By Jeremy Twitchell
Junior wingman Travis Little and senior center Greg Ingram each had a hat trick Friday night Oct. 18, leading the Provo IceCats to a 14-4 romp over the Vikings from the BYU formerly known as Ricks.
Little completed the first hat trick of his collegiate career just 5:45 into the game, scoring three of Provo''s first four goals.
'It was kind of a funny experience, because it happened, and I just thought, ''Great, let''s keep it going'',' Little said. 'I mean, it was so early on. I should have been more excited, but they were three identical goals. My teammates were great; they just dished it out to me and I just tapped it in.'
Little''s goals were part of a 6-0 run with which the IceCats began the game. The Vikings did not score until just before the end of the first period, with 18 seconds left.
In the second period, the Vikings fought back with three goals against a loose Provo defense, while limiting the IceCats to four.
'I felt like the Vikings played good, considering they were playing a very good team,' said Philip Richards, whose son plays for BYU-Idaho and who filled in as coach for the Vikings, who did not have a coach present.
'It was definitely a tough loss for the Vikings,' he said.
'In the second period, I think we kind of started to take them a little lightly,' Provo head coach Ray Bernier said. 'But we talked to the players quite aggressively in the locker room after the second period, and I think we got them refocused, and they came out and really took it to them in the third period.'
Bernier''s pep talk worked wonders for the IceCats, who did not allow the Vikings a single shot on goal in the third period, while shooting 27 times themselves. The IceCats scored four goals during the period.
'That''s the kind of period that I like to see,' Bernier said. 'Our conditioning is looking good. That''s what you want from your team, that they finish real well.'
'They''re coming along, and they''re playing like a team,' Bernier said. 'That''s the big thing, that they''re really starting to play like a team.'
Bernier said that he was a little worried at the start of the game because his team was a little more loose and relaxed in the locker room than he would have liked, but was pleased by how they played.
Besides the impressive performances from Little and Ingram, Provo also had major contributions from freshman wing Jason Griffiths, sophomore center Derek Battisiti, and sophomore wing Jim Burkart, who had two goals each.
'It was nice to finally put a couple in,' said Burkart, who scored both of his goals during the last four minutes of the game. His last goal came with just two seconds left in the game to give Provo the double-digit victory.
Sophomore defenseman Mark Ostebo also helped the cause with six assists, while senior wing Miguel Lopez and junior wing Nate Orr rounded out the scoring for Provo.
'The whole team played really good,' Burkart said. 'We had a lot of players that usually don''t see some ice time that stepped it up and played really good. We were skating really tough and hitting pretty good.'
The tough skating and good hits escalated during the third period, which saw increasing tension on both sides and four personal fouls for misconduct between the two teams.
'That was just like Elder''s quorum basketball,' said freshman defenseman Cameron Treu. 'I used to get kicked out of Elder''s quorum ball a lot, and that''s why I got 12 minutes of penalties today. I actually made a lot of friends in the penalty box tonight.'
'That was total church ball,' he said.
The win improves Provo''s record to 4-1, while BYU-Idaho drops to 0-1. The IceCats will be in action at home again Saturday night Oct. 26 against Boise State.