RECAP: Utes Sweep Weekend over BYU and USU

December 5, 2016 Salt Lake City, UT The University of Utah Skatin’ Utes played host to a pair of in-state rivals over the weekend and picked up a pair of wins to sweep the weekend and continue their unbeaten streak over teams in the state of Utah. On Friday it was Utah’s 4th Annual Teddy Bear Toss, as the Utes took on BYU for the first time this season. The Utes wasted no time finding the back of the net as David Barnes became Mr. Teddy Bear for 2016 as he scored just 54 seconds into the game to give the Utes a 1-0 lead early. Connor Meaney, Brett Myer, and Julian Cronan would all score in the first period as well as the Utes took a 4-0 lead after the first period. Meaney and Myer would score two on the night and Nick Fornelius and Josh Dangel would add goals of their own as the Utes cruised to the 8-2 win. The win over BYU extended the Utes’ unbeaten streak over the Cougars to 26 games, a streak that extends all the way back to February of 2011. The Utes outshot the Cougars 45-21 in the contest as Chris Komma picked up his sixth win of the season with 19 saves. On Saturday, the Utes welcomed in the Utah State Aggies for the second time this season as the Utes held their 5th Annual “Fearless in the Fight” Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Wearing the pink jerseys to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institue, the Utes found themselves playing catch up after the first period, as the Aggies would score a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead after the first period. The Utes would have to answer Utah State three different times in the second period, as the Utes scored three power play goals – two by Cronan and one from Dangel – to tie the game at 3-3 going into the third period. In the final period, the Utes gained momentum by killing of a five-minute major penalty at the beginning of the period and took their first lead of the night with 10:38 left as Alex King put in a rebound goal to give the Utes a 4-3 lead. With the Aggies trying to tie the game with a 6-on-4 power play late in the period, Dangel scored an empty net goal from the Utah end of the ice to seal the victory for the Utes with the 5-3 win. With the win, the Utes clinched the season series for the fourth straight year as they lead to series 3-0 with just one game remaining this season. The Utes out shot the Aggies 34-29 in the game and Komma picked up his second win of the weekend, pushing his record to 7-6 with a 26-save performance. With the wins this weekend the Utes are now 11-7 on the season and are 9-0 against teams from Division II of the ACHA this season. The two wins also pushed two unbeaten streaks forward for the Utes as they extended their home unbeaten streak to 26 games and their unbeaten streak over teams in the state of Utah to 18 games. The Utes have one game left in the first semester as they’ll head up to Logan for the final time to tka on Utah State next Saturday night.