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Show Statesman Sports Mistel to the rescue Page 12 Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 By G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY and LANDON HEMSLEY assistant sports editor and staff writer USU 2, Eastern Washington 1 Utah State survived a harrowing third period played almost entirely in its own zone and leaned heavily on goalkeeper Greg "The Force" Finatti to get a win over the No. 3-ranked team in the ACHA West, Eastern Washington. USU is currently ranked No. 4. "We got to see what we're made of," Finatti said, "because we haven't faced a very tough schedule." Finatti turned aside 34 shots, doing the bulk of the work in the third period, when he put up a wall to preserve his team's onegoal lead. Of narrowly missing a shutout, Finatti said, "I don't care about that as long as we beat Eastern." USU jumped up on EWU early in the first period, when Jay McFadden won a faceoff and tapped the biscuit to team captain Kent Arsenault — playing without painkillers on a foot he injured blocking a shot against Weber last week — who gunned it on net. Eagles tender Brent Seidel deflected the shot, but Matt Hamilton beat a gang of Eastern defenders to the rebound and scored. The remainder of the first was played at a fast pace, with neither side able to establish an extended presence in the others' zone. The quick up-and-down pace defined the second period as well. USU padded its lead with 14:44 to go, when freshman Kyle Soder directed a faceoff behind the goal line for wing Brendan MacDonald to retrieve. MacDonald threaded the puck into the slot to a crashing Tyler Mistelbacher, who buried it for a 2-0 Aggie lead. Although Eastern's Steven Phillips broke up Finatti's shutout early in the third, the USU defense held down the stretch and the Aggies got the win despite being outshot 35-21 in the game and 16-5 in the final period. Of his team's death grip on the third-period lead, MacDonald said, "In previous years we've had a tough time holding onto a lead in the third. This year we're trying to focus on the defensive end and let the offense take care of itself." Although USU would assuredly prefer to keep the puck out of its own zone entirely, the Aggies pursued doggedly and never let EWU cycle the puck uninterrupted, even when on the penalty kill. The puck was kept out of the danger zone directly in front of Finatti and forced into the corners. During the first two periods of shutout defense, that pressure extended the length of the ice, as the Eagles were repeatedly relieved of the puck at their own blueline. MacDonald, who played a key role in USU's efforts to disrupt the Eagles' breakout, said, "I'm a bit of a pest out there and I try to get in the other team's head, and hopefully my speed causes problems on the forecheck." USU 6, Eastern Washington 5 (OT) If any questions remained about the strength and skill of the USU hockey team after Thursday's victory against Eastern Washington, they were answered on Saturday when USU defeated the Eagles again, 6-5, in overtime. Tyler Mistelbacher took control of the puck in the neutral zone and broke for the goal with just more than 1:20 remaining in the overtime period. He moved toward the left side of the goal under pressure from a defender on the right side. As "Mistel" split toward the left, the Eagles' goaltender moved with him, leaving the right side of the goal exposed. Mistelbacher sent his hat trick goal home, and the Eccles Ice Arena exploded with cheers from the home crowd of roughly 1,300. The puck might have hit his stick and deflected in," Mistelbacher said of the goal. "Really, I didn't care who scored it. This was a team win. We just keep getting tighter and tighter, and the guys on the bench keep us going." This dramatic win did not begin as such. The first period was an even contest between the two squads, who traded scores twice to make things square at two goals apiece at the first intermission. USU gained loads of momentum in the second, as the Eagles seemed determined to spend the entire second period on the FRESHMAN TYLER MISTELBACHER one-times a Brendan MacDonald assist past Eastern Washington goalie Brent Seidel Thursday night in the Eccles Ice Arena. Mistelbacher totaled four goals in two games against the No.3-ranked Eagles. CODY GOCHNOUR photo penalty kill. EWU committed six penalties in the second, including one five-minute penalty. The Aggies took full advantage of the power play and put EWU in a three-goal hole. Aggie wing Jeff Sanders scored twice in the second period. His second goal was a particularly brilliant display of teamwork. EWU cleared the puck out of its zone, and USU goaltender Finatti took possession outside of the crease. He forced EWU into the forecheck and spread out the ice. Finatti passed it left after bringing an Eagle forward, and David Wyman took control. EWU couldn't recover defensively as Wyman moved for the goal. He got close enough to draw out the Eagles' goaltender, then passed to a wide-open Sanders who sent it home. The Eagles refused to fold. EWU scored one in the waning minutes of the second and continued with two more late in the third. The equalizer came with just more than five minutes remaining in the game. Finatti was drawn out of the goal and couldn't recover quickly because of an aggravated injury in his legs. Eagles and Aggies flew everywhere in a duel for possession with the Aggie net wide open. Arsenault, playing through a shoulder he reseparated in the third period as well as his injured foot, and two other Aggie skaters dove on top of the puck in a desperate attempt to stifle the Eastern attack, and the Aggies were called for a delay of game penalty. "Really, any three of us could have taken that penalty," Arsenault said, "but I'm the team captain and I figured I would serve it." Eastern possessed, passed and connected less than a minute into the power play. The momentum clearly shifted to the visiting bench. The crowd feared the worst, but those fears were proved unfounded when Mistelbacher struck gold in overtime. This win is of tremendous import for the USU hockey club. "It's the biggest set of wins in five years," Arsenault said. "It's a huge high for us. Our team goal that we set was to not lose at home and we've kept that. This game was an absolutely amazing effort, and we took it all the way down to the wire." Ignoring the fact that USU was regionally ranked No. 4 and EWU was ranked No. 3 before this week's games, the Aggies' best result against EWU in the last five years was a 3-3 tie during Arsenault's freshman year. USU dropped the last two overtime contests USU played against EWU. Both of those contests were played in 2008 in Spokane, and the final score for both games was 5-4. Also notable in this game was the presence of backup goaltender Dan Cornelius' parents who came from Alberta, Canada to see the Aggies win on home ice. USU hockey is now riding a 10-game win streak. The Aggies are off for Thanksgiving, and will play next at the Western Classic regional tournament in Colorado. — la.hem@aggiemaiLusu.edu, graham.terry@aggiemaiLusu.edu Morrill's men drop another road game By TIM OLSEN sports editor For the third consecutive game, Utah State stayed on the road, and for the second consecutive game, USU let a halftime lead slip away as the Northeastern Huskies rallied to beat the Aggies, 64-61. Coming off of a one-point loss and a poor performance Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, the Aggies started red-hot Saturday, as they opened the game with a 19-4 run. Junior forward Tai Wesley, who had 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting, did much of that damage. "I think we surprised them. We were really ready to play," said USU head coach Stew Morrill in a postgame radio interview. "We came out and hit shots and played hard then just kind of ran into the wall again in the second half." The Huskies were able to chip away at the USU lead before the intermission, however, as Northeastern was led back by senior guard Baptiste Bataille. After cutting the Aggie lead to as little as two, junior Tyler Newbold was able to knock down a long two-point jumper to send USU into the locker room up by six, 34-28. Early in the second half the Aggies came out firing again, with a Newbold 3-pointer and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Wesley as they built the lead back to 10. The Huskies would lock down from that point on though and used an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game on a basket by senior forward Manny Adako. "I thought Northeastern didn't panic when we got ahead, and they were the aggressors in AGGIE POINT GUARD JARED Quayle dribbles upcourt against the University of Utah during USU's road loss in the Huntsman Center earlier this season. PATRICK ODEN photo the second half," Morrill said. "We kept fouling them apparently, because they sure shot a lot of free throws. We just had trouble guarding them off the dribble." The number of fouls played a factor in both halves. Though junior Nate Bendall was the only USU player to foul out of the game, the number of fouls called on the Aggies put the Huskies on the line early and often. Despite Northeastern taking its first lead, there was still 11:30 remaining in the game, and it would be a back-and-forth affair from there. The Aggies took their last lead on a 3-pointer by Brian Green — his only bucket. Green struggled again from the floor going 1of-8, but his basket gave the Aggies a one-point lead with 2:15 remaining. After Nkem Ojougboh connected on one of two free throws, the game was tied at 58 and USU had the ball. The Aggies had two good looks on their next possession, but a Jared Quayle 3-pointer was off the mark and Wesley had a long jumper that rattled in and out. Quayle, who had a game-high 27 points against the Utes, had an awful game Saturday as he connected on only 2-of-9 shots and 1-of-3 3-pointers. He did have double-digit rebounds, though, for the second consecutive game. "Between the three perimeter guys, their shooting percentages were awful," Morrill said. "I think for the most part we had pretty good looks." The Aggies — who have led the nation in field goal percentage each of the last two years — have been held to roughly 40 percent in their two losses. They're also averaging 16 turnovers through three games. "The things that we've always done a pretty good job of is shooting more free throws than our opponents, turning it over less than our opponents and making open shots. Right now we haven't done those things," Morrill said. After Wesley's miss, the Huskies were able to corral the ball. Twenty-four seconds later, Bataille was fouled and connected on both his free throws to give the home teams a two-point lead with 36 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, the Aggies were able to work the ball inside to Wesley. A good passer from inside, Wesley tried to kick the ball back out but was instead picked off by junior guard Chaisson Allen with 10.6 seconds remaining. "We just made too many mistakes. Tai had a tough time," Morrill said. "(He) threw the ball away at the end when we went to him to try and get a basket, when he should have just went and tried to score it. That's something that you don't expect him to do. He's a smart basketball player." Allen connected on both free throws, and the Huskies were able to hold on for the come-frombehind win. The loss marks the first time since the 200708 season that the Aggies have lost back-to-back games. This loss also comes nearly three months earlier than the Aggies second loss last season, which didn't come until Feb. 14. Both losses have been by a combined four points. "We've got to play when the game's on the line, and that's the bottom line. That's been something that's been the strength of a lot of our teams and was certainly a strength of last year's team. We found a way to win these types I See ROAD, page 13 |