The University of Utah Ice Hockey Club began its current
incarnation as the skating Utes tonight with a 6-6 tie against BYU's
unofficial club team, the Provo Icecats.  The game was played on
Utah's home ice, the ACORD Ice Center in West Valley City.
 
        My notes on the game are a bit sketchy, as I didn't have a BYU
roster, and the Public Address system was nearly incomprehensible, but
here goes:
 
Y 3 0 3 -- 6
U 1 3 2 -- 6
 
First Period:
        The officials started calling the game very tight, with the
first two hard checks resulting in roughing penalties, on BYU at 1:35
and and Utah at 1:57.  Utah's Tim Talentiner went off for hitting from
behind at 3:20, and the Icecats managed to score with six seconds
remaining in the brief 5-on-3 to go up 1-0.  Utah killed the other
penalty and went on a power play of their own at 5:05, but the Provo
squad, which had put on a good aggressive penalty kill, scored
shorthanded at six minutes even to make it 2-0.  When BYU scored
even-handed at 11:03, it began to look like a rough first night for
the Utes.
        The nasty side of the U-Y rivalry began to assert itself as
the period wore on.  At 13:26, BYU's #9, who had assisted on the third
goal (#6 scored on his rebound) came in alone on Utah goalie Jay
Stevens, who managed to smother the puck.  Utah's Fred Marmsaeter
darted in and checked him a moment later; amidst a bit of shoving, the
Provo player managed to pop Marmsaeter in the mask.  Both players were
penalized, with a visibly upset Marmsaeter receiving four minutes and
BYU's #9 earning five and an early shower.  (I only worked this out
much later, since the way penalties were recorded on the scoreboard
was utterly baffling.)  Another Icecat got a major and misconduct at
16:14 for what looked from my vantage point like a relatively benign
hitting from behind.  Utah managed to convert on this powerplay, with
Talentiner putting one over the shoulder of the BYU goalie (Jody
somebody).
        Utah thus managed to go into the locker room with some
momentum; although BYU's goalie saved 11 of 12 shots, compared to 7 of
10 for Utah's Stevens, most of them were not tough chances, and he
didn't look especially strong, flopping to the ice and staying there
a while on a couple of early chances.
 
Second Period:
        After the penalty-filled first, the second was nearly
penalty-free, with only a single set of matching minors at 13:35.
Utah had some odd-man rushes early, and finally scored again at 13:15,
with Matt Green going top-shelf to make it 3-2.  Mike Tidwell scored
the tying goal for Utah at 15:51, and put the Utes in front at the end
of the period, taking the puck at the red line, skating in on the
breakaway, and releasing a shot that the Provo goalie got a piece of,
but let trickle through his legs with just two seconds on the clock.
 
Third Period:
        Tidwell went off for interference at 4:26, and BYU tied the
game at 4 a couple of minutes later with Icecat captain Evans scoring
on his own rebound.  (My notes say power play goal at 6:53, but that
can't be right...)  Utah re-took the lead at 7:33, Ryan Snow scoring
on a feed from behind the net, and made it 6-4 at 8:54.  (My notes say
#14, but there's no #14 on the roster...)  The Utes missed a few
chances to pad the lead further, including a couple of power plays and
a play where the Icecats got caught in a line change; Talentiner lost
an edge outside the Provo blue line and the home-run pass intended for
him resulted only in an icing call.  BYU cut the lead in half at 16:13
when Stevens couldn't quite keep #17's shot in his glove.  Less than a
minute later, Talentiner was stopped on a breakaway and went hard into
the wall, leaving with a leg injury.  Utah dodged a bullet at around
17:30, when Stevens lost his goalie stick, but play was stopped
because the net had come off its peg.  The relief was short-lived,
though, as BYU's #6 went top-shelf from the doorstep to tie the game
at 6.  (I'm not sure how many goals that was for him, since I missed
the scorers on the first two Y goals.  At least two, with a belly-flop
on the ice to celebrate each of them.)  The last few minutes were not
without excitement, and Utah had a couple of chances to tie it, with
Tidwell being denied on a 2-on-1 with a minute and a half left, and
the Provo goalie again taking an extended flop on the ice in the last
half-minute, but the game ended in a 6-6 tie.  (Apparently they don't
play overtime.)
 
Commentary:
        I was worried this afternoon that this game didn't receive
much advance publicity (I almost missed it myself), for instance that
it wasn't announced or advertized at the Utah football game this
afternoon, but the bleachers at the ACORD center (a few hundred seats)
were full of vocal fans.  About two thirds of them were cheering for
BYU, but the Utah contingent was also active (I think I even heard the
word "sieve" after the Utes' fourth goal).  Unfortunately, the ACORD
center is about 10 miles from the Utah campus, so there's not exactly
student walk-up attendance.  (Still, it could be worse; Utah State's
team plays in Ogden.)  Many of Utah's opponents (Provo, Utah State and
Weber State) are near enough to bring their own fans, but it'll be
interesting to see how well attended the Northern Arizona game is in
two weeks.  This is Utah's homecoming weekend, so fliering the
football game that day would seem like a *very* good idea.
 
        There was the usual nuisance one encounters at any sporting
event in Salt Lake City of numerous little kids wandering around, but
the 18-and-over part of the crowd was very focussed on the game, a
refreshing change from the crowds I've encountered at other Utah
sporting events.  Despite the poor sound quality, I was pleased that
the folks running the PA included the Utah fight song among their
piped-in music, something I wish other band-impaired college hockey
programs would try.  (Strangely, though, they didn't play it after Ute
goals.  Presumably this was related to the fact that the music was
only played between periods.)
 
The Utes continue their season-opening homestand next Friday with a
5:45 game against the Aggies of Utah State, defending champions of the
Rocky Mountain College Hockey Association.  More info on the Ute
hockey team can be found at
<http://www.utah.edu/campusrec/spclub/hockey/hockey.htm>.
 
 
                                        John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                        <[log in to unmask]>
        <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/jshock.html>
 
Cornell Men's Ice Hockey: Back-to-back ECAC and Ivy League Champions
 
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