USU loses 12 players for second semester
After a disappointing end to last semester’s schedule, the Utah State hockey club will start the second half of its season in northern California with only 17 players.
The Aggies lost nine players due to academic ineligibility.
In order to be academically eligible, a player must have at least nine credits and a 2.0 GPA. Another three left the team, leaving USU with only 15 players from last semester’s roster.
Players from last semester’s roster that will not play the second half of the season are Scottie Beard (goalie), Alex John (defense), Dane Jorgeson (goalie), Adam Lain (goalie), Brandon Latham (forward), Mike Lewandowski (forward), Jay Obmerga (forward), Ryan Osterheldt (forward), Parker Richards (forward), Robert Sutherland (forward), Mike Walker (forward) and Cory Wardell (defense).
Nels Hansen, who played for USU two seasons ago, and Brandon Holthaus joined the team.
Team co-captain Robert Hashimoto said the depleted roster won’t be as bad as it sounds.
“We still have a lot of potential scorers,” he said. “And we didn’t lose much on defense. With the new players we have, I think we’ll be stronger on defense.”
USU now only has one goalie on its roster, but Hashimoto said Josh Groves has played goalie for the Aggies before and can probably switch from forward to goalie if needed.
Despite the losses, the Aggies are surprisingly upbeat about the new semester, forward William Winsa said.
“We’re off to a good start,” he said. “We’re laughing a lot more this semester. I don’t think we know what’s going to happen. That makes it kind of exciting.”
USU will start the new semester with a road trip to northern California to face the top team in the region, San Jose State, and Cal-Berkeley.
The Aggies lost 4-3 to SJSU in North Logan on Nov. 4, giving up two power-play goals in the final five minutes of the game.
“I’m glad we play San Jose early,” Hashimoto said. “We can get right into it. They’ll be charged up.”
The Aggies have not faced Berkeley yet this season, but the Bears are currently unranked in the West Region. USU is ranked No. 10.
The Aggies ended last semester by losing seven of their last eight games, but nearly beat the Weber State Division-I squad – a team they have never beaten – in their last game.
The high point of the season for USU was its 8-1 win over then No. 2 Denver at the Eccles Ice Arena.
After that game, the Aggies won a close game at unranked Washington and then were swept in two games by Eastern Washington.
They then went to a tournament in Las Vegas and lost all three games to UNLV and BYU.
USU rebounded by beating the WSU D-II team in Ogden, but then lost to them the next night at home before losing to the D-I team on Dec. 17.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu