November 1, 2013
Salt Lake City, UT
After starting the season with an 11-1 record, the Utah Skatin’ Utes hit the road again this weekend for a pair of match ups against in-state rivals.
On Friday, the Utes head to Logan for the first time this season to take on the Utah State Aggies. This will be the second meeting between these two after the Utes picked up a 3-1 victory over USU in Salt Lake City earlier this year.
This rivalry has been heavily weighted in Utah State’s favor, with the Aggies sweeping the all-time series until last year. Since then, the Utes have won three of the last four contests against the Aggies and have won two straight in Logan. With a win on Friday the Utes will lock up at least a share of this season’s series.
Much like the Utes, the Aggies have been on a roll after losing two of their first three games this year. Since then the Aggies have won seven of their last nine to put their record on the year at 8-3-1. The Aggies will also be looking for their first home win of the season on Friday as USU has only played twice so far at home (loss to Arizona State and draw to Weber State).
Rylee Orr leads the team in points with 24 and assists with 19 on the season. Unlike in previous years, the Aggies have lacked the offensive presence with only seven players with at least 10 points this year (at this point last year, USU had 12 players with more than 10 points).
USU has split time in goal between Bryce Scherschel, Keagan McHenry, and Austin Willenborg this year with all playing in at least three games this year. The Utes saw Willenborg in net in the last meeting, who had 31 saves on 34 shots in the loss to Utah, and will most likely see him again as he has played in the most games this year. Willenborg has a 3.02 GAA on the year and a save percentage of .920.
On Saturday, the Utes make their final trip this year to Ogden for the fourth and final meeting between Utah and Weber State. Utah currently leads the season series 2-1, with the home team winning each game. The Wildcats handed the Utes their first loss of the season last Friday night, beating Utah 5-3 with one open net goal.
The Wildcats are 8-8-2 on the year and are coming off a 1-2 weekend after losing to Arizona State twice after the win over Utah.
Dax Hobbs still leads the team in points with 24 in 19 games, but the trio of Phill Jennrich, Jeremiah Holmes, and Kody Rodriguez are slowly picking up ground on Hobbs as they each have 20 points on the year. In goal, Ian Frank leads the nation in minutes with 911 and has a 5-8-2 record on the year. He has a 3.95 GAA and a save percentage of .890 this year as well. In the last meeting, Frank had 34 saves on 37 shots in his first win over the Utes this year.
This will be the sixth and seventh road games in a row for the Utes after opening up the season with six of their first seven games on home ice. The Utes are coming off their first loss of the season after winning their first 11 games of the year. This weekend also begins a busy month for the Utes, with 10 games on the schedule that include six teams from last year’s top 15 ranking.
Friday night’s game in Logan starts at 7pm and Saturday’s matchup in Ogden starts at 7pm as well. Both games will be streamed live on Utah’s UStream page.
Utah Notes:
Josh Dangel continues to lead the team in points with 32, which is good for seventh in the nation. The Utes will be without Dangel on Friday as he will be serving a one game suspension for misconduct penalty accumulation. With the absence of Dangel, rookie Julian Cronan will look to dress for the first time as a Utes this year after recovering from an offseason injury.
Chris Komma and Devan Betts are still having solid seasons as well this year, with both goalies having GAA’s under 2.00 and save percentages over .900. Betts is currently fourth in the nation in GAA with a 1.50 while Komma is 12th with a 1.88 GAA. In save percentage, Komma ranks ninth in the nation with a .938.
In the PAC-8, the Utes currently lead the North Division with 12 points and a 6-0 record. Oregon and Washington each have four points and are tied for second while Washington State is in fourth with no points. With Washington taking Arizona State in PAC-8 play this weekend, the Sun Devils can help the Utes lock up the North Division in the month of November. With a sweep by ASU over UW this weekend, the Utes would clinch the PAC-8 North Division with two wins against Oregon at home November 15th and 16th.
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