USU knocked out in national semifinal
Utah State’s hockey team travelled to St. Louis to participate in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament. They entered the tournament as the top seed in the West. The competition started with a round of pool play followed by single-elimination knockout.
Michigan State 6, Utah State 2
The Aggies drew Michigan State, the winner from Pool B, in the semifinal round.
Utah State started out strong, earning a five-on-three power play within the first two minutes of the game. Brian Gibbons scored an early goal to give the Aggies the lead.
However, the Spartans answered quickly, scoring twice to gain a lead they wouldn’t give up again. Michigan State scored once more in the second period before Ian Beckstrom scored on a power play.
Soon after, the Aggies were called for a penalty the Spartans took advantage of, scoring seconds into the power play. This killed the momentum USU was earning and the Aggies wouldn’t recover. Michigan State scored two more goals as they moved on to the finals against Grand Valley, eliminating Utah State.
Utah State 5, Saint Louis 4
Utah State’s club hockey team started its bid for a national championship with a win over host-school St. Louis by a final score of 5-4 Friday in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament.
The Aggies started out slow and were down 2-0 early in the first period.
“First game jitters, plus we’re playing on small ice when we’re used to bigger ice has something to do with it,” said head coach Jon Eccles. “Plus we just weren’t getting the bounces there for a while until we started outworking them.”
Aggie captain Brian Gibbons put the Aggies on the board in the first period and forward Chris Videto tied the game at two later in the first.
Utah State hadn’t played a competitive hockey game in over three weeks, and there was some rust.
“We just needed to settle down, focus and play the way we know how to play,” Eccles said.
The Billikens scored again to take a 3-2 lead in the second, but it was the last time the home team would have a lead. Freshman defenseman Shaun Gibbons tied the game and senior forward Matt Hamilton gave USU its first lead of the night.
St. Louis scored one final time to tie the game at four before forward Cooper Limb found the back of the net for the game-winner.
Bowling Green 6, Utah State 5
The Utah State club hockey dropped its second game Saturday with a 6-5 loss at the hands of Bowling Green.
Another slow start doomed the Aggies after they fell behind 2-0 early in the first.
“It’s our breakouts – little breakouts here and there that when you add them up, it’s a lot of scoring chances,” Eccles said. “We were down 2-0 before we started to get going.”
The Aggies attempted the comeback, but fell just short of at least a tie.
“We never gave up, which was great, but we’re letting too many goals to be scored against us right now,” Eccles said. “Ten goals in two games is uncharacteristic of our team.”
Scoring for Utah State were defensemen Sean Erwin, Jordan Kerr and Ty Johns. Forward Brian Gibbons added two more goals for the Aggies.
The loss put the pressure on Utah State to come out and win their next game. With St. Louis and New Hampshire tying 2-2 in their game, the Aggies still had a chance to come out of Pool D and into the semi-finals.
“I think we need to play with a little more sense of urgency,” Eccles said.
Utah State 5, New Hampshire 3
The Aggies knew just before game time on Sunday that with a win, they were in. Saint Louis beat Bowling Green earlier in the day, which meant that the winner of the USU-UNH game won the pool and earned a spot in the semi-finals.
With this knowledge, the Aggies went into their game ready to play hard.
“The boys were so excited,” Eccles said. “They were pumped up and everyone played their hearts out.”
Utah State was down early once again after New Hampshire converted a penalty shot against goalie Bryce Scherschel. The shot trickled by Scherschel after he got a piece of it.
However, once Utah State tied the game at 1-1, they wouldn’t trail the rest of the game.
Salt Lake City-native Cooper Limb scored Utah State’s first three goals and the Aggies were up 3-2 in the third period when forward Stu Hepburn notched an insurance goal that proved to be the game winner. New Hampshire added one more goal and then pulled their goalie to put an extra attacker on the ice. Johns took advantage of the opportunity and scored an empty-netter.
“I think we just out-ran them,” Eccles said. “We out-skated them and they got too tired.”
The conditioning level of the Aggies has been a strong point for the team all season. It’s especially important when playing up to five games in five days.
“We’ve been training at altitude, so we had a little more jump,” Eccles said.
– sean.osullivan@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @seansy89