USU hockey knocks off BYU in shootout
The Utah State University Aggies hockey club faced off against in-state rival Brigham Young University on Jan. 11 at the George Eccles Ice Arena. In the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams, the seventh-ranked Aggies looked to close out the series with a four-game-sweep on “Teddy Bear Toss” night.
As is the case with most hockey games, it was imperative for USU to take care of the puck from the very first faceoff. Unfortunately, the first faceoff did not afford the team such an opportunity.
In the first 30 seconds of the first period, the Cougars pounced on the Aggies, and BYU’s forward Aleks Stroud scored off a point-blank goal to put the visitors up 1-0. With the ensuing momentum, the Cougars carried the play and held USU from getting many quality offensive chances.
Even after the Aggies began to pick up their pace, untimely penalties and strong defense kept BYU up by the lone score. This continued until the middle of the first, when USU snapped to life and took over the rest of the period.
Forward Chris Cutshall got the Aggies on the board at the 17:42 mark with a net-front deflection to tie the game. Fans showered the ice with teddy bears, and the wily forward responded by leading the team to a wave of USU offense. Less than two minutes after the tying goal, Cutshall put another one in the back of the net after stripping the puck for a breakaway to give the Aggies the 2-1 lead. BYU could not respond in the final 1:48 and USU took their momentum into the locker room.
Photo by Iain Laurence
Oftentimes, a team’s momentum can carry over from period to period, which appeared to be the case for USU in the second period and the team continued to impose their will on the Cougars. BYU’s early push was all for naught, as Aggie defenders fended off pressure with strong back-checking. To add insult to injury, USU’s Alec Moser buried the puck seven minutes in after a scramble for the puck down low. Trailing 3-1, frustration began setting in for the road squad, with physicality seeming to be the only thing keeping them in the game.
However, the Cougars weathered the storm and drew a four-minute, double-minor at the 10-minute-mark. BYU’s captain, Nixon Barber, took advantage of the lengthy extra man advantage and brought the team to within a goal with a deflection goal; 3-2 Utah State. The tally gave BYU a renewed-energy, which was halted shortly thereafter when a Cougar player took an undisciplined penalty. The two-minute advantage resulted in a 2-on-1 goal scored by Olli Jansson to put them back up by two.
Things opened up after the 4-2 goal by Jansson and, less than 20 seconds after, Barber scored his second goal making the score 4-3 with 2:02 remaining in the middle frame. BYU took over the play and had USU on their heels, while both teams held one another off the scoreboard heading into the intermission.
Up to that point, momentum shifted hands often during the first 40 minutes, with the Aggies unable to keep more than a one-goal distance for any length of time. That would change as USU skated out of the locker room determined to pull away in the third.
Seemingly shrugging off the late second period barrage by BYU, the Aggies took control of the game and peppered Cougar goalie Jared Manzella, who finished the game with 62 saves. The only response BYU could muster was aggressive play, and USU’s defense stifled any chance they had offensively.
The ice was so heavily tilted in USU’s favor, that it seemed certain the “Hockey Gods” would intervene on behalf of BYU. Sure enough, with time winding down, the team scored another late-game goal to tie it up. After the Cougars pulled Manzella to get an extra skater, forward Jacob Eisenstat put one past USU’s goalie Colton Pritchard with 11 seconds remaining. After the horn sounded, both teams headed into overtime with four goals apiece and the Aggies needing a big bounce back to win the game.
In what amounted to their second overtime game on home ice, USU was determined to send its fans home happy. The extra five minutes were relatively uneventful, as both teams traded minimal shots, and even fewer chances. Overtime was not enough to determine a victor and, after a lengthy discussion, the refs decided to settle the game with a shootout.
Pritchard stopped all five BYU shooters and Bradley Green scored the lone goal for the Aggies in the shootout. Pritchard played strong in net, ammassing 52 saves on the night, leading the team to a 5-4 victory. USU pulled out the win due to a “take no prisoners” offensive pressure and a strong-defensive performance to keep the Cougars at arm’s reach all night. The team now sits at 12-10, with its next games against MSU-Denver, University of Denver and Dakota College Jan. 17-20. These are all taking place in Colorado during the Big Mountain Classic.