Hockey team rebounds after tough loss on road
The Utah State hockey club rebounded from a dismal performance against San Jose State to sweep the USC Trojans 8-5 last Friday and 8-0 last Saturday.
The Aggies switched up their lines on offense and it paied off as USU scored 16 goals in two games against its opponent.
“We came out strong and got back on track,” Aggie Robert Hashimoto said. “It wasn’t even close.”
Hashimoto, who had missed the last three weeks due to a shoulder injury, was moved to the same line as William Winsa and Roberto Leo. The trio combined for eight goals on the weekend.
Hashimoto said the team needed to make some changes to break out of its slump.
“I think we needed a fresh start and to change things up,” he said. “We listened to the coach and we were disciplined.”
Mike Lewandowski was moved to the same line as Aaron Burrell and Nick Thiros while Jordan Francom was moved from defender to forward and joined Josh Groves and Parker Richards on the new line. Chad Johnson and Ben Froehle were moved from forward back to defense as well.
Froehle scored two goals from his new position.
“I was impressed with the way he stepped up as a leader,” Hashimoto said. “It’s tough going from forward to defense.”
Francom and Richards were playing again after sitting out the first weeks of the semester with eligibility issues.
“They definitely have a presence on the team,” goalie Chris Webber said. “It was great to have them back. You definitely notice when they’re not there.”
Webber chalked up his first shutout of his career at USU in Saturday’s game and said his confidence goes up when his teammates score as many goals as they did.
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep that rolling.”
Webber said it was good to get a big win on the road after a tough 8-0 loss to SJSU the previous weekend.
“That weekend really hurt us, but we’re refocused,” Webber said. “A lot of our guys just thought it was bad karma. I think if we were to play them again, it would be a different story.”
Leo said he also thought the game against the Spartans was a fluke.
“We shouldn’t have lost to SJSU,” he said. “We’re always pretty bad on road trips. It was really good to win at USC. This weekend we found the net and that was good.”
The wins last weekend were the first of the season for USU outside the state of Utah.
Webber said the wins were even more significant because this was the first time he remembers taking road trips in two consecutive weekends.
“They’ve always been like every other weekend,” he said. “They’ve never been back to back.”
USU was still without its team captain, Nick Haase, on the road trip. Haase has been out with a knee injury. It is uncertain when he will be able to play again.
The Aggies will turn their attention to the University of Washington as the Huskies will come to North Logan to play two games against the Aggies at the Eccles Ice Center. The teams will play Friday and Saturday with both games starting at 7:30 p.m.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu