USU hockey club sends Wyoming packing
Up 2-0 at the end of the first period, the Utah State University hockey club scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second stanza, propelling the Aggies to a 7-1 victory over the University of Wyoming Friday night at the George S. Eccles Ice Center.
“That’s just got to devastate another team to score two quick goals at the beginning of the period,” goalie Ryan Bancroft said.
USU went on to sweep the doubleheader from the Cowboys, recording a 4-1 victory Saturday as the Aggies improved to 23-5-1 on the season.
With its victory Friday, USU has torched the opposition over its last four games, scoring 33 goals. While Bancroft said there are plenty of things USU needs to improve on before the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) National Tournament, the team is in a groove.
“I think we can always improve, but we’re doing really well right now,” he said.
One Aggie who was in a groove was junior left wing Aaron Burrell. Burrell recorded a hat trick, scoring two of his goals on one-timer shots, set up by the passing of Weber State transfer Don Weisweaver.
Burrell, who recorded a goal in each period, was quick to give credit to Weisweaver for his success.
“The second two goals, it seemed like Donny [Weisweaver] just banked them off my stick,” he said.
The Aggies put pressure on the defending ACHA Division III National Champions early and often, scoring their first goal at the 12:28 mark of the first period on a breakaway by Burrell.
Burrell was assisted on the goal by fellow forward Deryk Anderson, who alertly spotted the streaking forward as he was falling down.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” Anderson said. “I just saw Aaron, dove, hit it to him and got a little lucky.”
A little more than five minutes later, USU took a 2-0 advantage when Nick Thiros rebounded his own miss in what proved to be the game-winning goal.
Less than three minutes into the second period, Anderson gave the Aggies a 3-0 lead on a wrister that found the upper part of the net.
Burrell gave the Aggies a four-goal lead on the first of his goals assisted by Weisweaver, followed by the first of Kelly Froerer’s two goals at the 5:54 mark to push the lead to five.
In addition to its work on the offensive end, Utah State put the clamps on Wyoming defensively, forcing them to settle for shots beyond the blue line. Bancroft had little trouble stopping the shots that did make their way through the Aggie defense, allowing only a Kent Johnson goal in traffic late in the second period.
“Bancroft was solid tonight,” Burrell said. “We have three really solid goaltenders [Adam Lain and Jake Groseth being the other two]. You know its going to take a great play to get the puck past them.”
When asked about the team’s defense, Anderson said the defensemen did a great job forcing the Cowboys into taking low-percentage shots and manning up on the Wyoming forwards to prevent rebound opportunities.
“We have great goalies and know they can stop that initial rush,” he said.
USU was able to control the puck the majority of the game, giving itself several scoring chances on deft puck movement. Good puck movement is one of the strength’s of the team, Anderson said.
“The times we did get in trouble tonight were times we tried to do too much as an individual or didn’t move the puck like we should have,” Anderson said.