Utah Splits Home Weekend

November 3, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT

The Utah Skatin’ Utes returned home for a pair of games last weekend and ended up splitting the weekend against two top ten opponents in the West Division.

On Halloween night, the Utes took on the fourth-ranked Boise State Broncos in their second matchup of the season. The Utes won the first matchup in Boise 4-2 and the Broncos looked to avenge their loss earlier in the season. That task looked like it would not happen as the Utes dominated the first period, outshooting BSU 15-4 in the period but only leading by a score of 2-1 after the opening frame.

The second period saw a complete reversal for the Utes as they got into penalty trouble early and often, giving up three goals in the period to trail the Broncos 4-2 after the second period. The middle stanza also saw some of Utah’s top scorers sit for an extended period of time for penalties.

As they have done in the past, the Utes came back in the third as David Barnes scored for Utah with 10:09 to go to cut the lead back to one. As the seconds ticked down, the Utes were able to find an equalizer with 17.8 seconds left as Michael Ahern scored to tie the game at 4-4 and force overtime.

The Broncos wasted no time in the extra frame however as Justin Videen scored the game winner just 22 seconds into overtime and the Broncos skated away to a 5-4 overtime victory. The Utes outshot the Broncos 34-24 in the game despite losing the game which dropped their record to 9-4-1 on the season. Chris Komma had 19 saves in his third loss of the season.

On Saturday the Utes looked to bounce back with another top 10 matchup, this time against #6 Utah State. Much like Friday night, the Utes came out flying and found the back of the net just three minutes into the game as Dangel found a wide open Shaymus Bertagnolli to give Utah a 1-0 lead early in the first period.

The Utes would take that lead into the second period and build on it, as Ahern scored another early goal to give Utah a 2-0 lead with 18:19 left in the period. That lead would be cut in half in the third as Ian Beckstrom snuck one past Komma to make it a 2-1 game with 11:23 left in the game. But the Utes were too much down the stretch, outshooting the Aggies 21-6 in the final period and scoring a power play goal by Chase McDonald with 3:33 left to give the Utes a 3-1 victory over their rivals from Logan.

The Utes outshot the Aggies 48-37 in the game as they reached double digits in the win column with a 10-4-1 record on the season. Despite the loss to Boise State on Friday, the Utes continued their dominance at home this weekend as they have not lost a game in regulation at home in their last 23 games at the Utah Ice Sheet. Komma picked up 36 saves for his eighth win of the season.

The third-ranked Utes now go back on the road this weekend as they take on #7 Weber State for the final time this season on Friday and then head to Logan for the first time this year as they looked to clich the season series over Utah State.