Utes Earn Win, Draw Against Rivals

September 28, 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah

The University of Utah Skatin’ Utes played at home for the first time this season last weekend and picked up a win and a draw against a pair of in-state rivals to keep their undefeated record intact.

On Friday the Utes welcomed their biggest rival in the BYU Cougars to the Utah Ice Sheet for their only meeting in Salt Lake City and sent them back to Provo with a loss as the Utes handled the Cougars 10-1. The Utes wasted no time scoring as Shaymus Bertagnolli scored just 1:30 into the first period to give the Utes an early 1-0 lead. Julian Cronan and Brett Myer would also find the back of the net early as the Utes ran away with a 3-0 lead just five minutes into the game.

The Utes led 5-0 after the first period, outshooting the Cougars 16-3 after the first twenty minutes. After a slow second period that saw both teams score a goal, the Utes turned on the offense in the third by putting up four more goals to cruise to a 10-1 victory over BYU.

Nine different skaters scored for the Utes in the game, including rookies Brett Myer and Nick O’Cain who each tallied their first career goals at the college level for Utah. It was an all-around performance for the Utes as well as 16 of Utah’s 19 skaters in the game had at least one point. The Utes also set a new team record on defense as the Utes outshot the Cougars 47-10 in the game. The 10 shots allowed by Utah is a new team record for the least amount of shots allowed in a game. Devan Betts picked up his first win of the season in his first start, picking up nine saves in the win.

On Saturday the Utes saw a much tougher opponent at the Utah Ice Sheet as Utah State made their only trip to Salt Lake in a battle of undefeated teams.

The Utes came out flying in the first period by outshooting the Aggies 13-7 in the opening period and were rewarded with a power play goal by Michael Ahern with 9:04 left to give Utah a 1-0 lead. Neither team would score the rest of the period and the Utes would take their one-goal lead into the second period.

After a scoreless second period that saw Utah outshoot Utah State 15-12, the Utes would find the back of the net on the power play again as Kurtis Kunz fired a shot through traffic and gave Utah a 2-0 lead in the third period. As it looked like Utah would hold on for the win, the Aggies had other plans as Shaun Gibbons scored on a power play with 6:55 left in the game to cut Utah’s lead to 2-1. Then with 3:54 left Gibbons would find space in the Utah zone and beat Utah goaltender Chris Komma to tie the game at 2-2.

In the final minute of regulation, the tempers would flare as Utah State’s Chris Videto would run over Chris Komma as he attempted to play the puck off of a Utah turnover, which led to Videto and Utah defenseman David Barnes being ejected from the game along with Caden Ottley, who received a misconduct penalty. Komma would not be able to return after the collision which left Devan Betts to play the final 48 seconds and the impending overtime. The Utes would outshoot the Aggies 16-7 in the final period and 44-26 in regulation but could not find a late winner as the Utes and Aggies settled for a 2-2 draw as no one would score in the overtime period.

Komma had 24 saves and earned the draw for Utah despite not finishing the game. Betts was perfect with three saves on three shots in his relief effort for the Utes.

After the home-opening weekend the Utes now sit at 3-0-1 on the season. The Utes will welcome another in-state rival to the Utah Ice Sheet this weekend as the Utes will take on Weber State at 7pm on Friday night.