 "Photo: Tyler Cobb")
Listening to the Skatin’ Utes talk, one would think they swept their weekend games in Colorado.
“We’re rolling now,” said forward Andrew Reed. “I thought we played awesome, even though we lost (to Northern Colorado).”
The University of Northern Colorado was recently ranked No. 6 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Western Division. The manner in which Utah handled one of the top teams in the division left the players confident. Goalie AJ Boldan was quick to mention that if UNC hadn’t gone on a 5 minute 14 second, three-goal stretch in the second period, Utah would have only lost 2-1.
“We feel like we played a lot better than the score Saturday,” said forward Beau Bertagnolli. “It’s probably the best game overall that we have played since I’ve been here, even with the 5-1 loss.”
When considering the fashion in which Utah approached other top teams such as Utah State and Weber State, its performance against UNC is indeed a significant improvement. Utah lost to Weber and Utah State by a combined score of 33-4 in just three games, making its 5-1 loss to UNC an understandable moral victory.
The UNC scoreboard hid the momentum Utah created the night before against Metro State. The Skatin’ Utes wasted no time in the first game, scoring a goal only 23 seconds into the first period. Six Utes netted nine goals in the win, setting season highs for goals and number of goal scorers. All nine goals came in the first two periods.
“We were clicking that first game,” said head coach Jon Bertagnolli. “We were very offensive-minded that game.”
Paving the way for the Utah offense was Reed. The Ute forward scored early and often, tallying a total of four goals in the contest. Reed also provided Utah’s lone goal against UNC.
“Pucks were just going in for us that night,” Reed said. “I had a couple great passes from (Mike) Vrtis and a couple great passes from Beau, and he was able to score some goals.”
The Reed-led Utah offense made the game one-sided, but the team felt it lacked defensive effort.
Jon Bertagnolli said a “lackadaisical” Utah defense was on display in Friday’s game. In only 26 shots, Metro State got five goals behind Oliver Freij. This is a relatively high frequency when compared with Freij’s usual 89 percent save rate.
“Offense was definitely there—defense was not,” Boldan said. “We allowed five goals (against Metro State), and we got away with it.”
Utah is now playing its best hockey of the season, but the team’s skill will be put to the test with a grueling stretch of games this coming weekend. The Utes will have to play three games in three days, something Jon Bertagnolli said is more of a concern than the actual teams that will be visiting.
The Utes will kick off the weekend by attempting to beat rival BYU for the second time in club history. The game will be Feb. 18 at 9:30 p.m.
Following the BYU game, Utah will welcome Montana State for a two-game series. The first game will be Friday at 7 p.m. The second game will be held Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the E Center.
“We know we can beat BYU, and we know we can beat Montana State,” Reed said. “I think we are going to have three wins pretty easy.”
j.bullinger@chronicle.utah.edu
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