BYU’s hockey team is set to play at home against the University of Utah Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. in their third match up of the season.
BYU lost the first two rivalry rounds to Utah this year, but an ever positive and hardworking Cougar team is set on adding to Utah’s recent losing streak.
BYU battles against a Utah player for the puck
“At the beginning of the season they beat some of the top ranked teams, but recently they have been on a downhill slide,” coach Josh Burkart said. “We have a short bench and guys will have to play well, but I definitely think we can beat them this time.”
Burkart said that to beat Utah this time his team simply needs to apply all the things they have been working on all season long.
“Staying disciplined in our defensive zones, outworking them in front of the net; We’ve got to be the first ones on the puck. And to be consistent and put together a complete game” Burkart said.
The past few weeks the Cougars have been competing hard on the road, and have not found much success. But Chris Tuttle, one of BYU’s captains, said that looking forward to the support of their home crowd will help the Cougars to feel prepared to beat the Utes.
“We want to finish the semester strong,” Tuttle said. “We’ve lost to them twice now, and so we want to beat them this time at home.”
Despite the disappointing season the Cougars have had, Tuttle says they continue working hard at practice every week and are continuing to maintain a positive attitude.
The game against Utah will be the last one of the year for the Cougars, but the season will continue in January 2014.