USU hockey club takes third in RMCHA
Down 4-0 midway through the second period, the Aggies came to life, scoring the winning goal with less than a minute to play in the game in beating the University of New Mexico 5-4 on Friday night at the Weber County Ice Sheet.
It wasn’t quite the way the USU men’s hockey club had hoped to end the season. Nevertheless, for seniors Mike Burgraf, John Curl and Danny Wilson, it was a victory.
With the victory, USU capped off an 11-15-4 season and a third-place finish at the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Hockey Association tournament.
The University of Utah was victorious in the championship game Saturday night as it won a barnburner, 7-6, over Weber State University. The Utes and Wildcats will represent the RMCHA in the national tourney. After finishing fifth in the country last season, the Aggies will be staying home this year.
“We came out flat,” said defenseman Paul Amidon. “We realized all of the sudden that we’re losing 4 to 0 and we didn’t want to [finish] in fourth place.”
For a while, it looked like the Aggies were going to have to settle for fourth place. However, Amidon and his fellow teammates weren’t about to let that happen.
With 7:42 to play in the second period, Amidon intercepted a Lobo pass, faked his way around a defender and launched a shot past Lobo goalie Erick Nokken with two defenders draped on his back.
From then on, the tide of the game turned to the Aggies’ favor.
Assistant coach Nate Anderson agreed.
“That was great leadership displayed by Paul Amidon,” he said. “Paul took it on his shoulders and led the team.”
Less than 20 seconds after Amidon’s goal, forward Deryk Anderson found the net, cutting the Lobo lead to 4-2. Anderson would score again about two minutes later on a well-placed behind-the-net pass from Chad Linville.
The Aggies continued to put pressure on the Lobos in the third period. Eight minutes into the period, Tony Haughey stole the puck from a Lobo defender and beat Nokken, tying the game at 4-4.
USU survived a scare at the 6:30 mark, when two Aggie defenders collided while trying to stop Edgar Solis from penetrating. Fortunately for the Aggies, goalie John Curl made an acrobatic save on Solis’ shot.
After several near misses, a persistent Aggie attack finally paid off when Aaron Burrell gained control of the puck on a mad scramble in front of the Lobo goal. Burrell was able to tap it in, propelling the Aggies to the victory.
While he was pleased the Aggies finished the game strong, Nate Anderson said he was unhappy the team wasn’t on the same page to start the game. The timing among teammates was off and the Aggies weren’t properly attacking the New Mexico defense, he said.
“The guys came out and they didn’t think they had a serious game tonight,” Anderson said.
“As soon as we realized that we needed to enter the (New Mexico) zone as a team and get back and play defense as a team, we corrected our problems and won the game,” he said.
Both the Aggies and Lobos looked sluggish to begin the game. Other than a near miss by Kelly Froerer on a sharp pass from Burrell, neither team was able to put together a serious scoring threat as the period ended in a 0-0 tie.
The Lobos owned the first 10 minutes of the second period, capitalizing on counterattack situations created by errant Aggie passes. Oscar Solis scored the first two goals for the Lobos, including a backhand shot that gave the Lobos a 2-0 lead. Goals by Edgar Solis and Nick Hoffman staked the Lobos to a 4-0 advantage, setting the stage for the Aggies’ frantic comeback.
Among the Aggies playing in his final game was Wilson. Nate Anderson said Wilson – in his sixth season with the program – will be especially missed, because he was the team’s emotional leader.
“Danny has been the heart, spirit and energy of this team,” he said. “He has an incredible ability to relate to people and he will be sorely missed.”
In reaction to his last game, Wilson said, “Honestly, the only time it really hit me was when I was walking off the ice. I just wanted to have fun and play hard.”