USU hockey team loses chance at finals
Going into last weekend’s road trip, the Utah State hockey club had obtained only one road victory outside of Utah.
Coming out of it, things stayed the same.
USU dropped all three games, falling at the feet of Division III Wyoming 6-4, the Colorado Buffalos 8-0, and the Colorado State Rams 7-4.
The losses most likely blocked USU’s chances of qualifying for the American Collegiate Hockey Association Nationals since the top three teams (Colorado, CSU and Weber State University) did not lose during the weekend.
The Feb. 4 ACHA D-II West Region rankings were not posted at www.achahockey.org as of late Tuesday night.
“I’d be very surprised if we got in,” said USU Head Coach Jerry Crossley. “We’re probably not the team to go. I hope not.”
Colorado and Colorado State have both had their way with the Aggies all season — especially Friday night as the Buffalos handed USU its first scoreless game this season.
“We got our butts pretty well kicked,” Crossley said. “The road trips have been the unsuccessful part of our season.”
The trip was USU’s fourth away from Utah, giving it a 1-8 record outside of state boundaries.
The shutout had the Aggies, who had averaged 7.5 goals per game the past seven games before last weekend, scratching their heads and wondering what hit them.
“It’s not good at all,” said USU forward Roberto Leo, who had one goal during the weekend. “It surprised us, though.”
It could be said everything that could go wrong on a road trip did for USU.
To go along with the extended time on a bus for much of the four days, the Aggies were hindered with injuries to some of their most important players.
Crossley said forward Aaron Burrell, who has been a goal-scoring force all season, suffered a back injury in which he could “barely skate” Friday night.
Even with the pain, Burrell played in each game, scoring two goals in the CSU loss.
Defenseman Nate Pierce broke his left hand, center Jacob Guttormsen’s foot was run over by an opposing player’s skate (he did not break his foot, which was originally the thought), freshman netminder Josh Groves was throwing up all weekend (he had to play every game since he was USU’s sole goalie on the trip), and defenseman Brandon Lang took a bang to the head, but Crossley said it was nothing major.
Even more important than those things, forward Robert Hashimoto said the Aggies simply weren’t prepared for the long weekend.
“We all feel like crap,” Hashimoto said. “All of us didn’t show up to play. We came in too relaxed, [and you can’t do that because] those teams have more depth.”
The Aggies are a combined 0-6 against the Buffalos and Rams (two road losses and one home loss to each) and will face the Buffalos for the final time this season Friday in North Logan.
–samhis@cc.usu.edu