Hockey sweeps pair of weekend games over BYU
For the first 53 minutes of Saturday’s game against Brigham Young, things could not have gone more smoothly for Utah State. The Aggies (32-5-1) not only out-skated the Cougars, but established a physical tempo that wore BYU’s players down by the waning minutes of the third period. It was at that point that things got interesting, as a flurry of late-game penalties and BYU goals chipped away at the Aggie lead before the final buzzer sounded and USU skated off with a 7-5 win.
Even in victory, the late-game drama was more than the Aggie players had bargained for.
“First two periods were OK,” said Aggie defenseman Matt Farris, who had one assist on the night. “Third period was embarrassing. (We had) a lot of penalties and just didn’t play like a hockey team. We were selfish, didn’t play like brothers – it’s embarrassing.”
Embarrassing or not, The Aggies showed why they’re one of the top teams in the west during this weekend’s series with BYU, which also saw a 9-0 win in Provo on Friday night. But it was on Saturday night, in which an arena-record crowd of more than 2,000 fans came to the Eccles Ice Center in Logan, that the drama of the heated rivalry reached its boiling point.
BYU got the scoring started first, when Cougar winger Mio Hura scored just 28 seconds into the game. The 1-0 lead would be BYU’s only lead on the evening, however, with USU’s Brendan MacDonald scoring only 32 seconds later to even up the score. USU would score two more times in the first period, with Matt Hamilton and Kent Arsenault scoring at the 13:08 and 10:43 marks, respectively.
After giving up an early goal, Aggie keeper Cody Palmer was lights out, making seven first period saves.
The momentum would only continue for the Aggies in the second period. Out-skating and out-hitting the Cougars, USU was nothing short of dominating in the middle part of Saturday’s action, allowing just two BYU shots on goal while putting up 17 on BYU goalkeeper Josh Antoniuk.
Antoniuk, who made 41 saves on the night off of 48 USU shots on goal, couldn’t make up for his team’s bench deficiencies, however, as the aggressive USU forecheck kept the puck firmly in the BYU zone. Arsenault scored again for the Aggies, as did center Tyler Mistelbacher and rookie Brandon Blauer, whose goal at the 3:08 minute mark in the second period was the first of his career.
Tempo and physicality was the name of the game for USU in the second period. Aggie coach Jon Eccles said establishing a physical style of play was essential for wearing down BYU, which doesn’t have as many skaters to field as the USU.
“They are not a very strong team,” Eccles said. “It’s because their bench is short, and we wanted to hit as much as we could because the more times you hit a player they fatigue faster, and they can’t recover. You could see that, and we were hitting a lot.”
If there was one deficiency for USU through the first two periods, it was in capitalizing on second-chance opportunities. The Aggies failed to finish at the net on several occasions, a fact Eccles said could have led to an even greater USU lead.
“It’s kind of tough,” he said. “You’re just banging away down there … in a perfect world, I bet you we would of scored another five or six goals there just on those second chances.”
Going into the third period, USU looked as if it would cruise to another victory over its rivals. Yet six third-period penalties gave the Cougars an opportunity to come back. Three BYU goals within three minutes of each other – including one off of a power play – cut the score to 7-5. According to Eccles, the penalties and loss of focus at the end of the game were unfortunate, and will have to be corrected if USU is to make a strong run in postseason play.
“The players were a little frustrated, and it just got to them,” Eccles said. “They took the frustration out on the (BYU) players. It’s been a battle. We’ve had issues before with penalties and just kind of stupid things that players do and think about it after.”
“If this team truly is going to win at Regionals and go onto Nationals, we can’t do stupid things like that,” Eccles continued. “We have to be heads up and do everything we can to be a team – a unit out there – and support one another.”
Despite giving up four late goals to BYU, the Aggie lead proved too much for the Cougars.
With Saturday night’s win, USU improved the season series to a perfect 5-0 mark against their rivals from Provo. Once more, they supplanted any notion that when it comes to action on the ice, Logan is a place where this rivalry is alive and well.
“The attendance was great,” Ferris said. “It’s awesome to have 2,000 fans in the building. It means a lot and makes it fun to play hockey. It was a lot of fun to play in front of that crowd.”
Eccles couldn’t agree more, and said he hopes that future Aggie games will draw similar crowds.
“Anytime you have big crowds like that, it’s just so fun,” Eccles said. “With the players, it’s more than some (crowds) any of these players have ever played in front of, so it’s just a lot of fun for them. It really gives them the full experience.”
USU returns to the ice this Thursday night against Northern Arizona, before hosting BYU again on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:15 p.m. at the Eccles Ice Center in North Logan.
– adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu