January 14, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
The Utah Skatin’ Utes returned to the ice last weekend for the first time since early December and picked up a pair of wins against Washington to start the second semester on a high note.
The Utes began their final month of the regular season last Friday as the Utes and Huskies met for the third time this year and for the first time in Salt Lake City.
Utah wasted no time scoring in the first period, putting the first goal up just five minutes into the game. After finishing the period without any more goals, the Utes came alive once again in the second, scoring five times and took a 6-0 lead into the final period.
Utah would add three more in the third while conceding only one goal and took a 9-1 victory to open up the second semester.
Utah controlled the entire game, outshooting the Huskies 72 to 20 in the contest. Josh Dangel continued his fantastic season, netting his fifth hat trick of the season. He now sits at 52 points and 29 goals on the year after the weekend, which are good enough for 8th and 7th in the nation respectively.
The Utes went a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill while scoring three shorthanded goals in the game. Utah now has 13 shorthanded goals on the season, which is one of the highest totals in the nation. The Utes also went an impressive 3 for 4 on the power play.
Pete Gibb made his return in his first game since surgery after last year’s Regional Final against Weber State, picking up 19 saves in the win.
On Saturday the Utes went back to work looking for the season sweep of the Huskies and their second sweep of their division opponents (Utah won all four games against Oregon this year).
After a scoreless first period, the Utes put up two goals each in the final two periods and cruised to a 4-0 victory.
Once again the Utes outshot the Huskies considerably in the game 66 to 20. The Utes went perfect on the penalty kill once again, going 5 for 5 in the game for a total of 10 for 10 for the weekend.
Devan Betts recorded his second shutout of the season with 20 saves and improved his record to 6-2 on the season. The Utes now have four games this year where they have not allowed a goal, which is a new club record for a season. The previous record was three games, which has been set the last three seasons.
After the two wins, the Utes now sit at 21-6 on the season and a perfect 12-0 in the PAC-8 Conference. The Utes have two PAC-8 games left on the season, where the Utes will take on Washington State at home in two weeks.
As for this week, the Utes head down south to Arizona for a big three-game weekend against #4 Northern Arizona and #1 Arizona State Elite. The three games will be last ones against top five opponents until Senior Night February 1st against #2 Utah State.
Friday and Saturday’s games against Norhern Arizona begin at 8:30pm MT while Sunday’s game against Arizona State will be at 1:10pm PT. All three games will be either broadcasted live or you can follow our twitter page for in-game updates.
