BYU hockey suffers blowout loss to Utah State

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BYU and Utah State face off at Peaks Arena Saturday night. BYU lost 13-2. (Natalie Bothwell)

The BYU hockey team suffered a blowout 13-2 loss to Utah State Saturday night at Peaks Ice Arena.

The Cougars found themselves down early, trailing 3-1 after the first period.

“Really, the first period was our best period,” BYU head coach Ed Gantt said.

The Aggies added four goals in the second period, and BYU trailed 7-1 going into the third. The Cougars had opportunities to catch up on power plays, but were unable to crack the Aggie defense. Utah State was unfazed by the one-man advantage the Cougars had, scoring five of their goals shorthanded.

“We should never have goals scored against us while we’re on the power play,” BYU forward Ashton Shimbashi said. “That shouldn’t happen.”

Ben Gantt scored for the Cougars with eight minutes left in the third period, but the Aggies had already put the game out of reach.

The Cougars are dealing with some roster turnover. The team added six new players to their roster this season. Coach Gantt acknowledge the difficulty of integrating new players, but didn’t make any excuses.

“I’m not sure what went wrong,” Ed Gantt said. “But we just didn’t show up. We did some dumb things and didn’t think our way through the game. So we’ve got to start with deciding that we’re going to show up.”

The team is already putting the game behind them.

“We just need to put it in the rearview,” Ben Gantt said. “It’s over.”

BYU is hosting an alumni game Jan. 16 at Peaks Arena and then the Cougars will face Montana Tech Jan. 22nd.

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