Weber State University men’s hockey played a thrilling triple-game weekend with Mile High Matchups against the University of Colorado, University of Denver and Metro State University. After securing two of three wins, the Wildcats were ranked No. 4 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Men’s D2 West rankings.
On Jan. 25, the Wildcats faced off against CU and came out on top, steamrolling the Buffaloes 9–3 in the first game of the weekend.
In the first period, the Wildcats scored two goals, with one from Rob Simmons in the first four minutes of the game and Rigo Aceves in the last minute of the first period.
Andrew Alonzo started the second period with the third goal for Weber. Kevin Norwood was the next to score in the second period, with an assist by Bryon Fobair, making this Fobair’s third assist of the night.
Jakob Besnilian scored the fourth goal of the night for the Wildcats which was assisted by Jacobi Clark. Assisted by Lewis Izadi and Luke Artukovich, Nick Demchuk finished the second period with a goal.
Weber finished the third period with three goals from Norwood, Fobair and Justin Leger. Simmons and Izadi assisted Leger in his first goal as a Wildcat. This is Leger’s first semester at Weber State after moving from Montreal, Canada. WSU was put on Leger’s radar by fellow teammate Louis Poliquin.
“It was a beautiful moment and I was waiting for it for a couple of games, and I am glad it finally happened,” Poliquin said. “We are all supporting him and welcoming him to be a part of our family.”
On Jan. 26, Weber State continued their winning streak with a 6–1 win over UD.
Demchuck scored the only goal of the first period with assistance from Norwood.
Cole VanOrman scored both of Weber’s goals in the second period. The first was assisted by Jack Jones and Besnilian and the second was assisted by Fobair and Besnilian.
Two more goals were scored by Weber in the third period. Stanford Zito scored his first two goals of the night and the season in the third period. The first goal was assisted by Aceves and Izadi, while the second was assisted by Cory Mater.
The Wildcats ended the Mile High Matchups with a 2–3 loss to Metro State University.
MSU scored the first goal of the game in the first period, followed by a goal from Demchuk which leveled the game for the Wildcats. By the end of the first period, Izadi had given WSU a 2–1 advantage.
With little time left in the second period, MSU tied up the game against Weber and finished by scoring once more in the third period, securing the win.
“We knew it was going to be a tight game, they played well,” Yosh Ryujin, Weber State’s head coach said. “I think it could have gone either way tonight, they just made one extra play more than we did.”
Weber State will host The Wasatch Cup with home games on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m.
