USU hockey trounces Wolverines 15-1
With the Aggies dominating the Utah Valley University Wolverines 15-1 Friday night, it’s funny to think there was any doubt about winning before hand.
The USU hockey team proved they are ready to back up their claims of having a dynamite team this year by conquering on the ice after obtaining their sixth straight win.
The players themselves were on fire Friday night, with captain Kent Arsenault and center Billy Gouthro each achieving hat tricks. Team manager Jon Eccles said goalie Dan Cornelius also stepped up to the challenge by turning away everything that was thrown at him.
Perhaps a motivation for the team’s absolute domination of UVU came from the fact that three of USU’s new recruits this season were former Wolverine teammates.
“I think it was fun for them to start against their old teammates. Playing against UVU created more excitement for us,” Eccles said. “Our USU players who came to us from UVU were excited to go back down and play. They did have friends on the team so it made it a little difficult for them, but I think we’ve realized they’re not so much friends anymore.”
Cornelius agreed.
“I think it was more of a motivation for USU to play better,” he said. “I think the former UVU teammates played harder knowing if they won they could feel better about playing for USU now instead of UVU.”
David Wyman, one of the three transfer students from UVU said playing at UVU was weird but OK because there was such a good group of guys to play with. He said he felt like his USU teammates had his back. Wyman also said it was exciting to win with a new family.
The former UVU players were Michael Daugilus, David Wyman and Jeremy Martin. Wyman said they tried not to have too much emotion going into the game.
“It turned out to be more of just a regular game,” he said.
With all three of the former Wolverines in the starting lineup, one might guess that was the reason for the four straight penalties in a row during the first period. However, Eccles said he attributed the calls to one of the refs who he feels is harder on the Aggies, having been a former aggie hockey player himself.
“I think it’s just a matter of him making more calls in order to prove for sure he isn’t favoring his former team,” Eccles said.
Whatever the penalties, the Aggies felt they played a great game.
“In the first period we started out playing at their level, but then Kent came in and told the guys we needed to play hard,” Eccles said. “He gave an inspirational speech, told the players they needed to ramp up, skate hard and take it to them, and that period we came back out and scored eight goals. We jumped on them and ended up breaking their backs.”
Wyman also felt good about the team’s performance.
“I think we played really well tonight. We battled through a lot and it was a fairly decent road game,” he said. “A highlight of the game was (goalie) Dan Cornelius. He played awesome and made big saves when we needed it. Overall it was a good team game, and we played well together as a unit.”
After another 60 solid minutes of hockey Saturday night, the Aggies left the ice triumphant once again with an 8-5 win against Brigham Young University.
Two thousand screaming fans crammed into the George S. Eccles Ice Arena to cheer on the Aggies as they battled their bitter rivals. The Cougars still have yet to beat the Aggies in the Logan arena.
With top players Seth Armitage and Billy Gouthro out with injuries the Aggies had to adapt quickly to new line arrangements, and did so successfully, said left wing Brendan MacDonald.
“It was a great game and a good chance for the team to really come together,” MacDonald said.
Cornelius agreed.
“I think we definitely felt the effects of having a couple of top players out with injuries,” he said. “There was something restricting us from reaching our potential.”
Although the first and second periods were frustrating and laden with penalties and fights, the Aggies managed to make a come back in the third period.
During period three the game was tied at 4-4.
“That’s when we focused more on the defense,” Cornelius said. “We had to make sure we didn’t lose.”
USU scored three goals in the last two minutes of the game, which Arsenault attributed to fans and adrenaline.
“When we were tied 4-4 we were in a panic. We knew we needed to step it up and it worked out pretty well,” he said. “The fans also helped out a lot. Coach told us to ‘Look out there, that’s who you’re playing for’, and we did.”
With the record the Aggies have maintained so far, another victory is promising next week when they will travel to play in Colorado.