Utah State hockey heads into final games of season
Utah State hockey is heading into the home stretch of its season. Ranked No. 2 in the West, the Aggies have five games left to make a statement before the National Championship tournament.
“We are currently sitting at number two, and there’s still two more voting periods,” USU head coach Jon Eccles said. “We’re right where we want to be.”
If the team can hold onto that No. 2 spot, USU will get a pass to the American College Hockey Association National Tournament.
“We want that auto-bid,” Eccles said.
Eccles said with the way the Aggies have been playing, a spot in the tournament seems secure. Of the five games left, one is against a team the Aggies haven’t faced before.
Tonight the Aggies face off against University of Washington Huskies. Utah State has home-ice advantage, but UW is not a team to underestimate.
The Huskies are coming into Eccles Ice Center with a regular season record of 17-6. Ranked at No. 10 in the West, the Huskies are coming off a rough showing at the Western Showcase in early December in which they lost all four games by a combined score of 28-7.
Since then Washington has won all six of their games including two against Oregon, which was ranked at the time.
The Huskies are led by junior goal scorer Corey James. The forward has 22 goals on the season. James is supported by freshman Ryan Minkoff, who has 15 goals and 36 assists.
Utah State will be short on the defense side, however, without Ty Johns, who suffered a leg injury against the University of Colorado. The Aggies will need production out of their young defensive staff to make up for the loss of their assistant captain.
On the offensive end, the Aggies will be without Tyler Mistelbacher and Matt Hamilton who have sat a majority of the games since coming back from the break.
In goal for the Huskies will be Danny Dougan, who has a 3.42 GAA and a .90 save percentage.
The Aggies and the Huskies will face off at 7 p.m. at the Eccles Ice Center.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu