Utah Finishes Semester Ranked 5th

December 16, 2013
Salt Lake City, UT

After wins over Boise State and BYU, the Utes are now on break for the holidays and have finished the first semester of the season.

At the ceremonial halfway point, the Utes have put together a 19-6 record and in the most recent ACHA rankings, the Utes fell one spot to 5th in the poll that decides who advances to the playoffs in February. Utah went 4-3 in the ranking period while Northern Arizona switched sports with the Utes after beating the Utes in the Beehive Showcase in November.

Arizona State Elite remains the unanimous number one in poll, followed by Utah State, Weber State, NAU, and Utah. The six through ten spots saw the most changes with Cal State Fullerton moving up from ninth to sixth, Texas A&M up one spot to seven, San Diego State down two spots to eight, San Jose State down two spots to ninth, and Boise State cracking the top ten after wins over Utah and Northern Arizona.

Denver, Loyola Marymount, North Texas, Arizona State (PAC-8), and Dallas Baptist round out the top 15. UNLV, Montana Tech, and Washington also received votes in the poll.

It’s been a roller coaster season so far, which began all the way back in September where the Utes began the season on fire. Utah started the season 11-0, with wins over all three in-state rivals and a 6-0 start to the PAC-8 title defense. The received their highest ranking in club history in the first ACHA rankings, receiving two first place votes and started the season as the third best team in the West. After losing their next three games, the team has gone back and forth going 6-3 since the hot start and have dropped two spots in the poll.

The 19 wins is a team record for wins in the first semester after posting 17-5 and 17-6 records the past two years at the Christmas break.

On offense, the Utes continued to put up massive numbers on the scoreboard netting 144 goals in 25 games which is the third highest goal total in the nation. Newcomer Josh Dangel leads the team in every offensive stat category with 25 goals and 22 assists for 47 points on the year. Those totals have put him in top tier of the nation in scoring as he is tied for 11th in points and 15th in goals. 13 different Utes are in double-digits in points on the year, three of those players being rookies.

Defensively, the Ute goaltenders have been among the nations best, allowing only 2.17 goals per game this season. Most of that is thanks to rookie tender Chris Komma who has a 12-4 record with a 1.90 GAA and .935 save percentage on the season. Those tallies have put him in the top ten nationally in both categories where he is seventh in the nation in GAA and fourth in the nation in save percentage. Devan Betts has also had a good season with a 5-2 record, 2.63 GAA, and .890 save percentage.

Special teams has been good for the Utes, especially on the penalty kill. The Utes have a solid 90% efficiency rate when down at least one man on the season, also putting in 10 short-handed goals this year. On the power play, the Utes are 30% on the year with 35 power play goals on the season.

Utah returns to the ice January 10th at home against PAC-8 North rival Washington as they look to sweep the Huskies for the season. The Utes have nine games remaining in the season before they host PAC-8 Championships in defense of their title from last year. After that, it’s on to the postseason and Regionals as the Utes look to qualify for their first National Championship tournament is club history.