SALT LAKE CITY, UT – After conceding two goals early in the game, the Utah Skatin’ Utes scored three times in the third period to come from behind and beat the Weber State Wildcats 3-2 Friday night at the Utah Ice Sheet.
It’s the second win against the Wildcats this year after the Utes went 1-2 against the Ogden rivals last year. It’s also Utah’s seventh win of the season to extend their club-record start to 7-0 for the season. The Wildcats now fall to 3-6-1 on the year.
Chris Komma had 31 saves on 33 shots for his fourth win of the season while Wildcat tender Ian Frank had 33 saves on 36 shots in his sixth loss of the season.
The Utes dominated the pace of play for the first part of the opening period, but the momentum shifted when Dax Hobbs picked up the puck after a Utah turnover eight minutes in. Hobbs took the puck into the offensive zone, beat Utah defenseman Kurtis Kunz to the net, and lifted a shot past Komma to give Weber State a 1-0 lead.
With three minutes to go in the period, Alex Pizzaro found the back of the net off a pass behind the net from Braxton Green to put the Wildcats ahead by two. Despite the Utes outshooting the Wildcats 12-7 in the first period, Weber State led the game 2-0 after the first period.
The Wildcats continued to control the game in the second, outshooting the Utes 16-11 with multiple chances to score throughout the period. But like in the first meeting between these two teams, Komma came up big when his team needed him. Less than two minutes into the second, Wildcat Anthony Modreck fired a shot wide of the net but bounced off the boards straight to the stick of Phill Jennrich. Jennrich tried to put it into the empty but did not get enough of the puck as Komma made a diving stop to keep the score at 2-0.
A minute later the Wildcats looked to score once more as Kody Rodriguez had the puck behind Komma on the back door of the net. But once again the Ute goaltender was able to slide across and deny another goal. Weber’s final and best chance came five minutes in as Green took a one-time shot right in front of Komma, but he was able to get a piece of it to shut the Wildcats out in the second period.
Tempers began to boil over in the second as each team took five penealties in the period after seeing only four combined penalties in the first period. By the end of the game there would be 23 combined penalties, 11 for Utah and 12 for Weber State.
Building off the play of Komma in the second, the Utes found new life in the third. Just one minute into the third, rookies Josh Dangel, Michael Ahern, and Andrew Wood found each other to get Utah on the board. Dangel dropped a pass to a wide open Ahern, who then found Wood waiting on the far side of the net and put in the goal to cut Weber State’s lead to 2-1.
The Utes continued to turn the tide throughout the period, getting much better chances then they saw in the first two periods. The tide finally broke in Utah’s favor with 5:02 to go as Ryan Huras scored his third power play goal of the season. Huras’s shot found its way from the point through several bodies to beat Frank on his blocker side and tie the game at two a piece.
Frank would be beaten once more on his blocker side just 37 seconds later as Kurtis Kunz fired a shot from the blue line that just found the corner of the net over Frank’s shoulder to give Utah a 3-2 lead with 4:25 to go.
The Utes would take a penalty just after the goal from Kunz as Huras was called for interference. But the Utes were able to kill another penalty as the Utes went a perfect seven for seven on the penalty kill and helped preserve the win. Through two games against the Utes, the Wildcats are now 0 for 16 when they’ve had a one-man advantage or more.
The Wildcats had a few more chances to even the score down the stretch, with Dax Hobbs hitting the crossbar in consecutive shots in the final minutes. The Utes were able to hold on and picked up the 3-2 victory.
The two rivals had some final words for each other after the final buzzer, as both teams got together while the Utes celebrated the win. Josh Guidice, Kody Rodriguez, and Chase McDonald all recieved penalties at the end of the game.
Utah now leads the season series 2-0 and ensured at least a draw for the season with two games remaining between the two rivals. The next matchup is October 25th in Ogden.
After going 6-0 at home so far this year, the Utes now go on the road for the next nine games. The Utes will put their perfect record on the line next week as they head to the Pacific Northwest for a four-game road trip against Washington and last year’s PAC-8 runner up Oregon.
Scoring Summary:
1st Period
7:54 WSU – Dax Hobbs (6), Jesse Love (1)
16:24 WSU – Alex Pizzaro (5), Braxton Green (5)
Shots on Goal: Utah 12, WSU 7
2nd Period
No Goals Scored
Shots on Goal: WSU 16 for 23 total, Utah 11 for 23 total
3rd Period
1:00 UTAH – Andrew Wood (8), Michael Ahern (5), Kunz (6)
14:58 UTAH (PP) – Ryan Huras (5), Josh Dangel (12)
15:35 UTAH – Kurtis Kunz (2), Dean Wilson (1)
Shots on Goal: Utah 13 for 36, WSU 10 for 33
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