In the first game of the final two home games of the calendar year, the San Diego State Aztecs lost to No. 10 University of Utah Utes by a score of 8-0. It was the third game between the two teams this season as the Utes won the first two, in Utah.
Utah looked every bit as a top 10 ranked team as they took the lead 19 seconds into the game. Forward Michael Urtis scored his 11th of the season on a great tip from a point shot. Goalie Liam Dee made a stellar save on a breakaway a little over a minute after to keep the score at 1-0.
Defenseman Connor Hennigan took a tripping penalty a little under seven minutes in the game which gave the Utes power play. However, a chaotic change led to the Utes taking a too many men bench minor to lose the man advantage.
During the four on four, a shot by the Utes knocked out Dee’s skate blade, leading to him briefly exiting the game and Brody Hsiao taking over.
Dee entered back into the game with a little over three minutes remaining in the period and immediately made a spectacular glove save on a breakaway to keep the score the same.
The goal 19 seconds into the game was the only goal of the period as it ended 1-0. The Utes largely controlled the play but were unable to get another past the Aztec goaltending.
Three minutes into the period, forward Erik Gibboney scored a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that just got past the glove hand of Dee to make it 2-0.
After a ton of back and forth play, Utah extended the lead to 3-0 after converting on two on one with forward Brady Schwab getting the goal.
Utah scored their third goal of the period just halfway into the period on a shot from the point by Karsten Senden to make it 4-0.
Even after the Aztec had their best shift of the game with strong offensive pressure, they could not get a shot past goalie Joseph Greilich.
During this chance, a stretch pass to Urtis led to a breakaway which he converted to score his second of the game and fifth goal for the Utes.
With exactly a minute left, a deflected shot by forward Jacob Slater went past Dee to make it 6-0 and 23 seconds later, forward Gion Coray
The second period was a roughest period for the Aztec as even though they had some offensive chances, the Utah offense was just too strong as they scored six goals in a single period.
Two and a half minutes into the third, after a hit behind the Utah net, forward Max Kathol’s frustrations boiled over as he got into a fight with defenseman Cole Musick. Kathol got a five minute major grabbing the facemask penalty plus a ten minute disqualification while Musick got a five minute fighting major and a ten minute game misconduct .
Utah largely controlled the puck possession for the remainder of the game and scored with 18 and a half seconds left. Coray scored his second goal and fourth point of the night on a backhand move to make it a 8-0 game
The final horn sounded marking a 8-0 loss for the Aztecs marking their third straight game getting shut out by the Utes.
“I told the boys that we lost that game in five to eight minutes in the second period, they scored five goals,” head coach Dean Wilson said. “We got to learn to keep the pedal down and play three periods.”
San Diego falls to 4-14 while Utah goes to 10-4. The next game for the Aztecs is December 7 at 8 p.m in the second and final game of the series with Utah.
Photo Courtesy of (Megan Ellis/SDSU Hockey)