(Photo: Travis Whittaker/WCSN)
Reminiscent, Arizona State men’s hockey team entered the weekend with its emotions high and a thirst for revenge only quenchable with victory. The Sun Devils could have easily let those feelings get the best of them against No. 9 Quinnipiac.
The dangerous memories which could have reared their heads on Saturday night stemmed from the NCAA Tournament a year ago when the Sun Devils lost, 2-1, at the hands of the Bobcats in the first round.
“They knocked us out last year,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “They outplayed us. They deserved to win that game. And hopefully the guys that were here remember that and use it as fuel to the fire.”
On Saturday night, the Sun Devils were on fire. They completed a sweep over their new-found NCAA Tournament foe with a 4-1 over the Bobcats (4-3) and improved their season record to 5-3.
“That was just a really good 60 minute effort by our guys,” Powers said. “That’s about as good as we can expect them to play. If we play like that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Despite a 13-6 advantage in total shots in the first period, the Sun Devils challenged early by the Bobcats in possession time.
Quinnipiac brought a mix of physicality and speed, giving them a few legitimate chances to score in the first period. Try as they may have, the Bobcats were not able to prevent ASU from capitalizing first. Sophomore Austin Lemieux’s second-career goal came on a slick pass from freshman forward Logan Jeunwine. Lemieux brought the puck across the net and in front of Quinnipiac net-minder Keith Petruzzelli for the first period score.
“We had balanced scoring,” Powers said. “We wanted our D to get involved against these guys and they did. When we’re running a five man offense like that when we’re out on the ice, we’re tough to stop.”
Penalties were prominent in the first with Quinnipiac’s physical play, granting the Sun Devils three power plays.
Just over two minutes after the first goal, the Sun Devils saw their first power play of the night only to immediately even the amount of men on the ice due to a penalty called on sophomore winger Demotrious Koumontzis. However, almost immediately after the penalty was assessed, a Sun Devil rush saw junior defenseman Jacob Wilson raise a puck slung to him from freshman defenseman Jacob Semik and put it in the net making it 2-0. It was his second goal of both the season and the series.
Wilson was suspended for the tournament quarterfinal after a hit in the Minnesota series which rounded out ASU’s 2018-19 regular season.
“It’s a little sweeter to be able to play this year,” Wilson said of his first appearances against Quinnipiac after sitting out last year’s match.
Unlike the semi-tightly contested first period, the second was a different story.
The Sun Devils came out and dominated, allowing the Bobcats to fire off just seven shots in the period while adding two goals of their own. Quinnipiac squandered an early opportunity as Wilson committed a hooking penalty, giving the Bobcats a power play only for it to result in a four-on-four 1:15 later.
ASU put heavy pressure on Petruzzelli toward the middle of the second period for almost four straight minutes. Overwhelmed, by the onslaught of pressure Petruzelli didn’t see Junior forward Johnny Walker’s stick and let a goal sneak in. The goal was Walker’s fifth of the season and it came at the 11:59 mark to make it a 3-0 Sun Devil lead. The score moved Walker farther up the country’s leaderboard for goals.
“We possessed the puck tonight,” Powers said. “Our guys really took care of the puck and managed the puck probably better than they ever have.”
With 8:52 left in the second period, the Bobcats were able to return some pressure as they finally matched ASU’s offensive pressure which culminated with sophomore forward Michael Lombardi’s goal to cut the ASU lead to two.
That seemed to be a shift momentum for the Bobcats. But illusions can be dangerous. Quinnipiac was certainly fooled.
Instead of controlling the puck in their own offensive zone with a man advantage, the Bobcats found it down at the other end of the ice cradled in PJ Marrocco’s stick.
The sophomore forward received the puck from a far away Brinson Pasichnuk. Marrocco danced with it around the left face-off circle before slinging toward the net where it snuck by Petruzelli’s left side.
Powers did not mince words when describing the gaol.
“It was pretty sick,” he said.
The senior captain’s pass to Marrocco was from such a distance the goal was initially cited as unassisted.
ASU’s tournament loss in April to this Quinnipiac team is permanent. But with this weekend’s sweep, the odds of ASU possibly making it back to college hockey’s biggest stage improved dramatically, as two wins over a top five team (by PairWise ranking) boost their own stock significantly. It also provides more closure over an event that traumatized the Sun Devils.
“The only way to feel whole again was to go out and have the kind of effort you did tonight,” Powers said.
