September 21, 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah
The University of Utah Skatin’ Utes opened up the 2015-2016 season last weekend in Las Vegas, and came away two victories against UNLV to start the season on a positive note.
On Friday, the Utes opened up the season against a fired up UNLV squad that wanted to start their own season off strong. The Utes controlled the majority of the first period, outshooting the Rebels 20-7 while having multiple chances to score on UNLV goaltender Terry Martin. Martin was able to play solid in net and was rewarded when the UNLV’s Trevor Ruiz struck first on a power play with 9:37 to give UNLV a 1-0 halfway through the first period. The Rebels would hold on to that lead as the period ended as the Utes trailed 1-0 after the first period of the season.
The deficit was short lived however, as forward Josh Dangel scored the first goal of the season for Utah just 1:40 into the second period to tie the game at 1-1. After the game-tying goal, penalties ruled most of the second period as 11 combined penalties occurred during the middle frame of the opening weekend, seven of which were called against the Utes. Neither team would find the back of the net during the period and the score would remain tied 1-1 going into the third.
Things calmed down in the third which favored the Utes as Utah outshot UNLV 16-3 in the final period and pulled ahead with Dangel’s second goal of the game with 8:08 left in the game which made it 2-1 Utah. With the Utes holding a one-goal lead late, the Rebels pulled their goaltender in hopes of tying the game but Michael Ahern would seal the win for the Utes with an empty net goal with 58 seconds left and the Utes would win the first game of the season by a score of 3-1.
The Utes outshot the Rebels 52-22 in the contest as Ute goaltender Chris Komma picked up his first win of the season, making 21 saves on 22 shots.
“It was definitely a great win for the team,” said head coach Brett Huras. “For our first game of the season on the road, I thought it went well.”
“We just made sure we did the simple things and made sure we played smart and hard,” forward Josh Dangel said, who had two goals for the Utes during the game.
The Utes looked for win number two on Saturday as the two teams met for the weekend finale and Utah looked strong early once again. Utah would strike first in the game on a power play with 12:49 left in the period as Caden Ottley put in a rebound goal to give the Utes an early 1-0 lead. The Utes would take the one-goal lead into the second period, controlling the first twenty minutes for the second night in a row and outshooting the Rebels 26-2 in the period. In the two games over the weekend, the Utes outshot UNLV 46-9 in the first period.
But like the Utes did on Friday, the Rebels wasted no time evening the score in the second period as Drew Bryan got behind the Utah defense and scored a breakaway goal 1:34 into the period to tie the game at 1-1. Halfway through the period the Utes would regain the lead as Chase McDonald found the puck in the slot and fired a shot past Martin to give Utah a 2-1 lead. McDonald would find the back of the net once again in the period, as he sent a backhanded shot off of a rebound into the net and Utah would lead take another 3-1 lead.
Just as the Utes looked like they were going to run away with the game, the Rebels would find a late goal in the second period as Drew Bryan just got a shot past Chris Komma on the power play to cut Utah’s lead to 3-2 as the second period ended.
The Rebels would have no answer for Utah in the third though as Tyler Kugler and Dean Wilson scored goals in the final period as the Utes cruised to a 5-2 victory to move to 2-0 on the season. The Utes would outshoot the Rebels 64-14 in the game with Komma picking up win number two with 12 saves in the game.
It was a great weekend for Utah’s top line as Chase McDonald, Josh Dangel, and Michael Ahern tallied a combined 11 points over the weekend.
“My line did really well,” said Chase McDonald after Saturday’s game. “We were grinding, we were working hard, Ahern and Dangel are always a blast to play with so as a line I feel like we clicked and really took it to them.”
The offense was electric for Utah as they controlled both games over the weekend and put up 119 shots in the two games vs UNLV. As electric as the offense was, the defense for Utah was also solid as the Rebels could only muster one even-strength goal over the weekend, which ended up being a breakaway goal.
The Utes now return to Salt Lake City this weekend for their home opener on Friday against BYU at 7pm at the Utah Ice Sheet at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. The Utes will also take on Utah State at home as well on Saturday, which will take place at 8:30pm.
