Puck Drop

The Utah Skatin' Utes will will be retiring the jersey of a former player, fallen Navy SEAL Mark Weiss, on Saturday before the game against the Utah State Aggies.   “Mark was an example to everyone lucky enough to be on the team with him,” said AJ Boldan, the president and general manager for the Utes  “He put the team above everything else.” During the 2010-2011 season, Weiss was a forward for the Utes while he finished up his degree at the University of Utah. Weiss was on off-duty leave when he died after an accident while spearfishing on Nov. 11. The team decided to retire his jersey, number 2, both in remembrance of Weiss and “to honor his huge impact on the team,” Boldan said.  Weiss died on Veterans Day, but the Utes wanted to retire his jersey earlier in the season than on that anniversary. Many of Weiss' friends who serve in the military want to attend the ceremony, but have deployments scheduled in October. While Weiss' death was tragic, Aus...

The Utah State Aggies hockey team, mostly comprised of returning players, will face off against the Utah Valley University Wolverines on Saturday. While both the USU and UVU teams were looking to add depth to their lineup this year, only four of the players on the Wolverines are returners from last year, with the others all being new to the team.  “I haven’t seen any of the new recruits,” said Aggies head coach CJ Westlake. “It can be hard with a lot of new guys, because they don’t know the league as well. We have a lot of returners, but we’re not taking their team lightly.” This will be the second season the Wolverines have played since UVU restarted its hockey program, but only the first year with Darin Peck as head coach. Peck said that recruiting new players has been the team's top priority going into this season. “It’s basically a whole new system,” Peck said. “Everything is new. We’ve done a whole lot of recruiting, trying to pick up the talent level. Some of t...

There are new, speedy skaters who will debut for Utah State University in today's season-opener against the Weber State Wildcats. USU's coaches hope that the new fast-paced players will help play a role in victories not just today, but throughout the season. “The new guys have brought in lots of speed and lots of skill,” said Aggies head coach CJ Westlake. “They add some depth to our team.” One such rookie is starter Tomas Maciunas. He missed tryouts, but managed impress the coaches with his speed during a walk-on.  “I’m 5-foot-6, so I’ve always focused my game on speed and just grinding as hard as I can to do whatever I can do to create opportunities on the ice,” Maciunas said. New defenseman Trace Farr also adds speed to the lineup. “I like to move the puck fast and up the ice,” Farr said. “I like to play a physical game, and hopefully I can bring an offensive presence in our games this season.” The players have worked to not only push themselves i...

The Utah State Aggies hockey team has adopted a new hybrid strategy, with an aggressive practice routine and more effort placed on scoring. The team will debut its new strategy at the season opener with Weber State on Sept. 14.  While the two teams are familiar with one another, this will be the first time the Aggies play with new head coach CJ Westlake’s more offensive strategies in play. “Before, we were defense heavy,” Westlake said. “Now, we’re more contained, following a hybrid strategy. We’re going to be aggressive in the corners and focus on moving the puck up the boards.” The Aggies and Wildcats have a history of season-opening face offs, spawning a very tumultuous relationship between the teams. Weber State’s team has a history of being a very offensive team where USU’s was defensive. "We've always been a team that plays more on the offensive side," said Wildcats head coach Yosh Ryujin, "but our goaltenders help with our defense." ...