Utah Women show considerable promise in Missouri

October 21, 2019
Salt Lake City, UT

The University of Utah Women’s Hockey team had a lot of firsts as they traveled to the Midwest for the three-day Missouri Showcase hosted by Arizona State University; their first game in program history, their first road game, first goal, first win, first loss and first shutout. Teams from Arizona State University, McKendree University, Concordia University, Aquinas College, University of Utah, and University of Colorado all came together for this Midwest vs West Showcase, each playing three games this weekend. 

The women faced 5^th ranked McKendree University on Friday evening for their first game in program history. Goaltender Samantha White saw 66 shots on net during the game and came up with 61 saves in a 6-0 loss to the Bearcats. Despite the loss, she was spectacular between the pipes and set the tone for the rest of the season with her stellar performance.

Day two brought new energy as the jitterbugs were gone and under the direction of Head Coach Morgan Marietti, Utah Hockey proudly worked their way to victory with their first win against Concordia University Saturday afternoon. The first goal of the game came with 2:39 left in the first period, scored by Brooke Burns and was assisted by Grace Cruikshank. Mikayla Dykman, Madison Brower, and Samantha McCain pushed Utah to a 4-0 lead in the second period and in the third period, Kate Michael and Grace Cruikshank added the final two goals of the game for a 6-0 victory over Concordia University.

Dykman contributed three assists receiving her first playmaker in her career at Utah Hockey while Cruikshank tallied two assists and Kristen Pimentel scored one assist. The Utes continued to check things off their program history list by having six different players scoring their first goal in program history. White was once again stellar between the pipes and received her first shutout in her career at the U. 

Sunday’s game had an early morning start for both Utah and Aquinas College. It was a hard-fought battle by both teams from the opening faceoff in Utah’s toughest game of the weekend. The Saints ended the first period with a 1-0 lead over Utah, but the Utes were able to get an early start in the second period as Cruikshank scored off a Dykman pass in the opening three minutes to tie the game at 1-1. Aquinas would have the last laugh in the third, as they scored early to win the game 2-1. White made 22 saves on 24 shots in loss.

Another first for Utah, was the 2019 Missouri Showcase Outstanding Goaltender Award for the tournament was awarded to Samantha White. Her outstanding play and 92.1 save percentage and 2.67 GAA, was a tournament best.

The weekend proved historical for the the team and the program. After the weekend, the coaching staff was proud of the way the team came out and represented Utah Hockey both on and off the ice and are looking forward to the future of the program and the season.

The team is off this weekend but will be back on the ice next week for their inaugural home games against Colorado State on November 1^st and 2^nd at the Utah Ice Sheet.

Box Score for Utah vs McKendree
Box Score for Utah vs Concordia
Box Score for Utah vs Aquinas