Underdog Ags cature 3-2 OT win over Weber D1
The Skating Aggies of USU made history Friday night, beating Weber State’s Division I hockey club for the first time ever.
“Everybody was excited to play and it showed during the game. We played really tough. We took advantage of the game in the first period and never let up,” USU goalie Greg Finatti said.
Finatti was one of the heroes of the triumph, saving 43 shots in the 3-2 overtime win.
Two other Aggies who stepped up huge were both rookies, Matt Geer and Kent Arsenault. Geer scored an unassisted goal at the 3:32 mark in the third period to send the contest into overtime. Arsenault received an assist from Jay McFadden with 3:04 remaining in OT and sent it into the net behind Weber’s goalie Kyle Gover for the Aggie win.
“In the third period we were down by a goal and our top rookie line just came out and tied the game and then won it in overtime,” Finatti said.
No one gave USU a chance against Weber D1, Finatti said, so with nothing to lose the Aggies just concentrated on competing and came up with the victory.
Unfortunately, on Saturday night the Aggies were still sore from the intense, physical battle on Friday and were facing a Weber State D2 squad that had coasted, 11-0, over Utah.
“I think everyone was still high on the win the night before and when we showed up to the rink people were bruised up from the D-1 game because we took a pretty bad beating,” Finatti said.
Saturday night’s 5-4 loss to Weber D2 was a sloppier affair than the night before, with USU being called for 11 penalties. After winning the first period 2-1, Finatti said the Aggies were short-handed for much of the rest of the game and the Wildcats made them pay for it.
“We came out and we dominated the whole first period,” Finatti said. “They were in the penalty box the whole time but we couldn’t capitalize on five on three power plays. We came out in the second period and we started playing their style of hockey and getting penalties and they capitalized on their power plays.”
-graham@cc.usu.edu