Brett Lawrence scored the lone goal against Utah State University.

The Utah State University Aggies skated into Mountlake Terrace with a
number four next to their name in the ACHA-West power rankings.
Despite skating with USU, and some of the best hockey the Dawgs have
played this season, they were unable to upset the Aggies as they
dropped the first game in the series 4-1.

Missed passes and slight defensive miscues which have plagued the
Huskies against ranked opponents all season were not present against
the Aggies Organization. The Dawgs were simply just not able to get the
puck past USU goaltender Chris Webber, who turned away all but one of
the Huskies 26 shots on goal.

The Dawgs came out of their customary 10-minute warm-up before the
game with fire yet to be seen by the home crowd of OlympicView Arena.
The Dawgs matched the physical play that Utah State brought to the
table and a defensive tenacity that turned away attempts by the Aggies
to take the early lead.

After trading penalties in the onset of the first period, both teams skated
a fast paced game that saw little to no stoppages of play.

The pace was finally broken by Utah State, who got on the board first
with five minutes remaining in the opening period. Matt Harrow, no
stranger to using any method possible to keep the opposition from
scoring, stopped a barrage of shots coming at him from point blank range.
Harrow dove to his right in an attempt to cover the puck, but could only
roll his eyes back as he watched from the ice the puck tickle the twine
behind him.

Seconds later, the Dawgs were whistled to a two minute penalty
sentence, and the Aggies looked to drive the nail in the coffin early.
However, the Husky skaters dug for something they have become
accustomed to the entire year, the short-handed goal. The constant
pressure put on by the Dawgs, even down by a man, was able to kill the
penalty and start to move the momentum over to the Husky bench.

With a minute left, Husky captain Brett Lawrence looked for his assistant
captain Sean O’Brien with a geometrically perfect pass off of the glass.
The puck ended up on the blade of O’Brien’s stick with only one man to
beat, USU’s Chris Webber. Webber was able to successfully turn the shot
away, and the first ended with a 1-0 advantage for Utah State.

The only element working against the Dawgs was luck. With Utah State
holding a 1-0 in the second period, a puck flipped into the Washington
zone hit the boards behind the net. As the puck coasted towards UW
goalie Matt Harrow, a collection miscue resulted in the puck hitting Harrow
and then resting in the back of the net. The goal gave Utah State a two-
goal advantage and the momentum needed to stave off the hungry Husky
skaters.

Even with the Dawgs clawing as hard as the could to crawl back into the
game, the second period would find that the Aggies would only need one
minute and thirty four seconds to put the game out of reach for the
Huskies.

After the misplay by Harrow, the Aggies struck quickly nine seconds later
with a quick one timer by USU’s Jacob Guttormsen courtesy of a nifty pass
from Nick Thiros behind the Washington net. Then a minute and a few
spare seconds later, USU forward Nick Haase finished the scoring with
putting away an attempted clear back into the Husky net.

Even though the Dawgs were down by four goals and the game was
quickly falling out of reach, they continued to put pressure on Chris
Webber and the rest of the USU defense.

With half of the third period gone, the Dawgs finally cracked Webber as
Brett Lawrence punished the top right corner of the net with a shot that
Webber finally didn’t have an answer for.

Usually, not many positives can be taken out of a 4-1 loss. However, the
Huskies played inspired defense and put shots on goal, and everyone had
a reason to hold their chin up because they simply didn’t give up.

Positives were to be found in many aspects of the Dawgs game, from
crisp passing, solid defense and a steady offensive attack. Lawrence saw
it very simply. “Take out three minutes, and that is a 1-1 hockey game,”
he said. “It was our best game.”

The coaching staff was equally as optimistic about the outlook for the
Dawgs the rest of the season. “The win was within our reach,” said
assistant coach Zoë Harris following the loss, “It was a back and forth
game that could have gone either way. Every game we get better and
every game we learn something. Tonight, the boys never gave up and
learned they can skate with the best in the West.”