BYU hockey pushed, shoved, passed, shot and skated its way to its first victory of the season Friday beating the University of Colorado-Denver 12-2, powered by a balanced offense and strong defense by goaltender Taylor Barr.
“It feels great to get a win, to get that monkey off of our back,” coach Jeremy Weiss said.
[easyembed field=”Photogallery”]The Cougars came out fast, looking to grab a quick lead and use their home ice advantage to keep the momentum. Getting the first goal of the game was a good way to reach that goal, and then the Cougars kept on scoring. The team let CU-Denver get the puck in the net only once but countered with four goals in the period.
The scoring in the second period began with an electric play by Tanner Gray. The first-year player burst down through the zones, slipped the puck between the defender’s legs to his teammate who buried the puck into the open net.
“It was a big confidence boost,” Gray, who later added two goals of his own, said. “Those were my first goals since my injury (a concussion earlier in the season), and it was nice to score in a game that we ended up winning.”
The player of the game for the Cougars was Barr. Barr stopped 24 shots, letting in one in two periods of play before he was pulled with the game well out of reach at a score of 7-1.
The Cougars had two players with two goals but had a balanced attack with nine players scoring in the game.
“We just tried out some new systems, and things worked out,” captain Adam Farero said.
The coaches were pleased with the play of the team, according to Weiss.
“We had good matchups with their players, with the speed of the forwards against their defenders. We had production from all four lines, which showed how hard the guys were working,” Weiss said.
The Cougars also had a game Saturday, a road contest in Logan against Utah State. Tanner Gray had a hat trick, giving him five goals in the two games, but the team lost the game 17-5.
BYU prepares this week for another game against the Utah State Aggies on Friday at home in Provo. The Cougars’ record for the season stands at 1-11.
