November 14, 2014
Salt Lake City, Utah
Anyone who’s been a fan of Utah Hockey remembers what happened in Salt Lake City last February.
The Utah Skatin’ Utes were 1:04 away from winning their second straight PAC-8 championship only to have Arizona State tie the game up late and steal it in the 5th overtime for their first PAC 8 title.
Now for the first time in the regular season, these two teams will meet again in the same rink that witnessed that game one season ago.
Defending PAC-8 champ and 10th ranked Arizona State comes into town this weekend to take on the Utes as both teams look for the inside edge for the number one seed at the PAC-8 Championship Tournament later on this season.
Both teams come into the weekend just as hot in conference play as they were in the title game last year. Utah is 2-0 in conference play and Arizona State is 3-0. Last season both teams went undefeated in conference play before they met in the championship game.
Outside of conference play has been a different story for both teams. The Sun Devils are 9-3-2 this season with two of those losses coming this past weekend in a 3-2 overtime loss to Denver and a 7-0 loss to Northern Arizona’s Division III team. Meanwhile Utah is coming off another pair of wins on the road against #6 Utah State (2-1 win) and #7 Weber State (8-2 win).
Leading the way for the Sun Devils this season is Mason Teuber who leads the team in points with 14. Five players are in double digits in points this season as most of the team that Utah saw in last year’s championship game return for this weekend’s matchups. One Sun Devil you won’t see is goaltender David Aman, who tallied over 70 saves in the PAC-8 Championship game last year. He’s now a part of the ASU Elite squad (who Utah will see next weekend) and taking his place are Matt Inglis and David Neu in between the pipes. Inglis has seen the most time with a 6-1-1 record with a 2.12 GAA, .928 save percentage and two shutouts. Neu is 2-2-1 with a 3.46 GAA with a .864 save percentage.
As for Utah, Chase McDonald still holds a narrow lead over Josh Dangel for the team lead in points as McDonald has 23 points while Dangel has 22 points. Five other Utes have double digit point totals as well as the team has seen production from everyone on the team. In goal Chris Komma is 10-3-1 with a 2.72 GAA and .904 save percentage while Devan Betts is 2-1 with a 2.01 GAA and .904 save percentage as well.
Friday’s game in Salt Lake City will start at 7pm and Saturday’s matchup will begin at 8:30pm. Both games will be broadcasted live from the Utah Ice Sheet.
