In the last two games of the regular season, Weber State University’s men’s hockey went up against in-state rival Utah State University on Feb. 14 at The Weber County Ice Sheet, losing 3–2, and then on Feb. 15 at the George S. Eccles Ice Center in Logan, winning 6–4.

In the last home game of the season for the Wildcats, they took on the Utah State Aggies for the fifth time this season. The record against the Aggies on the season was 1–3. Weber looked to give the home crowd one last hurrah before the closing of the 2024-25 season.

Utah State had a different idea; one in which they close the gap and win the overall series on the season. Utah State took a 2–0 lead towards the end of the second period before Weber answered the call and put one in the back of the net.

The third period was owned by the Wildcats, with Kevin Norwood scoring the tying goal to send the game to overtime at an even 2–2 scoreline.

Twenty seconds into the overtime, a controversial penalty was called on the Wildcats and Utah State capitalized nine seconds later to steal the win at 3–2.

“I think the refs did a really good job today,” head coach Yosh Ryujin said. “They’ve got to make a split-second decision on what they want to do, and they felt like there was a trip there. Personally, I think it was a tough call for us to get, especially in overtime.”

The Wildcats would now look to bounce back as they take on the Aggies again, this time on their home ice.

“If we can bottle up what we did in the last half of that game — that’s the style, that’s the determination, that’s the will to win, the will to compete that we’re looking for from this team,” Ryujin said.

Weber’s rematch with the Aggies the following night ended differently, with the Wildcats coming out on top on rival ice. The result took Weber’s record against Utah State to 2–4 and spoiled the Aggie’s final home game of the regular season.

After Utah State took the lead 10 minutes into the first period through forward Zach Pires, an own goal and an unassisted goal from forward Caden Hunter gave the Wildcats a 2–1 advantage at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Hunter extended that advantage to 3–1 for Weber after only 27 seconds of play. Goals from Sean Johnston and Jackson Ferry brought the Aggies back to level terms with the Wildcats at 3–3, but Weber did not look back after that and a dominant third period saw the game end in a 6–4 Wildcat win.

Weber State will now turn its attention toward the regional championships that will begin next week.