(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
TEMPE — In the postgame press conference following Arizona State’s 2-2 tie with the Vermont Catamounts on Nov. 30, ASU head coach Greg Powers was asked about junior forward Johnny Walker’s series.
“He had four completely grade-A chances and the kid made saves on all of them,” Powers said of Walker, who had fired six shots on net between the two games and scored none of them.
Walker — a skater known for his ability to score, proven by his national standing in goals scored a season ago and his high ranking this season prior to ASU’s two-week break — was on a four-game pointless streak.
“He’s frustrated,” Powers said after the Vermont game. “He’s been getting a lot of chances.”
On Friday night, Walker’s frustrations came to an end in epic fashion. The Phoenix native put up a hat trick on the No. 4 ranked University of Denver and scored three of the Sun Devils’ four goals. Two of his goals came in the first period which gave ASU (8-4-1) an early lead in its 4-1 victory over the Pioneers (9-4-2) in front of 917 fans at Oceanside Ice Arena.
“When it’s not going your way it’s frustrating,” Walker said. “You’re not doing your part when other guys are doing theirs. It was wearing on me a little bit.”
Despite their three goal deficit, the Pioneers outshot the Sun Devils 34-30 while sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer recorded 33 saves.
“I thought we managed the puck really well,” Powers said. “We made it tough on them. That’s a hell of a team.”
The hat trick, and the game, was sealed with 1:20 left in the game as Walker tipped in a shot from freshman defenseman Jack Judson, shot from the left face-off circle. It was Judson’s third point in two games.
“Judson just ripped it off,” Walker said.
Walker’s first goal came early, just 5:05 into the game. He received the puck from sophomore forward and new linemate Jordan Sandhu, who passed it from the Pioneers’ offensive zone.
The puck covered nearly half the ice on its way to Walker, who subsequently pulled off a toe-drag to his left and fired the puck at the net where it sizzled past Denver freshman goaltender Magnus Chrona. The score put the Sun Devils up 1-0.
“Sandy made a great rink-wide pass,” Walker said. “I just put it in the net.”
Sandhu was moved up to the first line tonight in place of sophomore winger Demetrios Koumontzis. In his new role, he recorded two assists.
“Clearly I knew he was going to get two great assists in the first period,” Powers joked about Sandhu’s shift up the depth chart. “It was more really to get Koumo going. Koumo defers a lot, especially when playing with [Walker]. Koumo is a hell of a player and we need him going.”
10:48 later, the Pioneers came off a power play which granted them their best chances of the period. Even so, ASU was able to get a big clearance by Sandhu, who — instead of clearing the puck — found Walker far down the ice again.
It was Walker and Chrona one-on-one.
Walker brought Chrona out to his right side where he fell flat, giving Walker an open net behind the strewn-out freshman goaltender.
“There was a little [Patrick] Roy backspin on that one,” Walker said of Sandhu’s pass. “It was just a sick pass.”
The Pioneers got on the board with 9:26 left in the third period on a score from junior forward Jaakko Heikkinen which cut their deficit to 2-1.
Heikkinen was the recipient of a pass from Pioneers sophomore forward Brett Stapley, who wrapped around the left side of the net to make the pass.
The goal was the result of Pioneer pressure for most of the third period, but DeBrouwer and the defense held strong from there on out.
“I thought it was tremendous,” Powers said of team’s bounce back mentality. “They really didn’t have too many Grade-A (shots) after that. Our guys really ramped it up. There was no panic. There was zero panic. We believed from top to bottom.”
Denver — a team with seven NHL draft picks on its roster — led 25-17 in shots after the second period, utilizing an offense which ranked No. 4 in shots in the country with pristine passing and overall offensive skill.
However, the mighty Pioneers offense was relatively shut down on Friday night. They had two power play opportunities, one of which gave the Pioneers a four-on-three chance.
Under pressure, DeBrouwer and the Sun Devils’ penalty kill were still solid.
“The forecheck was a big part of it,” Powers said. “Putting pressure on them and not giving them a lot of time and space to break it out of their zone. Our D was going and this kid [DeBrouwer] just keeps getting better each game.”
Senior center Brett Gruber had the empty netter with 33 seconds to send the Sun Devils off with the upset victory and a 8-4-1 record heading into game two of the series, which will be at Gila River Arena in Glendale on Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter who it is,” Powers said. “Whether it’s Denver or Mercyhurst or Vermont, it doesn’t matter. The expectation that we have in our room is to sweep at home. Tomorrow, we have a chance to do that.”
