Hockey team to face tough Colorado tests
The Utah State Hockey team traveled to Colorado this weekend to face two of the best teams in the region. The Aggies played the Colorado State Rams Thursday and will play them again Friday in Fort Collins, Colo. USU will play the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday in Boulder, Colo.
The Aggies lost all six meetings with the two schools last year.
“It’s very possibly the toughest road trip of the year,” said Utah State Head Coach Jerry Crossley.
He said that he is working with the team on some adjustments that need to be made to prepare for the smaller rink at Colorado.
“We’ve had some trouble with that in the past,” Crossley said. “Hopefully, some of the things we’ve been doing will work out to our benefit there.”
Crossley has been stressing a more disciplined game to his team all year long. Saturday, it appeared to pay off as the Aggies were not called for a single penalty against Long Beach State University.
That game was the second of two wins last weekend for USU. The Aggies defeated Eastern Washington University 6-0 last Friday for their first shutout in over a year. The next night, USU beat LBSU 3-1.
USU is now 4-3 on the season and has outscored its opponents 36-21. The Aggies’ next home game won’t be until Nov. 7 against the Weber State Division II team.
Colorado State came into the weekend with a 9-1 record, with their only loss coming against the Weber State Division I team in Ogden. They played USU in North Logan on Oct. 2 and won 5-4.
The defending Division II champion Buffaloes will play USU in only their fifth game of the season. They have only lost one game, which was to the Naval Academy’s Division I squad.
This weekend is the last time the Aggies will play against the Rams unless they meet in the national tournament. The Buffaloes will come to Cache Valley on Feb. 7 for the final meeting between the two teams.
The Aggies left on their road trip late Wednesday night after their practice. They drove through the night to Fort Collins where they will stay for the weekend.
Crossley said he tries to get the team to road games in time for a study hall and a team dinner before their pre-game practice begins.
He said the team usually has quite a bit of down time because the games start at night so they try to schedule a team activity before dinner.
The team also uses the hotel game rooms as a way of passing unscheduled time.
Crossley said he gives the team as few rules as possible on the road.
“Hopefully, their conduct won’t need any more,” he said.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu