USU Hockey falls just short of national semifinals
The Utah State hockey club continued action in pool play at nationals with a heartbreaking loss to the University of Michigan Wednesday night. The Aggies put together an impressive run but ultimately fell to the Wolverines 5-4.
“The boys came out and played a good game, a hard game,” head coach Jon Eccles said. But the Aggie effort was ultimately not enough.
USU entered the rink ready to play, but gave up an early goal to Michigan just 1:06 into the first period. The Wolverines, coming off a tough a game that ended in a tie with Sienna College, controlled the puck for most of the first 10 minutes.
The Aggies got their best chance of the first period when a controversial Michigan delay-of-game penalty was called, giving USU a man advantage. USU’s Dave Wyman found an open shot and scored at 10:49.
Wyman’s power play jump-started the Utah State offense as the Aggies stepped up the intensity, getting great scoring chances and keeping the puck in their zone.
The Aggies continued their high-energy play for the rest of the period. At 3:14, USU’s Kent Arsenault took a deflection off of Matt Hamilton and put the puck between the pipes, giving the Aggies the 2-1 lead they would carry into the intermission.
Utah State started the second period strong feeding on its first period momentum. The play on both sides of the ice was hard-fought, with both teams equally holding the puck in their zones.
The Aggies struck first in the period, just more than six minutes in, when Arsenault stepped up again hitting a goal from almost the same position as his first.
Utah State’s speed gave them an edge on the Wolverines, but a Michigan goal at 10:53 closed the Aggie lead to one midway through the period. USU’s defense stepped up and killed penalties for the Aggies opening up chances for Utah State’s offense.
With just 12 seconds left in the second, a shot from USU’s Tyler Mistelbacher found its way past the Michigan goalie, giving the Aggies a 4-2 lead to end the second period.
The Wolverines came out of the second intermission looking like a different team. They came at Utah State quickly with big hits and energy that had the Aggies playing catch up.
The Wolverines got their breakthrough six minutes into the period with a goal that sparked the Michigan offense. That first goal of the period started a scoring run that spanned two minutes and resulted in three goals for the Wolverines giving them a 5-4 lead with 12:37 to go.
The Aggies ultimately were unable to overcome the shock of the three quick goals.
Utah State’s loss to Michigan had the Aggies tied for second place in the pool D bracket with Sienna College. The pool, led by Michigan with a one-point lead, anxiously awaited Thursday’s game between Michigan and the University of Maryland BC.
Michigan came away with a 4-3 victory that clinched the pool, a spot for Michigan in the tournament semifinals and ended the Aggies’ run for a national championship with one game left for Utah State to play.
The Aggies got the news of the Michigan victory just minutes before the puck dropped for their game against the Sienna College Saints Thursday afternoon.
“I only wish they would have played the game after us because then we would have had a completely different attitude,” said Eccles. “It’s tough but you have to stay positive.”
The Aggies came out looking as if they were ready to put the disappointing news behind them as Brendan MacDonald scored off the opening faceoff in Thursday’s game.
Despite obvious frustration, USU played tough, keeping Sienna College from scoring until the 11:26 mark when USU goalie Bryce Schershel let the puck slip through his legs. Utah State answered less than a minute later when Jeremy Martin ripped a shot from the blue line that found the back of the net.
The Aggies’ energy took a huge hit with multiple penalties leading into the first intermission. Sienna college would capitalize off the Aggies’ struggles and score once more before time ran out.
USU’s penalty troubles continued into the second period. The amount of time Utah State has spent playing with a man-down disadvantage is something Aggies have struggled with all season.
Eccles said the referees were very quick to blow the whistle, something the Aggies weren’t ready for.
“I’m not saying that the refs lost the game for us,” Eccles said. “We just didn’t adjust to it.”
Sienna College spent 17 minutes of the second period on the power play, leaving the Aggies very little time to get any offense going. The Aggie defense held back Sienna’s attack until 8:16 when the Saints got a power play goal.
Neither team would score again in the period until the 1:42 mark when Sienna again scored on a power play to gain a 4-2 lead.
Heading into the third period the Aggies settled down their play and kept their penalties under control but they weren’t able to come back. They fell 4-2.
“We would kind of get going and then we would stumble a little bit,” Eccles said. “That was a tough one. There’s not a lot you can do sometimes.”
The Utah State Aggie hockey club would like to thank their fans and sponsors for all their support this season.
“The support really has been incredible,” Eccles said.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu