it past Icecat goalie Chris Hexburg for the first of four consecutive goals by the Aggies.
Robert Hashimoto capped the run with a goal in the fourth minute of the second period, putting Utah State up 4-1.
“[Hashimoto] was just flying out there and creating some chances for me,” Burrell said.
The Icecats rebounded in the second period, cutting their deficit to 4-3 after a goal by Josh Buckart with 2:50 remaining in the period.
But the Aggies pulled away in the third as they scored the final three goals of the game.
The Burrell-Hashimoto combination was in full swing Friday as the two combined for four goals and three assists. Roberto Leo also had a goal and two assists for the Aggies.
The USU defense was dominating, as most of the time was spent on the Provo side of ice.
“We’d like it to be a little more physical, but we don’t want to give up as many shots,” Burrell said. “We kind of slacked off in the second period. They got 13 shots on us. We’d like to cut that in half.”
Hard hits were not hard to find as both teams tried to establish a physical presence. The game became extremely physical in the third period as the two teams combined for 22 penalty minutes.
“We had a little chat about that,” Crossley said. “That’s a situation where you open the door for the other team to climb back in the game. You get in a situation there where you got the lead, it’s late in the game and you don’t need to do a lot of that stuff that we’re doing. That’s something we got to work on.
“We’re doing some stuff we haven’t done in the past, and worked a few things out. But all in all, the first and third period we played the kind of game we wanted to play,” he said.
-juag@cc.usu.edu and bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
Robert Leo goes after a wild puck with Weber State Wildcat Chris Wirkus on his tail. (Photos by John Zsiray)