In the biggest weekend of this ranking period, seven of the top 15 teams in the West met in Colorado for the annual Western Showcase. Despite playing four games in as many days (only matched by DU), the Utah Utes (15-5) performed well and came out the other side with the best record in the showcase at 3-1.
Thursday: #7 Utah 4, #4 Colorado State 3 OT
Thursday’s contest against #4 Colorado State saw a seesaw battle between two of the top teams in the West. The Rams got on the board just 36 seconds into the game to take the early lead, but Utah answered with a short-handed goal by Chase McDonald minutes later to knot the game at 1-1 heading to the second period. The second saw the same as the first, with both teams tallying a goal to make 2-2 after the second stanza.
The third period saw another back and forth period as the Rams took their third lead of the game with 12 minutes to go to make it 3-2. But like before, the Utes answered the call and with five minutes to go Ryan Huras got the goal that sent the game to overtime tied at 3-3. The Utes carried that momentum into the extra frame which led to Zeph Fagergren’s winner 43 seconds in to give the Utes the 4-3 upset win over the Rams. The Fagergren goal was a beautiful tip from a Dean Wilson shot from the point.
It was an overall team effort for Utah as 10 different Utes tallied a point on Thursday. Goaltender Pete Gibb moved to 10-4 on the year as he picked up 28 saves on the win.
Friday: #7 Utah 2, #5 San Jose State 4
After Thursday’s big win, the Utes looked to carry that momentum into Friday as they took on #5 San Jose State. The Spartans had bested the Utes twice already this season and revenge was on the mind for Utah. Like the past two meetings, the Utes took an early lead when Douglas Newell scored on the power play to give the Utes a 1-0 lead going into the second period. After a SJSU goal tied the game at one, Zeph Fagergren tallied another goal to put the Utes up 2-1.
However, the momentum shifted back to the Spartans as they scored three unanswered goals to go up 4-2, which ended up being the final score. The loss marks the third time the Utes have lost to the Spartans this year, which is a clean sweep for the season. In contrast to the previous games, the Utes did not spend much time in the penalty box. Of the thirteen penalties, Utah only had four.
Saturday: #7 Utah 6, #10 Colorado 1
On Friday, the Utes looked to rebound against #10 Colorado and did so in a hurry. Utah struck first as captain Ryan Huras scored on an early top-shelf goal at 18:21 of the period. After CU tied the game at 1-1, the flood gates opened for Utah as Ben Seastrand and Chase McDonald put three up on the board to make it 4-1 after two periods.
In the third, the Utes continued their dominance by putting two more up to win by a final of 6-1. The win moved Utah to 2-1 on the weekend and 14-5 on the year.
Sunday: #7 Utah 5, #13 Denver 4 OT
The final game of the weekend proved to be the most dynamic. The Skatin’ Utes went up against the surprise team of the weekend, the Denver Pioneers. #13 Denver had gone 2-1 so far with wins over #5 SJSU and #6 Weber State, and hung tough with #1 Utah State until giving up 4 late goals in a 5-2 loss. The surprise continued for the Utes as the Pioneers scored three unanswered goals to put the Utes in an early 3-0 hole after the first period. During the intermission the Utes mentally reset and decided it was time to claw their way back, one shift at a time. The second started as planned as Cameron Chasse and Dean Wilson scored to make it 3-2 with Utah having all the momentum heading into the third period.
After Denver scored a fluke goal just 24 seconds into the third, it looked that the steam Utah had picked up was gone. But, Kurtis Kunz tallied one five minutes later to close the gap to one. The score stayed put until Fagergren scored his third of the weekend to tie the game at 4-4 in the closing minutes. Neither team could find another and the Utes ended the weekend where they started it. In overtime.
In OT, the Utes once again found a way to win, topping DU 5-4. With the win the Utes moved to 15-5 on the season and picked up some much needed wins against teams in the top 15.
Not only did the Utes pick up some needed wins, but thanks to a bunch of upsets this weekend the Utes finished with the best record of the weekend at 3-1, giving them the unofficial showcase title. The wins also mark the first time that Utes have ever beaten Colorado State, Colorado, and Denver in club history, and all were accomplished in one weekend.
One week remains before the third ACHA ranking comes out and the Utes will look to build on these wins when they play a home and home series this weekend vs in-state rival BYU. The two games will be the team’s final games in 2012 as the Utes look forwards to the second semester and 2013.
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