Hockey Puts Together Complete Game

Sixty minutes of solid hockey.

Game after game this season it has eluded the Utah State club hockey team.

But it was there during the first leg of the Aggies' California road trip last weekend as they defeated the Long Beach State University 49ers 3-1 Thursday.

Then Saturday night came against the University of Southern California Trojans.

USU (5-8-1) held a 4-2 lead through the middle of the second period but quickly lost its composure and the lead with untimely penalties. Eventually the Aggies lost the game 7-4, writing a familiar ending to many of their games this season.

"We came against probably the cheapest team we've played so far," said Aggies center Jacob Guttormsen, referring to what he thought was a USC team with a bucket-load of cheap shots ready for the Aggies.

"A lot of [us] started getting mad," he said. "We did take some stupid penalties. After a minor penalty [in the third period] our team kind of fell apart and [USC] beat us."

USU left wing Aaron Burrell said Thursday's game was one of the first games this season the Aggies played a full three periods and, for the most part, stayed away from the penalty box.

"It was one of the closest games we've played the whole 60 minutes. That's what the coaches [told us]," Burrell said. "That's one of our goals--trying to play 60-minute hockey."

Strangely, fatigue wasn't a big factor over the weekend, forward Roberto Leo said. The team was on a bus for 15 hours Wednesday en route to California, getting almost no sleep. But they still beat the 49ers.

"Everybody was tired [but] nobody slept," Leo said. "You can't sleep on that bus. Thursday night after the [game] was awesome. You could talk to [members of the team] and it would take them about two seconds to respond. That was a good win."

Day off was well worth it

Most of the Aggies spent the day between those two games--Friday--at the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park located in Buena Park, Calif.

Two of the five USU players who come from California used the time to go home, Guttormsen said.

"It was fun to be able to see our coaches go on rides with us and participate in things we would never think they would," he said. "It was awesome. I would have to say that was one of the best things this team has done so far. It made us combine as a team and, for the most part, we stayed together as a team throughout the whole trip."

By Sammy Hislop; samhis@cc.usu.edu
Photo by John Zsiray