October 27, 2014
Ogden, UT
Another weekend of the ACHA season is in the books, and the University of Utah Skatin’ Utes picked up another pair of wins against in-state rivals.
The Utes opened up the weekend on Friday for their first home game in almost a month against the BYU Cougars for their 3rd annual “Fearless in the Fight” Breast Cancer Awareness game. In front of over 1,500 fans at the Utah Ice Sheet, the Utes were able to cruise past their southern rivals and pick up a dominant 10-0 win over the Cougars.
16 different players tallied a point in the contest for Utah as they outshot BYU 53-15 in the game. Veteran forward Ben Seastrand led the way with a hat trick in the first two periods and 2nd year player Josh Dangel netted the most points of the night with two goals and three assists in the game. Goaltender Chris Komma picked up his sixth win of the season, stopping all 15 shots on his way to his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career at Utah.
The win pushed Utah’s record to 8-3-1 for the year and 2-0 against the Cougars as they headed into another in-state matchup, this time in Ogden against the Weber State Wildcats.
Saturday’s game would be much more competitive for Utah as the Utes looked for their first win against the Wildcats in their home rink since 2012. The Utes would strike first in the game as Ben Seastrand continued his hot weekend with a shot past goaltender Dalton Kay with 7:42 to go in the first period to give Utah a 1-0 as they headed to the first intermission. The Utes would leave several more chances to score on the ice as they outshot the Wildcats 18-14 in the period.
In the second frame the Wildcats would find an equalizer with 7:49 left as Johnathan Cosman scored on the power play to tie the game at 1-1. Once again the Utes would have several chances to score but came up short again and the score would be tied heading to the final period. Utah outshot Weber State in the second, this time by a tally of 21-14.
In the third, the score would remain deadlocked until the halfway mark of the period. In a crazy sequence of events, Seastrand was able to go coast to coast after a breakaway save from Komma and convert on his breakaway chance to give Utah a 2-1 lead with 10:38 to go. The Wildcats would try to find the equalizer the rest of the way, pulling their goaltender in the final minutes only to have Chase McDonald score his fifth goal of the season to give Utah a 3-1 lead with 1:26 to go.
But the game wasn’t over as the Wildcats were able to score on yet another breakaway chance with 43 seconds to go as Alex Pizarro was denied by Komma but Koda Coleman found the rebound after the save to score a shorthanded goal and cut the lead back down to one. Weber would try to pull their goalie once again and Josh Dangel sealed Utah’s win with another empty net goal with ten seconds left to give Utah a 4-2 win over Weber State.
The win moved Utah’s record to 9-3-1, 2-0 against the Wildcats, and 8-0-1 against West Division opponents this year. The win also marks the team’s first win in Ogden vs WSU since October 5, 2012 when the Utes won 7-3 over the Wildcats. The Utes outshot the Wildcats 58-51 in the contest where Komma picked up his 7th win with 49 saves in the game.
The Utes now return home this weekend for a pair of games against Boise State and Utah State this Friday and Saturday.
