USU gets thumped by Weber twice in hockey
OGDEN – “We got a whuppin’,” said Utah State hockey player Ryan Froerer after this weekend’s games against Rocky Mountain Collegiate Hockey Association arch rival Weber State University.
The Aggies were defeated decisively by the Wildcats – 12-2 Friday and 10-3 Saturday.
USU is hoping to enter greener pastures at 8 p.m. today against the University of Utah in the first round of the RMCHA tourney at the Weber County Ice Sheet. If the team wins this contest, it will play in the title game Saturday at 8 p.m. A loss would mean a trip to the consolation game Friday at 8 p.m.
“We’ll be ready to play hard after coming off of two losses,” Froerer said. “We’ve just got to play good ‘D’ and put some pucks in the net. We know we can beat them.”
Unfortunately for the Aggies, the games this weekend will be their last of the season. After a fifth-place finish at the national tournament last season, the squad won’t be making the trip this year.
“Our chances were pretty slim from the start of the semester,” he said.
Weber and Utah will be the two teams from the RMCHA that will go to nationals this year.
The future may look brighter for the Aggies next season. The squad has been trying to recruit players at “The Great Western Showcase,” a tournament consisting of high school teams from around the West. Froerer said a few players from Montana and California seemed interested in playing for USU.
Weber State 12, USU 2
Froerer said Friday the squad wasn’t playing as a team.
“Nothing was going for us,” Froerer said.
But everything seemed to be going right for Weber.
“They scored on pretty much every power play,” he said.
WSU was up 6-1 after the first period in Friday’s game and the Aggies were never able to recover from the deficit.
A fight during the game took 15 minutes to set straight and had four ejections. Aggie Paul Amidon was thrown out from the game and disqualified from play Saturday, while the Wildcats lost three players to disqualifications from the melee.
Weber State 10, USU 3
Saturday’s contest was a little better than Friday’s. The Aggies were up 2-0 in the opening minutes of the first period and only down 4-3 at the end of the period. Weber went on a tear after that.
“They just took off on us the last two periods,” Froerer said.
When the Wildcats were in the penalty box Saturday, the Aggies couldn’t deliver.
“We had a five-on-three we didn’t capitalize on,” Froerer said. “It was a rough weekend. Weber’s a lot better than last year.”