(Photo: Allyson Cummings/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devil hockey team advanced to 13-0-0 after a victory over the DII NAU IceJacks 5-2 at Oceanside Ice Arena on Saturday night. Lucas Felbel earned the win between the pipes in his first career start and Kale Dolinski recorded four points, but there was a lot more wrong than right happening on the ice.
ASU controlled the tempo from the start, but could not buy a goal early on, letting chances slip off their sticks and shooting right into the pads of NAU goalie James Korte. That is until senior forward Kale Dolinski put the Sun Devils up in the first after putting a nice move on the goalie and roofing the puck over his outstretched right pad for a 1-0 lead. The goal was Dolinski’s tenth of the season, putting him at the top of the team leaderboard.
NAU retaliated early in the second, firing up the large NAU contingent in attendance. Just twenty-five seconds in to the period, IceJack forward Connor Sperry rocketed a rebound past ASU goaltender Lucas Felbel to tie the score at 1-1.
Felbel, in his first start of the season, saved 19 of the 21 shots that the IceJacks threw at him to earn the victory.
Arizona State regained the lead later in the frame. The Sun Devils put pressure on Korte and around the net, with all ten skaters on the ice circling around the NAU goalie. Amid the bustle in front, Danny McAuliffe wristed a shot that knocked off of the left pad of Korte to put ASU ahead for good.
Later in the period, Brian McGinty took an absolutely beautiful feed from Dolinski as he was rushing towards the net, which McGinty tapped past the Korte for a two-goal lead over the IceJacks. McGinty would add a second goal in the third period, also assisted by Dolinski, to put his season total to eight.
Dolinski led the way offensively for the Sun Devils, netting a goal and assisting on three more. “It’s what he brings every night,” head coach Greg Powers said. The front line of Dolinski, McAuliffe, and Liam Norris tallied nine of the fourteen points awarded to ASU in the game. “They’re the best line in the country,” Powers said. “NAU played well and we’ll take the win and go back to the drawing board next week.”
Like all ASU games so far this year, the game dissolved a little bit into a chippy and chirp-filled affair. Penalties filled the contest, with players from both teams heading to the box nearly constantly. The IceJacks took offense to many of the penalties whistled against them and how the referees were calling the game, and they let the referees know. Derogatory words and expletives flew from the NAU bench towards the officiating crew and the ASU skaters.
“Teams have a tough time playing with us,” Powers said. “Every team is going to come at us differently and try to […] get us off of our game. A lot of it has to do with jawing back and forth and trying to throw guys off mentally, but that’s just hockey.”
Dolinski, despite his great night, was not pleased with the performance of the team. “It was a terrible night,” Dolinski said after the game. “Our team played awful. If we all don’t play collectively as a team it’s kind of a piss-poor win.”
Coach Powers shared sentiments with his star forward. “There was a lack of intensity and focus and desire,” Powers said. “They had a ton of desire and we didn’t have any.”
“Ninety percent of the team didn’t want to be here tonight and that’s sad to see, but we’ll put it behind us and move forward,” Powers added.
The Sun Devils have their next chance to move forward on Halloween night at Oceanside Ice Arena against the Colorado State Rams, with the game set to start at 8:00 PM.
You can reach Matthew Tonis on Twitter @Tonis_The_Tiger or via email at mtonis@asu.edu
