January 8, 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah
The second semester is here, which means the ACHA season has now hit the stretch run with only a month and a half left in the season before the playoffs begin.
With only 16 games left in the regular season, every game is crucial as Utah prepares for their first ever appearance at Nationals in March as the team hosts the tournament that will decide our national champion.
The Utes opened up their playoff push Thursday night as they played an exhibition game against Williston State College, a junior college program from North Dakota.
The Tetons came into the game with a high pedigree, winning the national championship the last two years and boasting a record that featured several wins against ACHA Division I opponents this season.
In their first game in over three weeks, the Utes looked like a well-oiled machine as they came out of the gates flying in the first period. In a back and forth opening twenty minutes the Utes drew first blood with 1:43 left as Douglas Newell floated a pass right to the stick of Andrew Wood who beat goaltender Matt Sawyer on his blocker side to give Utah a 1-0 lead that they would take into the second. The Utes outshot the Tetons 22-10 in the first period.
In the second frame the Tetons answered back with 11:29 left as Samuel Basich fired a shot that ricocheted off the post and past Chris Komma to tie the game at 1-1. The Utes would answer quickly however as rookie Nick Fornelius found a loose puck in front and gave Utah the lead back with 10:17 left in the period. Utah wasn’t done in the second as Caden Ottley fed leading scorer Josh Dangel a pass in the slot which Dangel fired past Sawyer to give Utah a 3-1 lead after two periods.
The game opened up in the third as both teams began to show signs of fatigue, which led to multiple scoring chances for both sides. Despite having to kill two separate 5 on 3 power plays against the Tetons, the Utes held firm defensively as no goals were scored in the period and the Utes held on for the 3-1 victory to start off the second semester.
The Utes outshot the Tetons 56-32 in the game, outshooting them in every period. While Utah’s win will not count for ACHA Ranking purposes, the win was still significant for Utah. The Utes’ win made history as Utah became the first ACHA Division II program to beat the Tetons in Williston State’s team history. Chris Komma picked up his 14th win of the season, stopping 31 of 32 shots on the night.
With the win the Utes are now 19-7-1 on the season while Williston State fell to 5-12 on the year.
With the first game of the second semester behind them, the Utes now shift back to ACHA play by playing the next six games on the road starting tonight in Logan as the Utes take on #9 Utah State. The Utes are 3-0 against the Aggies so far this season with two games left between the two in-state rivals. Utah won both of their games at home by scores of 4-0 and 3-1 and picked up a win in Logan 2-1 the last time these two met.
The ninth ranked Aggies are 6-12 this season and are coming off a 7-4 win at BYU Thursday night. Cooper Limb still leads the team in points with 29 on the season. The Utes could see either Keegan McHenry or Austin Willenborg in between the pipes for Utah State, as both goaltenders have split time this season and both have played at least one full game against the Utes this year. McHenry has the better stats of the two by a slight edge with a 3.90 GAA and .887 save percentage while Willenborg has a 4.40 GAA and a .883 save percentage.
After making the trip up north to Logan the Utes will head south for the fourth game of the season against the BYU Cougars. It was scheduled to be the final meeting of the season between the two, but it looks like the two will meet in the first round of the Wastach Cup at the end of the month.
The Utes have dominated the Cougars over the last couple of years, winning the first three games this season by a combined score of 25-2 and have won 20 games in a row over the cougars. Tate Cowley and Ryan Hoeke are the only other players with double-digit point totals this season for BYU, with 15 and 11 points respectively. In net will either be Scott Mehr or Jared Bussell who have both split time this year and have both played Utah already this season. Mehr is 0-6 with a 6.52 GAA and .843 save percentage while Bussell is 0-8 with a 7.89 GAA and .833 save percentage.
Friday night’s game against Utah State will start at 7pm in Logan and Saturday’s game in Provo against BYU will also start at 7pm. The BYU game will be broadcasted on Utah Hockey Game Day Live.
