January 9, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
As the season shifts into its final month, the Road to Boston heats up as the Utah Skatin’ Utes open up the second semester with their eye on making it to Nationals for the first time in club history.
With only nine games remaining in the regular season before the PAC-8 Championships, every win is critical as the Utes look to improve on their 19-6 record and #5 ranking in the ACHA polls.
They’ll look to achieve that goal at home down the stretch, with six of the nine remaining games taking place at the Utah Ice Sheet. The Utes are a prefect 9-0 at home this season, beating #2 Utah State and #3 Weber State in that stretch.
The Utes open up the semester this weekend with a pair of games against PAC-8 North Division rival Washington. The Utes and Huskies have met twice this season already, with the Utes picking up 8-1 and 9-2 wins in Seattle against the Huskies.
The Utes now lead the all-time series against UW 7-3 and are a perfect 5-0 at home against the Huskies.
Washington comes into the contest riding a six game winning streak beating Washington State, Cal, and Portland State to improve their record to 12-6 on the season. They also have the top two scorers in the nation, with Ryan Minkoff and Corey James tallying a combined 153 points this season (88 and 65 respectively).
In goal, the Utes will most likely see Jacob Gilmore in the net for both contests. Gilmore is 12-2 on the season with a 3.07 GAA and .910 save percentage. In the two games this year against Utah, Gilmore was busy seeing 73 and 68 shots in the two games, which are two of the highest shot tallies Utah has had this season.
As for the Utes, the home side will look to start the semester off strong and continue to put up massive numbers on the scoreboard. Rookie Josh Dangel leads the team in points with 47 on the season. Joining him at the top of the list are his line mates Chase McDonald and Shaymus Bertagnolli, who have 31 and 30 points respectively on the year.
Between the pipes for Utah will be one of the best goaltenders in the nation in Chris Komma. Currently this year Komma has compiled a 12-4 record, is sixth in the nation in GAA with a 1.90, and is fourth in the nation in save percentage with a .933. In the first game against Washington this year, Komma had 12 saves on 13 shots in the 8-1 win.
Friday night’s game starts a 7pm at the Utah Ice Sheet with the two teams meeting again on Saturday at 8:30pm. Tickets are available for the Friday and Saturday games, which will also be streamed live here.
