Utah Sweeps Road Trip

After playing four games in as many days against PAC-8 rivals Oregon and Washington, the Utah Skatin’ Utes returned back to Salt Lake City with four wins, a stranglehold on the PAC-8 North Division, and most importantly, their perfect record still intact.

Utah 4, Oregon 1
The Utes opened up the road trip on Wednesday against the Oregon Ducks in their first meeting since the Utes beat the Ducks 4-2 in the PAC-8 Championship last year.

The first ten minutes remained scoreless until Josh Dangel scored at the 7:55 mark to give Utah its first lead of the night. Michael Ahern and Dougals Newell would also score in the first period to give the Utes a strong start with a 3-0 after the first.

The Utes continued to dominate in the second, outshooting the Ducks 30-3 in the middle period. Unfortunately, no goals were scored as the Utes maintained their three goal lead going into the third period.

The Ducks were able to score on a 5-on-3 power play to cut the lead to two, but Ben Seastrand added a late goal to give Utah a 4-1 victory.

The Utes outshot the Ducks 55 to 16 in the contest. Chris Komma recorded his fifth win of the season, picking up 15 saves. Head Coach Jon Bertagnolli also secured his 100th win at the helm of the Utes.

Utah 6, Oregon 2
The second meeting of the year was more even than Wednesday’s game against Oregon, but the Utes were still in control for most of the game, picking up a 6-2 win.

Ryan Huras scored the lone goal of the first period as the Utes outshot the Ducks 18-5 in the opening frame.

Although the shot totals in the second were even at 16 a piece, the Utes outscored the Ducks 3-1 in the period to take a 4-1 lead into the third period. Dangel, Ahern, and Chris York all scored, with York’s goal coming off a breakaway shorthanded opportunity.

Dangel completed his hat trick in the third to help the Utes move to 9-0 on the season with the win. Komma won his second game of the weekend with 24 saves. The Utes outscored the Ducks 10-3 in the two games against the PAC-8 runners up and moved to 4-0 in the conference.

Utah 8, Washington 1
After winning both games in Oregon, the Utes headed north to look for their first ever win in Seattle against the Washington Huskies.

Like the previous two nights, the Utes wasted no time controlling the game as they outshot the Huskies 31-3 in the first period. Despite the wide margin in shots, the score would only be 2-1 as the buzzer sounded after the first. Dougals Newell and Andrew Wood scored power play goals to give Utah a 2-0 lead before Corey James scored with nine seconds left to cut the lead to one.

But the Utes would answer back with six straight goals to close out the game with an 8-1 victory. The Utes scored four times on the power play and added a short-handed goal to move their record to 10-0 on the season. Komma picked up his their and final win of the weekend with 11 saves. Komma now has a 7-0 record with the Utes.

Utah 9, Washington 2
On Saturday, the Utes wrapped up the weekend with another win over the Huskies, this time by a 9-2 score.

The score for the first period was the same as Friday’s contest with the Utes taking a 2-1 lead into the second. Newell and Huras tallied goals in the first period for Utah. Utah outshot the Huskies 18-12 in the first period.

In the second, Dangel scored twice along with Chase McDonald and Tadas Tsibulskis to make it 6-1 going into the third. The Utes won the shots battle in the second, outshooting UW 24-4 in the second period.

The Utes added three goals in the third from Shaymus Bertagnolli, Zeph Fagergren, and Dylan Graves to seal the win for Utah. Devan Betts got his fourth win of the year picking up 23 saves in his win.

With the 4-0 sweep of the weekend, the Utes now move to 11-0 with one game remaining before the first ACHA rankings are to be released. In the PAC-8 conference, the Utes are now 6-0 with a four game lead over Oregon in the North Division. The Utes next PAC-8 opponent will be Washington State in three weeks.

After a great weekend, several Utes are near the top of the nation’s best. Rookie Josh Dangel is first in the nation in points with 31, tied for fourth in goals with 15, and tied for third in assists with 16. Both tenders Devan Betts and Chris Komma are in the top ten in the nation in GAA with a 1.50 and 1.57 respectively and Komma is sixth in save percentage with .946.

Up next, the Utes head to Ogden on Friday to take on Weber State. The Utes are 2-0 against the Wildcats and can clinch the series with a win on Friday. With this being the final game before the first ranking, a win could solidify a top three appearance in the west rankings.