The BYU hockey team has struggled in the early season, but they haven’t thrown in the towel.
BYU Coach Jeremy Weiss said his team is surprisingly not down on themselves after coming short in several contests this year.
“One of the most positive things about our team is the mindset of the players,” Weiss said. “They still play hard, despite facing a lot of adversity over the past two years.”
This week the Cougars face their rivals from up north, the Utah Utes. Last week Utah scored 32 goals in two games against the UCLA men’s hockey club team. In their first matchup this season the Utes bested the Cougars 12-5 in a penalty ridden contest. The Cougars are trying to find a system that works best for them.
“There are always trade offs in hockey systems,” Weiss said. “More aggressive, defensive schemes usually generate more offensive chances, but leave you more vulnerable to scoring chances against (you). More passive set ups protect the front of the net, but don’t cause as many turnovers. Our team is battling to find a balance that works for us.”
The Cougars need their offense to equal their season high output for goals scored against the Utes on Saturday. Scoring has alluded them until their tournament in Boise last week where they scored 3 and 4 goals respectively. Captain Mitch Facer said he sees some improvement from the team in this regard.
“We’re trying to score,” Facer said. “The first two games (in Boise) went well, but we struggled to score the third game. We’re definitely improving on scoring.”
Another setback to the Cougars from last week has been injuries and now the flu has hit the team, leaving them thin for practices and with a change of plans.
“We had a rough week of practice, due to injuries and the flu bug,” Weiss said. “We couldn’t work on special teams as much as I would have liked, because we were missing a lot of the guys who play on the power play and penalty kill. So we took the opportunity to focus on fine tuning some of the individual skills, like passing, that had gotten a bit sloppy.”
The puck drops Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Peaks Ice Arena and Weiss spoke highly of the home fans.
“I’ve been extremely impressed with, and thankful for our fans,” Weiss said. “Our team’s challenges can be just as frustrating for them as it is for the players and coaches, and we really appreciate the die hard fans who are supportive whether we win or lose.”
Team personnel are also trying to stream the game for those unable to be there with them. Updates to their Facebook page will contain further information on streaming availability.
