Puck drops Saturday for Aggies
Hockey season is here.
Tryouts came to a close last week, and the team is aiming to improve on last season’s 26-10-3 record.
This year the Aggies will be more short-handed for players than in the past. Defenseman and club President Scotty John said the Aggies will be OK despite fewer players, and believes this presents an opportunity for the team to tune up its intensity a few notches by having shorter line shifts and by running three lines instead of four.
He said he anticipates the team will run tighter, faster and more aggressively as a result from the changes.
John said he would also like to keep a strength from last season: “Having those amazing players play amazing!”
He hopes the players who know they can pull off hat tricks will do so and that returning goalie Greg Finatti will continue making saves.
Rookie goalie Dan Cornelius joins the Aggies from Alberta, Canada, and John said he is proving as a fine addition to the roster.
Matt Ferris of Washington and Maciej Michalik of Poland are returning as well, and John noted their marked improvement over the summer.
“Both these guys worked hard over the summer,” said 2006-07 forward Kent Arsenault, who added Ferris is one of the fastest on the team now and Michalik is 20 times the player fans saw last season.
Robert Hashimotoh, a former wing, as since retired from the team. Jacob Guttormsen, Ryan Osterheldt and William Winsa will be covering the prominent line Hashimoto ran with last season.
At the awards banquet in April, Head Coach Jon Crossley had some advice for the team and made it clear they should not be complacent with their outstanding performance.
John confirmed those champion ambitions.
“Last year we could have done better,” John said.
Goals for the team, he said, include making it to nationals. The team hasn’t made it to nationals for the past two seasons, but John hopes the team avoids focusing on a quick route to the tournament. Both John and Arsenault agreed on that score.
“We were too settled in as a team,” said Arsenault, who brought in 106 goals for the Aggies last season.
Arsenault also rehearsed a promise from Ned Hillyard, the team’s defense and strength coach, that as a team they will see results from increasing their conditioning program and discipline.
“Yeah, a lot more discipline,” Arsenault said. “If we don’t listen, we’re finding ourselves skating laps.”
In comparing the team as it stands now to the other teams along the Wasatch Front, Arsenault said he felt the team won’t have any problem with Utah Valley University, Brigham Young University or the University of Utah.
Arsenault said Weber’s Division I squad will be the Aggies’ biggest challenge.
John said the Utes should be a lot better but don’t pose any real threat against the Aggies.
All home games start at 8 p.m at the Eccles Ice Arena. Tickets are available at the ice arena’s ticket office and at the door on game day. Prices range from $7 for reserved seating, $6 for adult general admission and $4 for students with ID and youth under 17.
-justin.ebbs@aggiemail.usu.edu