After losing 8-2 to the University of Northern Colorado Friday night, the Cougars made some changes, regrouped and dominated Metro State 9-0 on Saturday to finish the weekend 1-1.

The Cougars left for Colorado with high hopes of handing Northern Colorado, Div. 3 number one ranked team, their first loss of the season; however, a second period melt down by the Cougars allowed the Bears to maintain their perfect record and number-one ranking.

"They are a really good team, but we did not give then a good game," said head coach Ed Gantt. "We really let the second period get away from us. We lost a lot of face offs in our defensive zone, and the face offs we lost ended up in the back of the net."

The Bears scored five goals in the second and another two in the third to make it impossible for the Cougars to make any sort of comeback. BYU only had 28 shots on goal compared to UNC's 51.

UNC also plays on a National Hockey League size rink compared to the Olympic size that the Cougars play on at Seven Peaks. The NHL rink is smaller than an Olympic rink and makes for a faster-paced game.

"I don't think that we were ready to play on smaller ice," Gantt said. "The game was a little to fast for us, and we did not adjust like we needed to."

The one bright spot for the Cougars was a moment of silence that UNC held before the Bears faced off against the Cougars for former BYU player Jaxon Logan, who tragically passed away in an IceCat hockey game on January 21, 2005.

The disappointing loss to the Bears caused the Cougars to reevaluate their game plan and execution before playing Metro State on Saturday.

Line changes made by the coaches on Friday night sparked some offensive power in all three lines and returned the Cougars to regular BYU hockey form.

"We changed lines around going into the Metro State game and all lines clicked," Gantt said. "We spent some time trying to find a spark for all of our lines and all contributed and looked sharp out there."

Kevin Maddox got his first shut out of the season in goal and gave the Cougars their first road win of the season.

BYU will spend their second consecutive weekend on the road when they travel to Las Vegas to play the Rebels this Friday and Saturday.



Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Nov 2007