CINCINNATI — The Bearcats basketball team is in a world of hurt after Saturday’s 80-52 loss to BYU. Neil Meyer and I assess that outing and preview the latest Tuesday night road battle against Utah on Bearcat Blitz.
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The frustration in the Utah Hockey Club locker room is rising.
Utah is now on a five-game losing streak after Sunday night’s 2-1 setback to the St. Louis Blues, with the last three losses coming at home.
Nothing Utah HC doing seems to be working, and the players are starting to recognize it.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings about this,” said veteran defenseman Ian Cole after the game. “I think that everyone’s really said just about all that could be said. At some point, it needs to get put in practice on the ice.”
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Head coach André Tourigny agreed.
“You want to win,” he said after the game. “You want to find a way to cross the finish line and stuff like that. I don’t think we played that well today.”
The team is left looking for answers to more questions than just what it should be called next season. They have one game left in their current home stand, and its importance is not lost on Tourigny.
“It’s an extremely huge game for us (Tuesday) against Philly,” he said. “We need the two points; We need to finish the home stand at least at .500, hit the road and have a hell of a road trip before the break. There’s no doubt about it.”
Here’s a rundown of Sunday’s game.
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How this works
This is a three-part article geared toward three different audiences.
First, we’ll have “Utah hockey for dummies” for all you new hockey fans. Welcome, by the way — we’re glad you’ve taken an interest in the greatest sport in the world.
Next, we’ll have a section titled “Utah hockey for casual fans,” aimed at those who have a basic understanding of the sport.
Finally, we’ll have “Utah hockey for nerds.” That will be for those of you who, like me, think about nothing but hockey all day, every day.
Feedback is welcome, so let me know what you think in the comments of this article or the comments section on “X.”
Utah Hockey for dummies
As mentioned in the pregame article, a number of Utah players have had great success in against the Blues in their respective careers.
Defenseman Michael Kesselring continued his offensive streak against St. Louis with Utah’s only goal of the game. He now has goals in all three games against the Blues this season and he has points in all four games he’s ever played against them.
“(I’m) a little lucky, I guess,” Kesselring said of his scoring tendency against the Blues. “It was nice to get one there.”
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On the other hand, two point streaks came to an end. Nick Schmaltz had scored points in each of his previous 11 games against the Blues, while St. Louis-area native Clayton Keller had done so in each of his previous eight contests versus his hometown team.
It was not for a lack of effort. Keller and Schmaltz, who play on the same line, seemed to be feeding off each other all night. They were responsible for more than their fair share of Utah’s scoring chances, but they just couldn’t get anything past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.
It culminated in Keller’s third-period bomb on the power play. Upon receiving a perfect pass from Mikhail Sergachev, Keller let it fly and drilled the crossbar.
The puck went so high that the fans on the left side of the net thought it might fly above the netting and into their section of the stands.
Utah Hockey for casual fans
Since Connor Ingram’s return to the lineup, he has given his team a chance to win every time he’s tended the net. Utah has struggled to score though, which means he’s gotten credit for a few more losses than he’s deserved.
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In his six games since returning, he has a .910 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average. He’s not the most technically sound goaltender, but he’s finds ways to make saves — and that’s what ultimately matters.
For example, nearing the halfway mark of the first period Sunday with Utah killing a penalty, Ingram made an excellent save in tight on Oskar Sundqvist.
Ingram was down and out, but he managed to get his stick in position to block Sundqvist’s next bid and keep the game knotted at zero. Ingram has given his team all the support in the world. The team needs to start returning the favor by scoring enough goals to win.
Utah Hockey for nerds
To the Blues’ credit, Utah HC’s biggest problem was something the Blues did well rather than something UHC did poorly: congest the offensive zone.
In the first two periods especially, Utah couldn’t get anything to the inner slot without five white sweaters blocking every lane. That forced them to either shoot from the outside or cough the puck up.
“We made some tactical adjustments after the second to build more speed through the neutral zone,” Tourigny said after the game. “We’re happy about the result and it’s something we’ll try to duplicate.”
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According to Natural Stat Trick’s data, Utah controlled just 23.08% of the high-danger scoring chances in the first period and 33.33% of those chances in the second.
Statistically speaking, Tourigny’s adjustments worked in the third period: Utah HC had 83.33% of the high-danger chances in the third period.
What’s next?
Utah closes out its home stand on Tuesday as it hosts the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers are in second-to-last place in the Eastern Conference standings, but there’s so much parity in the east that they’re onlyseven points out of the playoffs.
They made a big trade last week to acquire Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko, the latter of whom is due for a bounce-back season. He scored 39 goals and 74 points as a member of the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, but he hasn’t come close to that since.
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Neither player has suited up for the Flyers yet. It’s unclear why Pelletier hasn’t played, but Kuzmenko is experiencing visa issues, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall.
Being the last game of the home stand, it’s the last day to vote on the team name and branding.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Sunday, Utah! It has been a soggy weekend so far for the valleys with heavy mountain snowfall.
The wet weather will continue Sunday with mainly heavy mountain snow and some valley rain. An atmospheric river has been pumping moisture into northern Utah, keeping steady snow for portions of northern Utah, mainly north of Ogden, and bursts of rain and snow south to Utah County. Throughout the day, the moisture will start shifting into Idaho, and snowfall south of Ogden will wind down.
By the time it’s all said and done, Tony Grove and Logan Summit are looking at about 1 to 3 feet of snow, with some spots possibly seeing over 4 feet. The Cottonwoods and Provo Canyon should get between 1 and 2 feet, with a few areas hitting 3 feet. Snow levels will be between 7,500 and 8,000 feet by Sunday morning, meaning mountain valleys will see rain.
Looking ahead, Monday and Tuesday will feel more like April than early February, with warm, windy conditions pushing highs into the 60s along the Wasatch Front and even the 70s in parts of southern Utah. A weak system on Wednesday will bring cooler temperatures, some mountain snow, and possibly a mix of rain and snow in the valleys. By Friday and Saturday, a stronger storm could bring a big cold front and heavy mountain snow, but the details still need time to be worked out. Stay tuned!
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We’ll keep you posted on the latest developments in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!
The University of Utah lacrosse team opened its 2025 season with a statement victory, upsetting No. 19 Ohio State 19-13 at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday afternoon. This marks the first time in program history that the Utes have defeated a ranked opponent in their season opener.
Utah wasted no time setting the tone, scoring the game’s first goal at the 9:34 mark in the first quarter through sophomore Cade Faulkner. While the Buckeyes quickly responded to tie the game, that would be the last time the score was level. The Utes surged ahead with a dominant 5-1 run to close out the first quarter and maintained control throughout the contest. By halftime, Utah had built a comfortable lead, which they extended with ten second-half goals.
The Utes outshot Ohio State 43-39, with 34 of their attempts on target. Dominance at the face off also played a crucial role in their victory, as Utah won 23 of the game’s 34 drops.
Utah’s offensive firepower was led by freshman Luke McNamara, who delivered a career-high five goals on 12 shots. Senior Cody Hart also had a career day, netting four goals and totaling five points. Junior Ryan Stines contributed significantly, scoring twice and assisting on three other goals.
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Defensively, juniors Nikko DiPonio and Tyler Kloeckl were pivotal, each securing nine groundballs. Kloeckl also dominated at the faceoff X, winning 21-of-29 attempts. In goal, sophomore Colin Lenskold provided a steady presence, recording 12 saves.
The Utes’ 44 groundballs rank ninth in program history, and their 23 faceoff wins tie for sixth all-time.
Utah will look to continue its momentum when it hosts Delaware at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m. ET.