Hockey team falls short in quest for No.1 ranking
Everyone who has ever played a competitive sport at one time or another has probably yearned to belong to a team holding that magical position at the top of the totem pole – the undisputed king of whatever league to which that team belongs.
Heading into Christmas break, it almost seemed unquestionable that Utah State hockey would be denied that ranking. They had beaten the then-No. 1 ranked CSU Rams in Fort Collins, Colo. twice. They had defeated every other talented D2 team in the region at least one time, rolling over every other team in the state of Utah in the process.
But when the dust settled, and the rankings came in for the month of December, USU was not at the top of the totem pole.
In the Aggies’ place was Eastern Washington University, a team USU had already easily defeated at the Eccles Ice Center on November 20, 7-3.
The No. 1 ranking matters in USU’s league. The No. 1 team gets automatic access to the national tournament in San Jose without having to qualify at the regional tournament. If that tournament were held tomorrow, Eastern Washington would be getting the free ride, and USU would have to try to play its way in.
Head coach Jon Eccles said the Eagles of EWU may hold the top spot in the region, but that the ranking this time around was certainly not undisputed.
“We took five first place votes, and they took six. Our loss to Northern Arizona hurt us,” Eccles said, referring to a 6-3 loss suffered at the hands of NAU in December. “Had we won that game, it probably would have been a different story in the rankings.”
And so, with a chip on its shoulder, USU hockey unleashed a fury of goals on Weber State on Jan. 8 in Ogden, destroying the Wildcats 16-2 in preparation for the opportunity to regain its rightful spot at the top of the region at the Eastern Washington Hockey Showcase.
But USU had to take to the event shorthanded. Highlighting the fact that USU hockey is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport and thus players must play around their school schedules, Jeff Sanders and Jason Moore were unable to make the trip because of requirements for courses back on campus.
“These guys put their heart and soul into it,” Eccles said of his players, “and they do whatever they can at school. Some teachers are awesome, some departments really work with them. Others, you know, couldn’t care less.”
The invitational pits five teams against each other who play four games in four days to determine which of the five is the best. Eastern Washington hosted the event. This year’s invitees were San Jose State, San Diego State, Simon Frazier (a Canadian university hockey squad) and USU, who went to play with only six defenders because of Sanders’ and Moore’s absence.
Despite the disadvantage, USU started the event by defeating SJSU 7-4 on the first day of the competition and followed that up with a grinding tie against Simon Frazier 2-2. Eccles said the Simon Frazier game was exhausting.
“It was a very physical, demanding game,” he said. “That one took a lot out of us. I don’t want to say we were flat against San Diego, but we jumped out to a 4-1 lead. I think we all though, ‘Yeah, we all got this in the bag.’ San Diego wasn’t ready to give that up.”
USU then allowed 7 goals in the second period before rallying to defeat San Diego State in the third, 10-9.
“We played well,” Eccles said. “We really did. I was proud of the team, proud of the boys. The adversity of being down 8-6 after the second and winning 10-9 – we just held together and made it through that tough game. I was happy with that.”
Perhaps the come-from-behind win extended USU beyond the point of exhaustion. In their final game of the showcase against No. 1 EWU, No. 2 USU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but allowed six unanswered goals over the remainder of the game and lost 6-2. Eccles said the game was much closer than the score-sheet made it appear.
“They tied it up, and then in the second period they went up just one goal,” Eccles said. “It was a 3-2 game after 40 minutes. They got to sleep in their own beds, they had the luxury of running four full lines, plus they didn’t have to play Simon Frazier.”
Now, with eight games remaining on the schedule, USU will need to win and hope for help from Eastern to reclaim the No. 1 spot. USU will play four teams for the remainder of the season: BYU, Utah, Boise State, and Northern Arizona.
The first of those teams, Boise State, will play the Aggies at the Eccles Ice Center in North Logan tonight at 7 p.m. Eccles said he knows his team can’t overlook the Broncos.
“They have improved since we played them,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see what kind of team comes to play us.”
– la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu