One bad period. That was all it took for the San Jose State Spartans' season to come to an end as they fell to the University of Utah Skatin' Utes by a final score of 6-3.

The #7 Spartans were hosting the ACHA Division II West Regional from Sharks' Ice at Fremont when they faced #6 Utah in the first round last Saturday. SJSU captain Kyle Dutra was able to tie up the game at 1-1 headed to the first intermission, but it all fell apart with a 4-goal second period for the Utes.

"I know this was what (hopefully) everyone was thinking about from sun-up to sun-down, every day the prior week," said Spartan forward Steven Stichler. "We needed to mentally and physically be ready to come back to the bench, every shift, exhausted and ready for more. We forgot that hunger, it seemed."

It just seemed like something was off for the Spartans in the second, a problem they've been having all year. Julian Huguet, who saw every game either in the broadcast booth or down at ice-level as a goaltender, agreed: "For some reason we were never able to keep up the energy from minutes 20 to 40, and we let in 4 goals in the most important game of the season because of it."

That's not to say the Spartans rolled over in the second period. Their offense kept them in the game with 2 goals of their own from Dutra and Sam Cimino. If not for the tight defense in the third period, from both teams, the game could have easily been tied up.

The shot totals finished very even: 41-37 in favor of Utah, plenty of opportunities for SJSU to climb back in, but Utah goaltender Pete Gibb had a wonderful night between the pipes. "We had plenty of chances to capitalize on and the puck didn't bounce our way. We hit the post a few times but never gave up and took the momentum in the last period, but it was too late," said forward James Lopez.

Ute forward Tadas Tsibulskis put the final nail in the coffin for the Spartans' season with the empty net goal with 2:05 remaining in the game. It was the lone goal in the last period.

Now that the season is over, how do the Spartans look at their first-round exit and their season as a whole? Can they be content with making it to post-season play in their first season under Head Coach Aaron Mullagh?

The answer seems to be a pretty unanimous 'no.' "No one is satisfied with how we ended the season. I still believe this group of 25 men are capable of winning the national tournament, and I can find you 24 others who agree with me" said Julian Huguet.

General Manager Andy Dickerson echoed that sentiment: "The team's expectations were to win a National Title. That was unequivocally stated by the players and the coaches from Day 1."

That's not just a cliche handed out for interviews, that's the truth. When I had the chance to join the team on their road trips in Arizona and Colorado, winning the National Championship was a major focus in the all the team meetings.

So, by the Spartans' own accounts, they fell short of expectations, but there were still many positives to take out of this year. There was tremendous growth from the players who were put in new roles this year.

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The San Jose State Spartans faced a huge test on the road in Colorado. After falling 6-4 to #3 Colorado State, SJSU finished with 7-1, 7-4, and 7-5 wins against Northern Colorado, #4 Colorado, and then #10 Denver.

It was a huge weekend for the team against some strong competition. "We showed all the teams that we're a force to be reckoned with," said forward Lathan Logan.

But before they left for the Centennial State, the Spartans had to tie up a few loose ends at home. It started with a 5-2 win over Santa Rosa Junior College. Lathan Logan received the honors for first star that night with 2 assists and 1 new fiancé. He proposed to his girlfriend Victoria on the ice before the game.

It was a nerve-racking time for the Spartan's senior forward. "My face was white. It was really scary, but she's the woman I want to be with for the rest of my life," said Logan. Things seemed to work out though. "Yeah, it went good: she said 'yes'!"

The good news didn't stop there for San Jose State. After a pre-game ceremony to honor the nine graduating seniors from the team, SJSU was able to hold on to a 5-4 win over Boise State. There was a great representation of Spartan fans in the stands that gave the team a roaring send-off.

The team flew out to Denver International Airport Wednesday night with a rematch looming against Colorado State the next night. Due to some confusion, the regular starting goaltender, Michael Steininger, did not have his pads with him for the game.

Justin Linn would get the start in goal against the Rams, but the change in net seemed irrelevant. It was conditioning that beat the Spartans. Colorado State dominated the offensive game in the last 25 minutes and a 4-3 lead after two periods evaporated into a 6-4 loss.

To steal a phrase from Yogi Berra, "It's deja vu all over again" as the Spartans lost by the same score to the same team back in San Jose just a few weeks earlier. The team also lost forward Mason Console for the rest of the trip with an injury sustained against the Rams.

That game, however, was the only bump in the road for San Jose State.

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The San Jose State Spartans Hockey Club came out of the Royal Coach Tours Gold Rush Showcase with two wins and two close losses to high ranked teams.

The Spartans needed to change their momentum as they had dropped three straight before the showcase, but it would not be an easy task as they faced strong opposition from the ACHA’s West region: #1 Arizona State, #7 San Diego State, #3 Colorado State and Weber State.

ASU was a foe that had just recently dispatched San Jose State 9-3 back in Tempe, but the Spartans would not allow themselves to lose like that again. The two teams played through a well-played defensive game before the Spartans would fall to the Sun Devils 1-0.

The effort was there, but the result was still a loss; now the fourth in a row.

The next night, the Spartans would put it all together against San Diego State. Energized by Sam Cimino’s return to the line-up, SJSU had their strongest performance of the year.

“There's a very close connection between our two teams,” said Spartan GM Andy Dickerson. “A lot of our players played with a lot of their players growing up, so there's a good rivalry there.”

Led by Cimino’s 3 points (1-2-3) and a great game between the pipes by Justin Linn, the Spartans had every part of their game working well: offense, defense, goaltending, power play, and penalty kill.

The third game of the showcase featured the Colorado State Rams. The Spartans were able to tie the game at 4-4 in the third period before the Rams would eventually add 2 more. SJSU sophomore center Nicholas Matejovsky had a hand in each of the Spartans’ four goals, putting one in himself, and adding three assists to that.

“Lately, I've been putting on extra effort.” said Matejovsky after practice earlier this week, “I'm going to training everyday, trying to perfect small things in my game. And it's actually been paying off lately. I'm just happy to see some results. I hope it continues and just gets better from here.”

He would continue that hot streak into SJSU’s final game of the showcase against Weber State, netting a hat-trick to give him 7 goals in as many games for the Spartans.

The Weber State Wildcats, honestly, were not a match for SJSU. Only nine skaters were dressed for Weber, and despite the best efforts of their goaltender Jonas Torgensen, the Spartans broke it open in the third period. With a 7-0 lead, a certain Spartan third-string goaltender was able to make his debut.

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The San Jose State Spartans started the second semester very differently from their first. The opponents and results of the first two games were the same, but that's where the similarities end. And it certainly didn't continue on the high note that the first semester did.

Broadcaster/third-string goaltender Julian Huguet may have put it best: "I think I can sum it up with the word 'bleegghh'. That's it."

First up, before the trip to Arizona, was a familiar foe for San Jose State: the College of the Canyons Cougars. Unlike the high-scoring affairs these teams played in the first semester, it was a goalie duel as SJSU's Justin Linn and CoC's Taylor Spesak had 51 and 53 saves, respectively. Sam Cimino scored all 4 goals for the Spartans, who took the first game 4-2.

Game 2 was a penalty-filled affair with the pesky Cougars. The Spartans' Robbie Vaughan notched the game-winner on the power play with under a minute to go to make it 4-3, and held off the Cougars just long enough: one more puck passed by the Spartan's goaltender half a second after the final buzzer.

The Spartans would escape with 2 wins to start the semester, but their path would only get tougher with the 3-game road trip to Arizona to take on the Arizona State's Division 1 and 2 squads, as well as Northern Arizona D2.

I was given the opportunity to travel with the team on their trip down south. Between the plane and bus trips, team meetings and rooming with the team, I must say I was impressed and gained a whole new perspective on the hard work that these players put in to the game.

We flew down to Tempe Wednesday night as the Spartans planned to play David to ASU's Goliath the next night. Defeating any Division 1 school in the ACHA would be tough enough, but the Arizona State Sun Devils came in as the #3 ranked team in the nation.

The Spartans held their own on Thursday night at the oddly named Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, AZ. It started with a strong, scoreless first against the Sun Devils.

A flat start to the second period for SJSU would give ASU the 3-0 lead, but the Spartans showed the heart to come back and make it 3-2 Arizona State. The Sun Devils would make it 4-2 later in the game and eventually add one more on an empty-netter.

The game was not the only thing lost that night, however. Star forward Sam Cimino was lost for the entire weekend with an injury sustained in the first period.

"It'd be a real easy cop-out to say that was a reason for our lack of success," said Head Coach Aaron Mullagh. "Obviously we miss Sam a lot, he's a large part of our offense, and we're just really happy to have him back in the lineup this week."

One can only wonder if the Spartans could have tied it up had Cimino not been injured. Regardless, the Spartans sent a message to the rest of the ACHA: They could compete with absolutely any team in the league.

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The San Jose State Spartans hockey team are getting ready to begin the second semester of play this season. They finished the first semester with a 10-7-1 record and a ranking of ninth in the ACHA Division 2 West Region. However, from the general feeling I've gotten from talking to the team, they feel like they could do much better.

They'll have the chance to improve in the second half with a schedule that includes challenging road trips to Arizona and Colorado. But they'll start this weekend with a two-game series against the College of the Canyon Cougars, a Division 3 team who are currently on a 13-game winning streak after dropping a pair of games to this SJSU squad to start the year.

I had a chance to sit down with Spartans Head Coach Aaron Mullagh after practice this week for a few quick questions. Mullagh is entering his second semester as Head Coach for the team.

Coach Mullagh, in the last game for the Spartans before the break, you had a disappointing 3-5 loss against the Division 3 Sacramento State Hornets. What went wrong for the Spartans in that game?

It was a variety of things. Obviously, we had a bit of a slow start that we didn't like, and had a tough time recovering from that. [We] came out, and the guys didn't play a full sixty minutes of hockey.

In the third period they certainly did, they played very well. Unfortunately the goaltender stepped up and played really well. I believe we had 20+ shots and he was able to stonewall the guys. It was a little bit of a lesson of 'too little, too late.'

What were your thoughts on the team for your first semester as the new head coach of this squad?

It was an interesting transition period. We're happy and fortunate to finish in the top 10 rankings every month. Which, I believe we deserved to every month. But I think we look back at it and we'd like to have finished a little bit better. But everything is sort of day-by-day and game-by-game.

The gentleman are starting to understand the process of the way to win hockey games. And it's just a matter of playing a full sixty minutes game-in, game-out. And I have no doubt the guys learned a lot of valuable lessons. Sometimes you've got to fail to succeed. They had a few failures, seven losses, and each one of those came with a valuable lesson.

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Photo courtesy of HockeyShots Photography

The San Jose State Spartans Hockey Club skates out on to the ice to a nice applause from the crowd in attendance at Sharks Ice before the semester finale game against Sacramento State. The chill doesn’t penetrate the layers of gear and pads of Julian Huguet, third-string goaltender and self-pronounced "first-string broadcaster" for the Spartans.

Both teams are warming up for the upcoming game, but San Jose State is taking their team picture today as well. Everyone on the team is in uniform on the ice. Huguet isn’t in this position often. "I haven't played a minute yet this season; I haven't even suited up for a game, but my love for the game has grown all the more."

Huguet isn’t the only one who feels this way; the sentiment seems to be shared by everyone involved with the team. "This game is built on dedication and passion," said Head Coach Aaron Mullagh. "The more dedicated you are, the better the success you have."

But that level of dedication may be expected considering that this is a club team. Just to get on team, there are club fees that cost each new player $4000, $3500 as a returning player. "To put up that kind of money," said Andy Dickerson, the team‘s General Manager, "with many of the players having to fundraise or pay out of pocket, and commit themselves to show up to the rink three times per week for practice, play sometimes as many as four games in four days, and still balance school and work commitments, takes a great deal of discipline and personal fortitude."

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The San Jose State men's ice hockey club team started the 2011-2012 season by sweeping the College of the Canyons Cougars in a two-game series over the weekend at Sharks' Ice in San Jose. The Spartans won game one on Friday night by the score of 7-5, and continued their winning ways with a 9-5 victory less than twenty-four hours later. It was a strong start against the Cougars, the defending Division III national champions.

The Spartans finished last season 17-10 overall before being eliminated in pool play at the ACHA Division II National Championships, which they hosted. It was a season mired in controversy and these first two games were the first chapters in a new era in Spartan hockey.     

The Friday night game featured seven different goal-scorers for SJSU. "Instead of having more of devoted checking line or a grinder line, all four lines have guys with scoring touches. I can personally vouch that everybody, all four lines, I know there's someone dangerous out there, who can put the puck in the net and has the confidence to do it," said third-string goaltender and team broadcaster, Julian Huguet in an interview conducted this week.

That's a new philosophy for this Spartan team brought by new head coach Aaron Mullagh. Mullagh, who hails from Burnaby, British Columbia, was hired this summer and replaced Ron Glasow, the only head coach since the team was founded in 1990.

Coaching isn't the only difference between last year's squad and the current roster. Last season's top playmaker Andy Dickerson, shutdown defenseman Jeff Sawhill and former captain Mickey Rhodes moved on from the team in the off-season.

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