Weber State University hockey player Kody Rodriguez handles the puck in a game earlier this season. The Wildcats defeated Loyola Marymount University 9-2 Saturday night.
Coming off of a thrilling 5-4 shootout win Friday night over No. 8-ranked Loyola Marymount University, the Weber State University hockey team faced the Lions again on Saturday night. The Wildcats controlled the whole game and won by a score of 9-2.
Junior Phill Jennrich led the Wildcats with three goals in the game. Sophomore Jeremiah Holmes added two goals and an assist.
“I felt like we controlled the whole thing,” Jennrich said. “We were shooting and just stuck to our game. We stuck to what we were supposed to do and we took control of the game. We didn’t have any mental breakdowns like we did the game before.”
The Lions capitalized on an opportunity early in the first period. LMU junior Archie Ogani stole a pass in the neutral zone and raced all the way down the ice and found the back of the net. That gave LMU a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats took control from there. WSU equalized the game midway through the period with a goal from senior Braxton Green.
Weber State University hockey player Phill Jennrich shoots the puck in a game earlier this season. Jennrich had three goals Saturday in a WSU game against Loyola Marymount University.
Green added another goal in the final minute of the quarter to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead going into the second period. The Wildcats had 11 shots on goal in the first period.
“Today was a lot different,” Green said. “We were moving the puck a lot better. We played a full 60 minutes. We worked as a team. Everyone contributed. We had about four or five people score goals. That was huge.”
The Wildcats continued to pressure the net, but the Lions were next on the board midway through the second period. LMU again had an unassisted goal, this one from sophomore Kyle Martins.
It was all Wildcats for the rest of the game. With nine minutes left in the second period, Jennrich completed the hat trick on an assist from freshman Landon Aylor.
With seven minutes to go, Holmes found the back of the net off of an assist from freshman Zach Endicott. The score after two periods was 6-2.
“It felt good getting back out after being in that fight,” said Holmes, having sat out Friday’s game. “It was just like any other game. You go out and play hard going for that win.”
With four minutes gone in the third period, Holmes found his brother Jacob on a power play and he found the back of the net. Holmes got another goal with nine minutes left in the period.
The last goal came from sophomore Dax Hobbs with six minutes left. The final score was 9-2.
“That’s what the score should have been (Friday),” said WSU head coach Joe Pfleegor. “We played the same way. The shots on goal were almost identical. We outshot them 33-21. We just buried the puck today.”
The Wildcats will now return home to host the Beehive Showcase tournament from Thursday to Sunday at the Weber County Ice Sheet. Teams from Boise State University, Northern Arizona University, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, San Jose State University, Brigham Young University, the University of Utah and Utah State University will compete along with WSU.
WSU will have four games over the weekend, the first being Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Montana Tech.
