USU hockey falls for the second time in two days to Utah

Fresh off a frustrating home defeat to UNLV, Utah State lost to in-state rival University of Utah 3-2 on Saturday.

Just one day after their first home game of the season, the USU hockey team traveled 83 miles south to face off against the University of Utah. The Utes are now in their first season of being a division one team in the ACHA.

On the tail end of a back-to-back series, Utah State was tired and missing several players. Defenders Gavin Lubin and Shaun Gibbons, as well as forward Ian Beckstrom, were late scratches from the game-day roster. The Aggies went into Saturday’s game with five defenders in the rotation when they normally have six.

Undeterred by the lack of depth, USU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period. Then a power play a few minutes started the comeback for the Utes who would go on to score two goals in the third period to seal the win in their first home game of the season.

In spite of the loss, Aggie head coach Jon Eccles is happy with his team’s improvement after Friday’s loss.

“We played so much better,” he said. “But [we] had a couple of turnovers that hurt us in the end.”

One of the more notable areas of improvement was the amount of penalties, a major factor in USU’s loss to UNLV and an area of concern against Weber State. Through those first two games the Aggies had averaged 14 penalties per game. In Saturday’s game Utah State had only seven infractions.

Utah State will play next weekend against Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.