January 15, 2015
Tempe, Arizona
After going 2-1 to open up the second semester, the Utah Skatin’ Utes hit the road this weekend to take on Arizona State and Arizona.
The four-game road trip starts Thursday when the Utes are in Tempe to take on Arizona State’s elite squad. The Utes are 0-1 against the top ranked team in the west this season, falling to the Sun Devils 4-3 in the Beehive Showcase back in November.
The Sun Devils are 18-3-1 on the season and are led by Brady Morgan who has 34 points on the season so far. Ryan McNeely and Austin Ehrlick are also above 30 points on the season as well. In between the pipes for ASU is Alex Taylor, who has a 1.76 GAA and .920 save percentage. Taylor was in net for the last game between these two teams, stopping 22 of 25 shots in the 4-3 win.
After opening the weekend in Tempe on Thursday, the team heads south on Friday and Saturday for their first ever meeting with the Arizona Wildcats, a team from the ACHA’s top tier.
The Wildcats are currently 9-16 and ranked 20th in the nation in Division I of the ACHA. The Utes haven’t faced a Division I opponent since 2008.
Robbie Wilkinson leads the team in points with 17 while Dylan Carter trails him by one point with 16 on the year. In net is Patrick Garrett who has a 3.62 GAA and a .895 save percentage on the season.
Utah will will wrap up the weekend back in Tempe on Sunday afternoon as they take on the Sun Devils for the final time this season.
The Utes are currently 20-8-1 on the season and ranked third in the ACHA West Division heading into the weekend. This weekend will be the final major test for the Utes before Nationals if they want to jump past ASU and Northern Arizona and climb up into one of the top two spots in the West.
Josh Dangel has the team lead in points with 41, followed by Chase McDonald with 35 and Ben Seastrand with 30 this season. The Utes have 14 different skaters in double digits in points this year and all of Utah’s regular starters have at least one point.
In net, Chris Komma has a 2.85 GAA and .908 save percentage while Devan Betts has a 2.87 GAA and .845 save percentage.
Thursday’s game against ASU starts at 8:15pm MST while both Friday and Saturday’s games against Arizona start at 7:30pm MST. Sunday’s weekend finale against ASU will start at 1pm MST. All four games will be broadcasted on Utah Hockey Game Day Live.
