February 12, 2016
Hailey, ID
The University of Utah Skatin’ Utes wrap up the regular season this weekend as they take on the Boise State Broncos in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday.
The two games also mark the final regular season games in the ACHA’s Division II for the Utes, who will move up to Division I next year.
The Utes have won two trophies in the last two weeks after beating BYU and Utah State to win the Wasatch Cup for the second time in a row two weeks ago and beating Washington and USC at the PAC-8 Championship last weekend to win their third conference title in the last four years. Utah’s record currently sits at 25-2-3 and the Utes are currently ranked 2nd in the ACHA West Division, which would give the team an automatic bid to Nationals in March if they hold on to their ranking after this weekend.
The Utes are 1-0 against the Boise State Broncos this season, with the Utes picking up a 3-2 victory during the Beehive Showcase in Ogden back in November. The Broncos are 15-12-1 on the season and are ranked 10th in the West Division as they’ll look to improve their seed at the ACHA West Regional tournament with a successful weekend against the Utes.
The Broncos are led by a trio of forwards as Taylor Crawford, Matt Sanford, and Justin Videen lead the team in points with 42, 38, and 34 points respectively. Josh Benton is still in between the pipes for BSU, and is 9-9 on the season with a 3.44 GAA and .888 save percentage.
Brett Myer continues to lead the Utes in points this season with 53, which is good enough for 23rd in the nation in scoring. The biggest scoring storyline this weekend is the race between forwards Chase McDonald and Shaymus Bertagnolli. Bertagnolli broke the Utah club record for career assists earlier in the year, but now he has company at the top with McDonald trailing him by just one assist going into the final weekend of the year. With both players in their final season at the U, this weekend is sure to be exciting between these two forwards. Devan Betts has led the way in goal for Utah this semester as he has a 13-0-2 record with a 2.45 GAA and .890 save percentage so far this year. Jared Manzella has done well in goal too for the Utes as he is 2-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .871 save percentage this season.
The Utes will head up to Idaho today to take on the Broncos, as the teams will play at a neutral site in Hailey, ID which is located near the ski town of Sun Valley. The teams will head back down to Salt Lake on Saturday for Utah’s Senior Night, which will also be the final home game in Division II for the Utes.
Friday night’s game in Hailey will be at 7pm MT and Saturday’s Senior Night game at the Utah Ice Sheet will be at 8:30pm MT.
