Utah State goalie Chris Webber prepares for chance against former team
Chris Webber will be suiting up for another San Jose State hockey game Thursday – except this time, his goalie uniform will be a darker shade of blue.
Webber was SJSU Spartans star goalie last season, but he decided to transfer to Utah State over the summer.
“It’s so nice here,” Webber said. “The fans, the hockey and the business school are really nice here. The people are so much nicer. They’re more laid back here. San Jose is so high-paced. Everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere.”
Webber is a junior majoring in business with an emphasis in human resource management.
He started his hockey career playing midget-A hockey for the San Jose Blades (now the Junior Sharks). He also played roller hockey for his high school.
“I switched over to ice hockey and never went back to roller hockey, ever,” Webber said.
Prior to coming to Logan, he spent his last three years playing goalie for San Jose State. And unlike the more famous, basketball-playing Chris Webber, this one thrives in tense situations.
“I like the pressure [of playing goalie],” he said. “If you win, you’re the hero. If you lose, you’re not. I like winning, and I know this team can win. We definitely have potential.”
Potential was something he never saw much of at SJSU.
“There’s more talent here, more raw talent,” Webber said. “And this team is gelling much quicker than we ever did last season at San Jose State. Those guys never did anything together as a team. This team is coming together pretty quickly. So are the lines.”
Webber is not the only goalie on the team, however.
Many would think that there would be a lot of tension between him and Josh Groves, the team’s only starting goalie for much of last season. But Groves has no problem with Webber.
“The kid’s awesome,” Groves said. “I’ve never really had to share time with anyone before.”
Groves was the only starting goalie on his high school team and, since neither of the other two goalies last season made their grades, he was the only starter for USU, he said.
“I told [Webber] that if I had to share time with anyone then it’s awesome that it’s him,” Groves said. “He’s a really good guy. He’s really outgoing. It’s cool that we get to work together and everything. It’s good to have two guys that you can call on. It can go one way or the other.”
Head Coach Jerry Crossley couldn’t agree more.
“Right now between the two guys, I’d take both of them in any situation we get in,” Crossley said. “Chris played a good game Thursday night [against Colorado State], and Josh played a good game Friday night [against Weber State’s Division I team].”
Both goalies are on pace to set a new school record for save percentage. The record is currently 88.6 percent, but both Webber and Groves are more than 89 percent.
Crossley said Webber has a great attitude and is a great individual.
“Chris is just a good up-front kid,” he said. “He’s just easy to work with, very coachable, and wants to do a good a job. He is willing to work on stuff. I don’t know what else to ask out of him.”
Webber faces off against his old team Thursday when it comes to Cache Valley.
“I think he’s going to be excited,” Crossley said.
Groves said, “I think he’ll step it up. We’ve got a better team than them, too. We ought to kill them. I think he’ll really want to prove something, prove something to them and prove something to us.”
Webber said that he is looking forward to the game.
“With the talent that we have on this team, we should beat them 10-0,” he said. “I know for sure that we can light them up and light them up good. I’ve had a couple guys already call me from the San Jose team; they’re talking all this trash already. I told them to be scared, so they’re kind of nervous right now.”
As they should be. USU won the only contest between the two teams in Logan 6-4 in a come-from-behind effort.
“There was a lot of shots,” Webber said. “That’s all I remember because I was so tired after the intermissions. I had 72 shots against me.”
Crossley says his team is receiving an average of 50 shots a game this year and that it needs to be around 30.
The contest against San Jose State will undoubtedly be an emotional one for Webber. But regardless of the outcome, he’s an Aggie proud now and is a part of a team that believes it can win a national championship.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu