The Utah State Aggies hockey program got off to a great start at home Friday night beat their hated rivals the BYU cougars 6-3. The Aggies move to 2-4 on the season having now beaten the cougars back-to-back.
The game started off great for the Aggies as they were able to put on in the back of the net in the first two minutes of the game. Andrew Latham holds the honor of scoring the first goal at home this season.
“Its great to open the season off with a goal, get everyone going and get the blood flowing,” Latham said.
The Aggies went on to outscore the Cougars in the first and third period. Half way through the second period coach John Eccles decided to make a goalie change swapping Austin Willenborg for Keagan McHenry after Austin came out to the boards to play a loose puck. Austin’s play almost resulted in the Aggies giving up an easy goal. Later on in the third period the Aggies saw two ejections. One for disorderly conduct (or starting a fight) and another for instigating. BYU also saw a player go off in the third. Four other players were able to contributed pucks in the net Friday night. Same Goings, Gary Higgs and Morgan McJimsey all provided a single goal while Chris Videto helped by adding two.
USU hockey fans we have just been spoiled the last few years. The organization and clean crisp passing we have almost come to expect from the hockey program isn’t quite there. It’s still October and they have plenty of games to clean things up.
“I’d say probably our defensive zone play and transition to the offense, In the second period there was kind of sloppy, we weren’t making passes we weren’t getting back and supporting our defense,” said Rylee Orr, USU’s captain. “We talk about how we want to start in our defensive zone and then move up the ice with the puck and make 5 foot passes instead of 20 foot passes.”
Another thing that the Aggies can work on moving forward would be their penalty minutes. The Aggies had 18 different penalties on the night.
“I think in general we’ve taken too many penalties this year, but you know when it starts getting chippy, and its against a team like BYU,” Orr said. “A team you hate its pretty easy to get fired up and sometimes you have to control your emotions.”
The Aggies will be on the road next Saturday down in Phoenix Arizona, to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU is 3-1 on the season.
