January 30, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
After beating Washington State last weekend to finish the PAC 8 regular season a perfect 14-0, the Utah Skatin’ Utes (24-8) now shift their attention back towards in-state rivals for their final two games of the regular season.
On Friday the Utes welcome back to the Utah Ice Sheet their rivals down south in the BYU Cougars. With the Utes already clinching their fourth straight Holy War title by winning the first three games of the season against the Cougs, Friday’s contest will be for final bragging rights as well as supporting a great cause.
Friday’s game will be Utah’s 2nd Annual “Fearless in the FIght” Breast Cancer Awareness Night. The Utes will don the pink jerseys in an effort to raise money for breast cancer research and overall help out a great cause.
As for the game on the ice, the Cougars come into the contest with something they haven’t done in the last three meetings between the two rivals. Come into the game after winning games the previous weekend.
The Cougars now sit at 4-25-1 on the season thanks to 7-2 and 10-1 wins over Gonzaga last weekend. The Utes are 22-19 all-time against BYU and have won 16 straight against the Cougars going into Friday’s game.
Chris Tuttle leads BYU in every stat category with 8 goals and 11 assists for 19 points on the year. Scott Mehr and Jared Bussell have split time in net for the Cougs with Mehr posting a 6.00 GAA and .890 save percentage while Bussell has a 5.24 GAA and .890 save percentage.
On Saturday, the Utes honor their departing members on Senior Night as the Utes face off against the Utah State Aggies with major playoff implications on the line.
The winner of Saturday’s contest will most likely clinch the #4 ranking and #2 seed at the ACHA West Regionals in Flagstaff, AZ at the end of February. Along with playoff seeding on the line, bragging rights are also at stake as the Utes try to even the season series after going 1-2 in the previous three games.
The Aggies have regained some of their swagger over last weekend after starting the second semester losing four of five games. USU (18-8-1) picked up a weekend sweep last week in San Jose, beating San Jose State, Texas A&M, and Loyola Marymount (all top 15 teams) to get back on track after starting the semester on the wrong foot.
Rylee Orr leads the team in points with 52 on the season and averages two points a game this year. In net, Bryce Scherschel and Austin Willenborg have seen the most time this year with Scherschel posting a 2.50 GAA and .920 save percentage and Willenborg having a 3.12 GAA and .900 save percentage.
The Utes come into the weekend on a high note beating Washington State by a combined total of 42-4 in the two games at home last weekend. This weekend will be the last games before the Utes look to defend their PAC 8 title next week at the PAC 8 Championships on home ice.
Josh Dangel still leads the team in points with 54, but thanks to the massive point weekend last week, his lead over the rest of the team has shrunk to just eight points as Chase McDonald now has 46 on the season. The third member of Utah’s first line is Shaymus Bertagnolli who has had a great year with 41 points on the season so far, which is two points away from his career best at Utah.
In goal, Devan Betts and Pete Gibb have done outstanding jobs in net this year helping the Utes to their stellar record. Betts is 8-2 on the season with a 2.25 GAA and .880 save percentage while Gibb is 2-2 this year with a 3.25 GAA and .890 save percentage.
Also on the line this weekend will be Utah’s home record as they have posted an 11-0 record at the Utah Ice Sheet this season. They’ll look to make one final statement before the best in the PAC 8 Conference comes to Utah next week for the 2014 PAC 8 Championships at the Utah Ice Sheet.
Friday night’s game starts a 7pm and will broadcasted here. Tickets are still available online for Friday’s and Saturday’s Game. Saturday night’s home finale will begin at 8:30pm and will also be streamed here.
