(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)
MINNEAPOLIS – Two weeks ago, the Arizona State men’s hockey team celebrated their senior graduating class with a pivotal sweep over American International at Oceanside Ice Arena.
Fast forward to March 2nd on a chilly Minnesota night, senior night came back to bite as the Golden Gophers honored their eight seniors before the night’s contest.
Despite a monumental second-half push, the No. 12 Sun Devils fell to the Golden Gophers 5-2 in the final game of the regular season at Mariucci Arena.
“[Minnesota] came out hard and outplayed us in the first,” coach Greg Powers said after the game. “We had a tremendous push back … I’m proud of the guys that they did not quit tonight. We’re not going to let this weekend define us.”
For the second consecutive night right out of the gate, junior goaltender Joey Daccord and the Sun Devils faced heavy adversity in the defensive zone.
Just 42 seconds into the opening shift, Gopher senior forward Jack Ramsey whistled the first shot of the game into the white webbing. Immediately, the atmosphere filled with a loud and uproarious cheer in the jam-packed arena as Minnesota broke the ice with an early 1-0 lead.
The pressure was relentless by the Gophers explosive offense, outshooting ASU 15-3 after twenty minutes of play.
Before the end of the first period, a pair of weak shots by senior forward Darian Romanko and freshman forward Sampo Ranta trickled their way past Daccord on unfortunate rebounds, extending the Gopher advantage to 3-0 after the opening period of play.
Minnesota would not look back from there. Despite a strong sense of urgency and feistiness to start the second frame, the Sun Devils’ struggles continued.
As sophomore defenseman Jacob Wilson delivered a blow to the head of the attacking Sampo Ranta, the Gophers capitalized on a 2-on-1 rush with the easy tap-in by sophomore forward Brannon McManus for a 4-0 lead. Wilson was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for the hit to the head.
Life was lost on the Sun Devils’ bench. The team needed momentum for any hope at a comeback. Even with the overwhelming atmosphere in the arena, the Sun Devils would not give up.
While killing off the five-minute major, sophomore forward Dominic Garcia stripped the puck away from a Gopher defenseman and raced up the ice for a breakaway beauty.
It was Garcia’s second goal of the season and ASU’s fifth short-handed goal of the year. More importantly, Garcia’s tally provided the crucial spark that put a dent into Minnesota’s lead, 4-1.
Despite the massive workload ahead, the Sun Devils were not finished quite yet.
After some nifty puck-moving and skating in the offensive zone, led by freshman defenseman Josh Maniscalco, the Sun Devils muscled their way toward the Gophers’ crease and Brett Gruber buried the loose rebound for his seventh goal of the season, cutting the Gophers’ edge in half.
ASU’s momentum from the second period carried over to the third period, but the full 20 minutes displayed an unrelenting uphill battle.
At the 15:53 mark of the third period, the Sun Devils finally earned their first power play opportunity of the night, after five consecutive (15-straight including last night) calls against them.
“I thought we much more disciplined tonight,” Powers said. “I don’t like Wilson’s hit. It cost us a goal. That’s the biggest thing. But overall, I thought we played a really clean game.”
Without the nation’s leading goal scorer Johnny Walker, the Sun Devils’ top power play unit was discombobulated, failing to connect on the finishing touches.
As a result, the Gophers collected three consecutive breakaway chances. On the third opportunity and final Gopher shot of the night, junior forward Rem Pitlick sealed the deal with a wicked wrister, putting a bow on the 5-2 victory.
For the third time this season, ASU was swept on the road, finishing with a 9-9 record away from Oceanside. Despite the back-to-back losses, the Sun Devils hold put at No. 8 in the Pairwise ranking, capping off an incredible 21-win campaign in their third full Div. I season.
“Amazing regular season. 21 wins. Nobody gave us a chance to win. We’re proud of our guys,” Powers said on the tremendous growth for the program.
While the regular season is wrapped up in the books, the Sun Devils still have to wait to determine their fate for the NCAA Tournament when Selection Sunday rolls around on March 24th.
“We’re going to get in. We got some more help tonight from teams around us,” Powers said, “We feel good about our chances. We’re going to prepare like were in, because we think we are. We’re going to give our guys some rest, get healthy, get Johnny [Walker] healthy. Our guys will be ready.”
