USU hockey hopes to even score with Weber State Division II squad
The Utah State club hockey team is looking for redemption this weekend as it hosts the Weber State Wildcats, the same school that defeated the Aggies 11-2 last Saturday. This time the Aggies will face off against Weber State’s Division II team, though.
The game is Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the George S. Eccles Ice Center in North Logan. This will be the first of six games against Weber State’s Division II squad this year.
The overall game plan will remain the same, but USU will still be working on some personnel issues, said Head Coach Jerry Crossley.
Last Friday, the Aggies beat the Provo Icecats at home 7-3, with Aaron Burrell and Robert Hashimoto leading the Aggies with a combined four goals and three assists. But nothing seemed to go right the next night as they lost to the Wildcats’ Division I team. Ben Froehle and Nick Thiros scored the only two goals for the Aggies in that game, while three Weber State players scored two or more goals apiece.
“We tried being too careful and that’s what cost us,” Crossley said.
The Aggies started a different goalie in each game last weekend with significantly different results. Josh Groves had an excellent performance against Provo, giving up only three goals in 24 minutes of play. But Chris Webber suffered against Weber State, giving up eight goals in 37 minutes.
Crossley said Webber gave up a lot more goals, but he also had a lot more shots taken on him. Groves only had six or seven shots against him each period, while Webber had more than 20 quality shots on him each period.
“That game won’t have any effect on my decision on who starts as goalie this season,” Crossley said.
He said Chris Webber will most likely start on Friday.
Penalties have been an issue for the Aggies so far this year. Utah State accumulated a total of 58 penalty minutes over the first two games.
Although the Aggies will be playing the Division II Weber State team, they expect the game to be just as intense because a lot of the same players they saw last week will be playing again, Crossley said.
“They’re still working with their personnel as well,” Crossley said.
Fans are encouraged to show up to Friday’s game early because last week’s contest against Provo sold out about 10 minutes before the game started.
This is the final exhibition game of the year for the Aggies. Their season will officially start Thursday when they play host to the Colorado State Rams. USU lost all three meetings with the Rams last year, but the team expects a different result this year.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu