October 31, 2002 Athletics
Story
Aggie
hockey defeats Utes
From
the Utah Statesman
(10/30/02)
The unattractive trend the Aggies (4-3-1) shook off Saturday
was their tendency to dig a deep hole against opponents through
the first two periods before having to fight back to win or
tie.
For the first time since contesting the Utes in Logan Oct.
5, the Aggies held a lead going into the third period due in
large part to a three-goal second period and shutting out the
Utes in the same period.
"It's been a while since we've had a lead and been able
to maintain it," said USU assistant coach Ty Newberry.
"I think [we] found out that it's a lot easier to play
with the lead than it is to play catch-up."
At the 17:13 mark of the first period, Aggie center Robert
Hoshimoto was wide open in between the face-off circles, 20
feet out from the Ute goal, and zipped a slap shot in for a
1-0 USU lead.
The Utes responded 10 minutes later as Greg Ricketts also found
himself open from inside the right face-off circle to tie the
score at 1-1.
From then on the Aggies took control.
Just under four minutes into the second period, Aggie Jacob
Guttormsen took advantage of a Robert Leo flat pass from the
right side of the net for a 2-1 Aggie advantage.
Less than 20 seconds later Leo put the Aggies up 3-1 with a
flip shot from about five feet out off an Aaron Sutliff assist.
Seven minutes later, USU capitalized on a power-play opportunity
as Sutliff scored USU's final goal as he came to the middle
horizontally from the right side, swerving between Ute defenders.
It appeared as though USU came into the third period not looking
to score because of its three-goal lead, but Newberry said the
only thing different was the slightly unknown feeling of having
a secure lead.
"We didn't adjust our game," he said. "It's
just that there [was] no sense of panic. The guys feel more
control in the game when they have the lead."
With 2:46 remaining in the third the Utes put in a power-play
goal with a five-on-three advantage, providing a glimmer of
hope for a comeback on their part.
But it was too little, too late.
"[USU's] penalty — that did open the door for us
to be able to maybe move in and capitalize and sneak a point
out of what we probably didn't deserve to have at that point,"
said Ute Head Coach Stan Weiss. "We had three good scoring
opportunities where we missed the net too many times or hit
a stick or a leg or a post."
Aggie defender Rad Anderson defender said, "It seems kind
of odd [because] we're more of a comeback team. It was more
of just a good defensive game we had."
By Sammy Hislop
Photo by John Zsiray
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