Kings of the North

November 19, 2013 Salt Lake City, UT After losing three straight on the road, the Utah Skatin’ Utes returned home and clinched the PAC-8 North Division title by beating Oregon twice last weekend. Friday: Utah 9, Oregon 0 The two teams met on Friday night as both teams looked to snap three-game losing streaks at the Utah Ice Sheet. The first period went back and forth until Andrew Wood tipped the puck past Duck goaltender Danny Cockriel to put the Utes up 1-0 with four minutes to go in the period. The Utes outshot the Ducks 14-5 in the first period while getting most of the scoring chances. Those chances turned into goals in the second as the Utes put six up in the second to go up 7-0 and chase Cockriel out of the net. Five different players scored in the second, including the first two goals of Julian Cronan’s college hockey career less than ten minutes apart. With a new tender in net for Oregon in the third, the Utes took the foot off the pedal as fellow rookie Kyle Welch scored two goals in his season debut to put the Utes up 9-0. The Utes made it interesting for Utah goalie Chris Komma as they took two penalties down the stretch, but the stellar penalty kill for Utah along with Komma thrived again as the tender picked up his first college shutout. The Utes outshot the Ducks 53-21 in the dominating win which moved them to 14-3 on the season and 9-0 in the PAC-8 conference. 14 different Utes tallied a point in the contest with Dylan Graves picking up the most with a goal and three assists. Scoring Summary 1st Period 3:57 UTAH – Wood (10), Johnson, Graves Shots on Goal: Utah 14, Oregon 5 2nd Period 19:29 UTAH – Fagergren (3), Seastrand, Newell 17:10 UTAH – Cronan (1), Wood, Graves 8:53 UTAH (PP) – Huras (8), Dangel, Co. McDonald 8:15 UTAH – Cronan (2), Ottley 3:37 UTAH (SH) – Dangel (17), Ch. McDonald 1:45 UTAH – Graves (2), Johnson, Seastrand Shots on Goal: Utah 23, Oregon 5 3rd Period 13:13 UTAH – Welch (1), Graves, Johnson 1:18 UTAH – Welch (2), Keener Shots on Goal: Utah 16, Oregon 11 Final Shots: Utah 53, Oregon 21 Saturday: Utah 5, Oregon 0 On Saturday the Utes looked to sweep the weekend and clinch the north division with another win against Oregon. It was a battle of the backups in net as Devan Betts for Utah took on Ty Anderton for Oregon. Neither team could solve the keepers in the first period as the game was much more even then Friday night’s battle with the shots 11-9 in favor of Utah. Much like Friday night, the Utes found their offense in the second as Josh Dangel and Julian Cronan put up goals to make it 2-0 after the second. Shots were 18-4 for Utah in the second as Utah began to pull away from the Ducks once more. It was the same story in the third as Utah put three more up in the third to take a 5-0 lead, including a goal at the final buzzer by Zeph Fagergren to get his second goal of the weekend. Betts played solid as well in net for Utah, who not only picked up his first shutout of the season and the first of his career, but tallied an assist as well. Utah ended up outshooting the Ducks 43-19 in the game and blanked the Ducks for the weekend. Scoring Summary 1st Period No Goals Scored Shots on Goal: Utah 11, Oregon 9 2nd Period 15:36 UTAH – Dangel (18), Ahern, Huras 7:47 UTAH – Cronan (3), Wood, Ottley Shots on Goal: Utah 18, Oregon 4 3rd Period 10:07 UTAH (PP) – Huras (9), Co. McDonald, Betts 1:38 UTAH – Tsibulskis (6) 0:00 UTAH – Fagergren (4), Johnson, Ottley Shots on Goal: Utah 14, Oregon 6 Final Shots: Utah 43, Oregon 19 Utah Game Notes It was a solid weekend in goal for the Utah Skatin’ Utes as both tenders picked up shutouts on the weekend. It also marks the first time in club history that the Utes have had back to back shutouts. Chris Komma now sits at a 2.09 GAA (13th in nation) and a .932 save percentage (T-8th in nation) with a scoreless streak of 85:30. As for Betts, he has a 1.20 GAA (2nd in nation) and a .938 save percentage (6th in nation) with a scoreless streak of 76:35. With the pair of wins, the Utah Utes officially clinched the PAC-8 North division in the first year of the new conference format. The Utes will now be the one of two top seeds at the PAC-8 Championships in February in Salt Lake City. Josh Dangel had two goals and an assist on the weekend to extend his team-leading point total to 36 on the season. He is now tied for 13th in the nation in points.