ASU D1 Hockey: Sun Devils avoid overtime, defeat Minot State

(Photo:Allyson Cummings/WCSN)

Leading scorer Sean Murphy broke a 3-3 tie late in the third period to lift the Sun Devils to a bounce back win against twelfth ranked Minot State. After a poor showing in their last game at Stony Brook, Coach Greg Powers was glad to be back on track.

“We kept things simple, got the puck deep, played our game, and they had trouble with us. I was happy with the win,” said Powers. “Anytime you can beat a team like that, we’ll take it.”

Like last weekend’s loss, ASU  took an early lead. However, it was not the usual suspects who put the puck in the net. Tommy Cooney centered the puck to Jordan Young, who sent a one-timer past Beaver goaltender Riley Hengen.  Three minutes later, Kyle Bowen collected the puck off of the skate of a Minot State defender and found the back of the net for the second time this season.

Once again, the Sun Devils relinquished their lead and fell behind. The backline played well, but a few things did not go their way. After the puck took a few wild bounces and gave Beaver forward Brett Nespor a goal, Brett McNevin caught Sun Devil goalie Robert Levin in a bad position and backhanded the puck through the five-hole. The Minot State scoring was capped off with a power play score by Bollefer.

“Our kill play was really good. I think their power play goal was fluky. I think it went off two of our guys but we played really well,” said Powers.

Seconds after Minot State took a 3-2 lead, Connor Schmidt lugged the puck across the blue line and fired it at the goal. Hengen reached out with his glove, but the puck skipped off of his arm and into the twine.

The Sun Devil power play had another rough night on the power play. They went 1-for-8, struggling to control the puck and come up with scoring opportunities. The lone power play score came in the final minute with Ryan Belonger’s empty netter.

A long dry spell from the middle of the second to the end of the third was ended when Drew Newmeyer rifled a shot that bounced high in the air on a short-handed odd-man rush. Murphy caught the puck, dropped it to the ice, and blistered it on target to take the late lead.

“I just followed the play up,” said Murphy. “I saw [Newmeyer]put a shot on net so I just went for a rebound that popped to me and the goalie seemed to have lost the puck so I just slid it in.”

Minot State’s only losses have come in sweeps this season. Tomorrow they will look to break that habit and split the series against ASU. Puck drop is at 7:30.

Catch the live broadcast at http://cronkitesports.com/live-broadcasts.

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