September 22, 2014
Salt Lake City, UT
The opening weekend for the Utah Skatin’ Utes couldn’t have gone better as the Utes won both games at home against in-state rivals Weber State and Utah State.
On Friday night the Utes opened up the season against Weber State, who was ranked 1st in the West Division in the final ACHA Rankings last season. It was a dream start to the game for Utah as Josh Dangel capitalized on a turnover just four minutes in to give Utah a 1-0 lead. Just 29 seconds later the Utes found the net again, as Beau Bertagnolli found a wide open Douglas Newell right in front of the net who beat WSU goaltender Dalton Kay and gave Utah a 2-0 with more than 15 minutes left in the first. The Utes didn’t stop there, as Newell would add another goal – this time on the power play – and the Utes took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Wildcats were able to show resiliency in the second period as goals by Jake Webber and Curtis Snowball cut their deficit to one before the horn sounded to end the second period. The Wildcats would even the score early in the third as Cody Bohin found a way past Ute goaltender Chris Komma to tie it up at 3-3.
The Utes would find new life after the Weber State goal when Tyler Kugler scored his first goal of the season with 13 minutes left to give Utah a 4-3 lead. The Utes wouldn’t surrender the lead again as Kurtis Kunz scored a power play goal and Chase McDonald netted an empty net goal late to give Utah a big 6-3 win to open the season.
The Utes were outshot 35-33 in the contest but had the better scoring chances throughout the contest. Chris Komma received his first win of the year, stopping 32 of 35 shots.
On Saturday, the Utes hit the ice again at home this time against Utah State who finished third in the West Division last season.
Much like Friday night, the Utes found the back of the net early as Chase McDonald redirected a shot from the point past Keegan McHenry to give Utah a power play goal and an early 1-0 lead. Just before the period ended, the Utes would get another as McDonald found Andrew Wood in front on the power play who backhanded the puck in the net and gave Utah a 2-0 lead after one period.
In the second, the Utes continued cruising while adding another goal in the period as Julian Cronan snuck past two defenders and walked in from behind the net and slid the puck past McHenry for a 3-0 lead. The Utes would maintain that lead and take into the third period.
Utah would strike one last time in the third period, as Douglas Newell scored his third goal of the season in dramatic fashion, batting the puck out of the air after Beau Bertagnolli rung his shot off the post. Utah would kill the rest of the clock and hold on to a convincing 4-0 win to move to 2-0.
Chris Komma picked up win number two for the season stopping all 23 shots he faced on the night. The Utes outshot the Aggies 27-23 in the game and also picked up their first ever shutout over Utah State in club history.
With the two wins at home this weekend, the Utes have now extended their regular season home winning streak to 16 games. The wins also mark the third straight home win against both Utah State and Weber State.
The Utes will now be tested on the road for the next month, as Utah won’t return home until October 24th. Utah’s next game will be Friday as the Utes head down to Provo first their first meeting of the season against BYU. The Cougars are coming off their home opening loss to Weber State 9-4 on Saturday night.
