Cougars fall to Weber State

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The BYU hockey team opened up their season by dropping a close 5-3 game to Weber State.

The Cougars looked to start the season playing as a team and they believed they let the chance to win slip out of their hands with some impatient and individual play.

“It wasn’t like they dominated us in the play, they just took advantage of our mistakes,” coach Jeremy Weiss said. “All in all we did execute pretty well, but I am not satisfied with the loss.”

Weiss said mistakes were caused by simple plays of going after a loose puck just to have one of the Wildcats pick up the puck and pass it to the open man left behind by his defender.

“That’s what gets us into trouble we think ‘we are better then these guys’ and start trying to take the puck up ourselves all the way,” team captain Mitch Facer said.

However it wasn’t all bad, one line in particular pleased Weiss with their execution and teamwork. The third line, anchored by Josh Patrick, Brandon Patrick and Ashton Ripley, was able to keep the Wildcats on their side of the ice consistently throughout the game. This is the type of play Weiss is looking for from the rest of the team to allow them to take advantage of the impatience of the opposition.

The Cougars also received a boost from junior Brendan Hubbard who was involved in every scoring playing. He netted 2 goals and assisted freshman Ryan Hoeke on his first collegiate goal. Weiss also came away impressed with backup junior goalie Ted Piorczynski who came in the last 15 minutes of the third period and pitched a shutout.

Despite the loss, the Cougars look at the game as a growing experience.

“We came out of that Weber game not accepting the loss, but we weren’t extremely disappointed.” Facer said.

They won’t have to wait to long with a two game series against Montana Tech starting Friday in Provo.

 

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