Saturday, April 25, 2015

Logan takes down Sky View in epic thriller


Cold, wet, windy and lacrosse, was the make-up for what would turn out to be an exciting Saturday night on Crimson Field, at Logan High School.

The classic Cache Valley rivalry of Logan vs. Sky View added another chapter to its already historical series Saturday night, as Logan escaped with a one goal victory 8-7, on the heels of junior goaltender Bryan Hamblin’s game-winning save in the final seconds.

After a defensive battle in the first half with the score tied 2-2, things heated up for both teams in the second half as the teams traded goals in the third quarter and Logan took a 6-5 lead heading into the fourth.

Just a few minutes into the fourth quarter Logan midfielder Hunter Horsley slipped past his defender on the left wing and took it in for a goal to take a 7-5 lead with 10 minutes left to play.

Sky View's Carson Gray would answer just a few minutes later only to be followed up by another Horsley score with just five minutes left in the game.

After a Logan penalty, Sky View would inch closer scoring in the man-up situation to make it a one goal game heading into the final minute.

After Logan won the ensuing faceoff Sky View would force a quick turnover, and in the skirmish Logan picked up another penalty, giving Sky View the ball and a man advantage for the final possession of the game with an opportunity to send it into overtime.

“We knew it was going to be close,” said Logan head coach Clay Christoffersen. “We almost expected it to come down to the final possession of the game.”

And it did.

Brock Halling caught a pass coming around the right side of the goal with a one-on-one opportunity with Logan goaltender Bryan Hamblin and was denied on the doorstep as his shot hit off of Hamblin’s stick and the game was over.

“Hamblin was awesome, the guy just has a ton of heart,” Christoffersen said. “I’m extremely happy for him.

Not only did Hamblin make the game-winning save, he had an additional four saves in the final minute to help secure the win.

“I just knew that I had to make that save, I had to it for the team and for the seniors,” Hamblin said. “The whole team just wanted to win this game so much.”

Sky View head Coach Troy Oldham said that they got the look that they wanted on the final play of the game.

“I mean everyone here saw it, we executed the play exactly how we wanted to,” Oldham said. “The goalie just made a great play and the shot bounced off of his stick.”

Despite the loss Oldham said that he extremely proud of the way his team played.

“Sometimes losses kick you down and other times they kick you forward, I think this will kick us forward,” Oldham said. “We believe in our guys heading into the end of the season.”

Horsley led the Grizzlies with five goals on the night, while Rio Thomas scored two and Kian Ben-Jacob had one goal. Sky View was led by Brock Halling who scored two goals and Stockton Huskinson, Chase Roper, Kyle Bland, Bryce Stuart and Carson Gray all had one goal apiece for the Bobcats.

Philip Cannell of Sky View finished with eight saves and Bryan Hamblin had nine for Logan.
“It’s always nice to beat Sky View, but we have three more games to go and then the playoffs,” Christoffersen said. “It’s a quick reload and we’re back at it again come Monday against Fremont.”


Both Sky View and Logan will be back in action on Monday April 27th. Sky View will take on Bonneville High School while Logan will play Fremont High.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Injuries piling up for the Grizzlies

Logan came into the season with seven senior starters on the team and after seven games there are only three seniors still actively playing due to injury.

The injuries started when last seasons starting goalie Kendall Anderson was ruled out before the first game of this season due to several health problems, which included a severe ankle injury that carried over from last season.

Since Anderson’s injury three other Logan High senior starters have suffered injuries this season that have caused them to miss several games.

The other senior starters that have suffered injuries are Clay Smith who has a collarbone injury, Zac Christoffersen with a lower back injury and Jeffery Spach who has a knee injury.

“We certainly have had our fair share of injuries to start the season,” Logan head coach Clay Christoffersen said. “You could even say that we have been plagued by injuries.”

In total Logan has lost 11 years worth of playing experience, seeing as Spach, Smith and Zac Christoffersen have been starters for the past three seasons while Anderson had been a starter for the past two. 

Coach Christoffersen said on the positive side he has been able to get a lot of the younger kids valuable playing experience that will help him and his team in the future.

“You can’t replace the abilities and experience of the players we have lost to injury this season with just one guy,” Christoffersen said. “ The team as a whole has really come together to weather the injury storm that we have been thrown into.”

Despite all of the injuries the team still has a winning record at 5-3, and they are expecting Smith and Zac Christoffersen back before the end of the week.

“We’ll see how everything feels this week in practice,” said Logan defender Clay Smith. “ I hope that I will be back to 100 percent before the end of the week.”

Coach Christoffersen said that he is hopeful that the majority of the injured players will be back in time to play rival Sky View on Saturday, April 25.


“We are hoping our guys will be back sooner rather than later,” Christoffersen said. “When they’re back we will be a very dangerous team come playoff time.”

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Logan beats up on Box Elder

Logan High ended its two game losing streak in a big way Thursday afternoon in Brigham City beating Box Elder High 11-2. The Grizzlies scored first and never looked back the rest of the way improving to a 5-3 record for the season.

After suffering two straight set backs by a combined four goals, Logan head coach Clay Christoffersen said it was important for them to come out and play like they did today.

“We came together as a team today and did a really good job executing the game plan,” Christoffersen said. “ We needed to win this game to get some momentum going into the home stretch of the regular season.”

Christoffersen said that his team has had problems finishing teams off this season but today was a different story.

“We played well as a team tonight, nine of our 11 goals were assisted on,” Logan midfielder Hunter Horsley said. “ That’s how we like to play lacrosse, sharing the ball and finding the open player for the goal.”

After a sloppy first quarter, the Grizzlies used a 5-0 run in the second quarter to take control of the game.

“ Having two full days of snow made it hard for us to prepare for the game,” Christoffersen said. “ It’s pretty cold out here but you have to expect that here in Utah this time of year, I am proud of the way we played tonight.”

Logan had seven different players find the back of the net Thursday. Hunter Horsley led the team with three goals and two assists. While Rio Thomas and Jorden Hansen both had two goals and two assists. Mason Ringle, Brandon Dodd, Chet Garlick and Noah Christoffersen each had one apiece, while Blake Chase scored both goals for Box Elder.

Bryan Hamblin had 11 saves for the Grizzlies and Mitchell Andersen had six saves for the Bees.


“We are excited about how we are playing right now,” Horsley added. “Bring on the next guys.”

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Hunter Horsley continues his face off dominance


Winning face offs is an important aspect for success on the lacrosse field. It can be the deciding factor between a win and a loss. The good thing for the Logan High lacrosse team is that they have one of the best faceoff specialists in the state. For the second straight year Logan High junior Hunter 
Horsley is statistically the best faceoff specialist in the state of Utah.

Horsley has faced off 108 times this season and has won 84 of those draws, and of the players that have faced off more than 100 times this season Horsley has the best winning percentage at 77.78 percent.

“It comes down to preparation and practice time. I always make sure that I have more than one way to win,” Horsley said. “You have to have the mindset that you will win every time so you are not thinking about anything else, just what you are going to do with the ball when you win.”

Horsley said that he has put in countless hours trying to perfect his craft, going over various different drills each and every day in an attempt to make himself better.

Horsley is regarded by many players and coaches as the best in the state.

“Hunter is a heck of a faceoff guy,” said Syracuse High head coach Dan Andersen. “All you really have to do is look at the stat page and you will see how incredible this guy is. He is just really good.”
Andersen said Horsley has been so successful that some teams have made specific game plans to try and stop him from winning every faceoff.

“We finally decided to just put a defender on him and hope that we could get the 50-50 ground ball rather than let him pick us apart all day,” Andersen said.

Horsley said that he goes into every faceoff expecting to win and that he gets his motivation from his peers and his competitive drive.


“That’s my job, as a team player I have to win the faceoff,” Horsley said. “Some days you have good games and some days you have bad ones. I just hope to keep having good games though.”

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Logan lacrosse game cancelled after snowfall

The Logan vs. Fremont boy’s lacrosse game was cancelled Tuesday evening at Crimson Field on the Logan High School campus due to high wind speeds and snowfall.

According to Logan High head coach Clay Christoffersen the decision was made mutually between him, Fremont head coach James Carter and the officials.  

“We decided to cancel the game for several reasons,” Christoffersen said. “Mainly there was just too much snow on the field, we couldn’t locate the ball effectively and the lines on the field were hard to see.”

Christoffersen said that he had a few players try and scoop the traditionally white balls in the snow and then he also threw orange balls out onto the field and he said that his players had a difficult time locating both kinds of balls. Christoffersen also said that he and a few other parents attempted to clear the snow on the field to no avail.

“It’s unfortunate for the players that they didn’t get to play today,” Christoffersen said. “Besides all of the snow and the inclement weather we also didn’t want any of the players to get hurt, so we just decided that it was best to reschedule.”

The game has already been rescheduled for April 27. The location for the game has been changed and will be played at Hillcrest Elementary School.

“I’m kind of glad the game got cancelled,” said Logan player Hunter Horsley. “I don’t like playing in the cold very much.”


Up next for Logan High will be Box Elder High School on Thursday in Brigham City. 

Monday, April 13, 2015

Logan goaltender making most of his opportunity to play

It was almost certain that Bryan Hamblin would be the junior varsity lacrosse goalie for Logan High this upcoming season, but due to some unexpected injuries to the returning starter Kendall Anderson, Hamblin is getting a chance to showcase his abilities at the varsity level.

Hamblin has been a member of the Logan High lacrosse team since he was a freshman, and after a short stint as an attack-man as a freshman, he made the transition to goalie as a sophomore and decided to stick with that position.

“I didn’t think I was going to be playing varsity this year,” Hamblin said. “When I heard Kendall wasn’t going to play this year I knew that I would have a good chance to be the starter.”

As a sophomore Hamblin saw action in two varsity games and gave up 10 goals and his save percentage was 37 percent.

“He has really improved from last season,” said Logan High head coach Clay Christoffersen. “His progress has been impressive; he has really helped the team be competitive this year and we are extremely proud.”

Hamblin is coming off his statistically best game of the season where he faced 24 shots against the Bonneville Lakers and made 13 saves.

“Hamblin really made some huge saves against Bonneville,” Christoffersen said. “He kept us in the game. He keeps getting better and better as the season goes along and that’s important.”

So far this season Hamblin has allowed six goals a game, made 56 saves and is saving 56 percent of the shots he is facing.

“I’m just trying to get better each game,” Hamblin said. “I feel like I am so much better than I was last year, I just want to help my team win games.”


Saturday, April 11, 2015

Jorden Hansen de-commits from Concordia University


Local Logan High lacrosse player Jorden Hansen has de-committed from Concordia University in Wisconsin after verbally committing to the school this past fall. He is now undecided on where he will play his college lacrosse following his senior season this year.

Hansen, who is just recently coming off a three goal, one assist performance against the Bonneville Lakers, said that it just didn’t feel right going out there and he will most likely be looking for an opportunity to stay and play here in Utah.

“I just decided that it wasn’t the best place for me,” Hansen said. “I decided not to go because I wanted to stay closer to home and it was getting a little expensive. Nothing against Concordia it just wasn’t a good fit for me.”

Hansen said that Utah State University is his top choice right now and he hasn't started to look at any other schools as of yet.

“I am just focused on my senior season right now,” Hansen said. “We’ll see what happens, but right now I am just enjoying the time I have left in high school.”

According to his fellow teammate Jeffery Spach, whichever school he chooses will get a quality player and teammate.

“He has been a good player all four years at Logan,” Spach said. “I've enjoyed our time together at Logan High. I wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up going.”

In his two years as a starter for the Grizzlies Hansen has recorded 36 goals, eight assists and picked up 66 ground balls in 19 games. Hansen still has at least six more games this season to add to his numbers and maybe more if Logan makes a run in the playoffs.