By Ryan Carlson (@RyanCarlson88):
It was deja vu in the desert for the San Jose State club hockey team on their Arizona road trip. The Spartans were anticipating a competitive matchup against Williston State Tetons, yet ended up in the same predicament as their last game, losing by a lopsided margin of 9-1.
Only producing 10 shots and getting one goal is exactly what happened in the Spartans match against Northern Arizona.
After junior forward Nick Romeo scored midway in the first period which cut Willistons lead in half, the Spartans looked as if they would keep it close. That wasn’t the case as after that goal it was all Williston.
“A lot of mental breakdowns, they just need to play basic hockey. Work on communication and positional play,” said SJSU assistant coach Jimmy Keith.
Keith also emphasized the importance of going hard every shift and because of the shorter roster this weekend, he expects every shift to be 30-45 seconds.
Junior forward Romeo Sandoval played a strong game in his own right being involved in the physical play and moving the puck.
“We had heart, start to finish, that’s all that matters,” Sandoval said. “Sometimes we can get in our own heads mentally and it can be tough to get out. Yeah the physicality can have its toll, but we gotta play our hardest regardless of the circumstance.”
A common theme among all the Spartans is that they never give up and have chemistry in the locker room. It’s just a matter of execution in specific areas such as passing and controlling the puck.
The Spartans will close out the weekend road trip against the Utah State Aggies on Saturday afternoon and then gear up for a long trip back home.