OGDEN – A pair of third-period goals from Weber State’s Josh Giudice and Jeremiah Holmes sent Friday’s game with the fifth-ranked San Jose State Spartans into overtime and an eventual 4-3 shootout win for the Wildcats.
As shootouts are primarily for show in the American Collegiate Hockey Association the game officially ended as a tie, but try telling that to the roaring Wildcat faithful at The Ice Sheet after watching their squad come from behind against one of the best teams in the region.
“It goes down as a tie because it’s the NCAA,” Weber coach Joe Pfleegor said. “But we like to do it for the fans.”
WSU continues is roll after another 5-2 win over visiting UNLV on Thursday night.
Pfleegor says Friday’s win was even more dramatic considering he has three playmakers in Robby Knott, Curtis Snowball and Chris Roberts out for various reasons.
“That line alone is goals galore,” he said. “But the guys fought through, fought from behind, they overcame and they got more points against a top-five team.”
The San Jose State offense kept WSU on their heels through the first period and opened scoring on a goal from Arthur Arias.
Sam Cimino made it 2-0 for the Spartans early in the second after burying a rebound just as WSU goalie Ian Franke was knocked back into the net.
Freshman forward Dax Hobbs put Weber State on the board after picking up a puck in the neutral zone, skating in and landing a snap-shot to the right corner past San Jose goalie Mario Retana for his 23rd goal of the year.
San Jose State struck again with ten minutes left in the game as Kyle Dutra pounded a puck past Franke in heavy traffic to make it 3-1.
Two minutes later, WSU grabbed a power-play score to get back within one as Josh Guidice hammered in a loose puck for his 16th tally of the season and with the Wildcats still riding the momentum shift, Jeremiah Holmes evened the game at three with five minutes left.
Weber State sent shots at Retana with a frantic pace through the third period and overtime and ended with 46 shots on the night to San Jose’s 37.
Franke was solid in-goal for the Wildcats down the stretch and logged 34 stops including a big glove save with 5 seconds left in OT.
Hobbs and team captain Braxton Green each logged scores in the ceremonious overtime as Franke shut out the Spartans.
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