ASU Hockey: Breakout offensive showings not enough against Vermont

Arizona State freshman defenseman Jack Judson, redshirt sophomore forward Austin Lemieux and junior center James Sanchez entered the weekend with a combined four goals on the season. Two belonged to Sanchez, who has made his name known during his first season in Tempe as more of a facilitator rather than a goal-scorer. One belonged to Judson, who like Sanchez has a profile of moving the puck toward players who score it rather than scoring himself, and the other belonged to Lemieux, the longest-tenured of the bunch.

But in its first action in 20 days against Vermont, ASU hockey’s offense had all four of its goals scored by the unlikely trio. Sanchez had two on Friday while Lemieux and Judson split the rest on Saturday. Judson also tallied an assist in Saturday’s 2-2 tie against the now 1-9-2 Catamounts. ASU saw its record move to 7-4-1 with the draw.

“It was nice to see,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said of Judson, Lemieux and Sanchez.

“I think we can play a lot better,” Powers added. “They [Vermont] played hard tonight. They didn’t go away. They earned a tie.”

The Sun Devils had victory in grasp. First, junior winger William Knierim had a game-winning goal waved off with 2:46 left in overtime due to a dislodged net. A cluster developed in front of the net before it came loose after a slow, puck moving possession by the Sun Devils which saw multiple shots get fired at Vermont senior goaltender Stefanos Lekkas.

“I don’t know how that goal doesn’t count,” Powers said. “I really don’t.

“We thought that should have been a good goal.”

Earlier, the Sun Devils built up a 2-0 lead on Vermont before blowing it in the second period. The Catamounts offense, which ranked last nationally in goals scored coming into the weekend, suffered those same scoring issues before three power plays sparked them.

“We kept them around,” Powers said. “It cost us.

“We felt that one more [goal] could have blown it open.”

Nothing came of the first power play, but it set up the other man advantages as the Catamounts displayed some of their best offensive pressure all weekend early in the second frame. With 8:30 left in the period, Vermont junior winger Ace Cowans scored to cut the lead in half after a cross-checking penalty on junior defenseman Jacob Wilson. It was Cowans who had Vermont’s solo goal Friday night.

Five minutes and six seconds later, another penalty on Wilson – his third of the game – led to Vermont sophomore defenseman Johnny DeRoche wrapping himself around the right side of the net with the puck. Sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer covered that side, but as DeRoche skated around to the left half, junior center Vlad Dzhioshvili skated down the seam. DeRoche hit him with the pass, and the game was tied as DeBrouwer couldn’t recover.

“The nature of losing a two goal lead at home hurts,” Powers said. “It’s something that we haven’t done a lot of. We tend to do really well here.”

Vermont senior goaltender Stefanos Lekkas was excellent against the Sun Devils until Judson received a saucer pass from senior center Brett Gruber, which Judson buried for his second career goal with 4:02 left in the first period.

Lekkas survived an ASU power play earlier in the frame, where the Sun Devils moved the puck well but failed to find the back of the net.

“That kid is a good goalie,” Powers said. “He made some big-time saves.”

Judson’s assist was almost a goal. The freshman rifled a puck toward the net but it bounced off Lekkas’ pad, where Lemieux was there to pound it in the net. It was Judson’s first career assist.

The Catamounts only fired five shots in the first period compared to ASU’s 10. The Sun Devils swallowed Vermont early on, only relinquishing any real pressure on the Catamounts’ power play earned with 2:31 left in the period.

After two straight bye weeks, this weekend’s split against Vermont was the first of 13 straight weekends of hockey for the Sun Devils. ASU takes on Denver in Tempe next weekend on Friday and Saturday night.