CLUB SPORTS: Hockey Wins OT Thriller

Utah State hockey club assistant coach Ty Newberry said he doesn't remember the games as much as he treasures the people involved.

The Aggies' 8-7 overtime victory Saturday night in Ogden over much-hated rival Weber State is the exception.

Newberry coached his final game with USU (he and his wife are traveling back to Michigan to look for a job) and the team couldn't have sent him on his way in a more fitting fashion.

Not only was the game undoubtedly the most intense and exciting the Aggies (13-9-1, 3-0 in overtime) have competed in this season, it also kept their chances at qualifying for Nationals very animate.

USU winger Robert Hashimoto put in the game-winner 24 seconds into overtime, his second such goal (the first Dec. 7 at BYU 30 seconds into overtime).

"We're just so pumped up to play [Weber State]," Hashimoto said. "Our coach was always saying that we were going to win before overtime. It was the greatest feeling of my life so far."

When asked about Nationals, Hashimoto made a bold prediction.

Then when asked if that was a surefire prediction, Hashimoto took a step back.

Aggie winger Aaron Burrell was a major part of the effort to give the Aggies extra life after they fell behind 3-0 through the first three minutes of the game.

Burrell tallied a game-high four goals, none more important than a five-on-three (five attackers, no goalie) power-play equalizer with 47.9 seconds remaining which sent the game into the extra period.

Down early, USU outscored the Wildcats 5-1 up to the midpoint of the second period when it took its first lead, 5-4.

"We knew what we had in us and we knew we weren't going to go away that easy," Burrell said.

The lead changed four times in the game, and the Aggies totaled five power-play goals as well as one short-handed.

The Newberry era at Utah State ends with the team on a five-game winning streak, its longest of the season.

The announcement he would be leaving came at the beginning of the second intermission of Friday night's 9-4 drubbing of the University of Washington.

Head Coach Jerry Crossley, without a microphone, made the announcement to the crowd as the team lined up on the far blue line to pay tribute (10 USU players were also honored for achieving a 3.0 grade point average during the fall semester).

Newberry was previously an assistant coach at Penn State and before that was head coach at West Virginia.

He came to Logan in Jan. 2002 to take up an executive director job at the Eccles Ice Arena (when the facility opened) for the duration of the Winter Olympics.

After that job ended, Crossley asked him to help out with the team.

"I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Jerry," Newberry said. "Him and I had a real good time. We picked each other's brains. We went well together. [We have] different personalities, but the same goals, same ideas."

Burrell said, "We'll miss Ty a lot. That's half our coaching staff right there. He's shown us good preparation."

The Aggies will welcome BYU to the ice center Thursday at 7:30 p.m., a team USU defeated 6-2 Jan. 10.

By Sammy Hislop; samhis@cc.usu.edu
Photos by John Zsiray