December 8, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
The University of Utah Skatin’ Utes returned to PAC 8 conference play last weekend, traveling to Seattle and picking up two convincing wins over the Washington Huskies.
On Friday, the Utes came out fast and furious as they outshot the huskies 34-5 in the opening period. Julian Cronan, Shaymus Bertagnolli, and Josh Dangel all scored in the opening period and Utah led 3-1 after twenty minutes.
The Utes wouldn’t look back in the final two periods, putting up five more goals by Chase McDonald, Andrew Wood, Ryan Jones, and Michael Ahern as the Utes cruised to a 8-1 win over the Huskies.
The Utes outshot Washington 79-13 in the game, which set a new club record for most shots in a game for Utah. The previous record was 72, set last season against the same Washington team. Devan Betts picked up his third win of the season to move to 3-2, stopping 12 of 13 shots on goal.
On Saturday the first period was all Utah again, outshooting UW 22-7 in the opening frame. But the Utes found the back of the net only once and after a breakaway goal from the Washington the score was tied at 1-1 going to the second period.
The Utes would break through in the second and third periods again however, scoring three in the second and five in the third to earn another victory over the Huskies, winning 9-1. Utah outshot the Huskies heavily again, this time by a total of 69-15. Betts picked up another win for Utah (his fourth of the season) while stopping 14 of 15 shots.
The Utes found a lot of scoring from rookies over the weekend as Jackson Barlocker, Ryan Jones, and Lane Bridges all tallied their first points in their early college careers over the weekend. Barlocker and Jones also picked up their first college goals over the weekend as well.
With the two wins the Utes are now 17-7-1 on the season and 5-1 in PAC 8 conference play with only two conference games remaining.
The Utes have one more game before the team takes an extended break for the Christmas holiday, which takes place at home this Saturday against BYU. The game is Utah’s 2nd Annual Teddy Bear Toss, where fans are asked to bring stuffed animals to the game and throw them on the ice when Utah scores its first goal of the night. The stuffed animals will be donated to local charities just in time for the holidays.
