WSU ends season right

Three players on Weber State University's Division I Hockey Team accounted for four of the five goals Saturday night against Utah State University. The Wildcats beat the Aggies 5-4 in both teams' final game of the season. After a 4-1 win the previous night in Logan, the Wildcats got off to a shaky start, with USU scoring two powerplay goals in the first nine minutes of the game. With 19 seconds left in the first period, WSU senior captain Ian Soldano, playing the last game of his career, put the puck in the net to send the Wildcats into the second period down by only one goal. The second period was all Wildcats, with a goal apiece from Chris Cotsilis and Dane Ludolph. "We got off to a slow start," Ludolph said. "Communication was key, and we just weren't talking to each other. After we fixed that problem, the goals started coming." WSU forward Anton Volkov also said they started to realize it was some of the guys' last collegiate game, so they wanted to send them out on a win. Both the Aggies and the Wildcats scored two goals each in the third period, with Weber State keeping their one-goal advantage. The two goals came from Volkov and Cotsilis. The Ludolph-Cotsilis-Volkov line was unstoppable on the weekend. After only playing together since the start of the second semester, the trio contributed 75 percent of the points on this final weekend. Volkov had five points in two games, and Cotsilis and Ludolph each had four. All three players are expected back next season The Wildcats also noted their appreciation of the crowd support on Saturday night and said they hope it continues on to next year. "It was a good way to end the season," Volkov said. "We just wanted to have fun and that's what we did." Weber State only had five penalties during the game and the Aggies had no penalties. The two WSU seniors on the team, Soldano and Aaron Dufford, each contributed two points in the win, and goalie Kyle Gover saved 32 of 36 shots. Ludolph credited the two-game sweep to a hard week of practice. "We really made sure we prepared for these guys because of the rivalry," Ludolph said. "I'm glad to see it paid off in the end." After losing a few players at the end of the first semester and a coaching change early in the season, WSU players said the team was satisfied with the way the season ended up. The DI Wildcats won only a handful of games in the first half of the season, and only lost a few games the second half of the season. The returning players have high hopes for next year. "Along with hoping everyone from this year comes back," Ludolph said, "I'd like to see organization and commitment next year. Considering some of the things we went through this season, I thought we ended up pretty good." Now the team goes back to the drawing board and must work on rebuilding for next year after this somewhat disappointing season. This is the first year that the DI Wildcats have not qualified for the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament in the four years of the program.

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