(Photo: Kyle McCartney/WCSN)
It almost look like Arizona State Men’s Hockey was the victim of jet lag.
Traveling over 2,000 miles away from home-ice in Tempe, the Sun Devils embarked on their longest trip of the season on Friday night to Hamilton, New York to begin a two-game set against Colgate.
Although it started strong, ASU put together a lackluster performance, falling 8-3 to the Raiders in the series-opener.
In the first period, it seemed as if the game would be evenly matched. After giving up an early shorthanded goal to Colgate, the Sun Devils came back with a power play goal – their 14th of the season – by freshman forward Josh Doan to tie the contest at one. Doan then added another goal with six minutes remaining in the first to give ASU the lead.
Sophomore goaltender Cole Brady looked sharp early, as he stopped 13 of the Raiders’ 14 shots in the opening frame.
Going into the second period, ASU was up 2-1 before everything started to go downhill.
Colgate came out of the locker room and tied the game up at two a couple of minutes into the period. Six minutes later, the Raiders took the lead and added onto it a minute later with a man-advantage score, putting them up 4-2.
The nightmare period didn’t end for the Sun Devils. Colgate would score two more unanswered goals before the period ended and headed into the locker room for the second intermission up 6-2.
ASU was unable to block shooting lanes and Colgate capitalized on the weak defense throughout the night. Despite being the nation’s leader in saves, Brady struggled just as much as his defense did, only saving nine of 14 shots in the second period.
Colgate also dominated in almost every statistical category in the second except for shots on goals. The Raiders won the face-off battle 15-6, made nine more saves and had more power play attempts.
The frustrations of the second period came to a head in the third for the Sun Devils. ASU committed three early penalties, which included Doan taking a ten-minute game misconduct.
Junior goaltender Ben Kraws came in to replace Brady to start the third, but the Raiders tagged on two more score before the final buzzer sounded.
The Sun Devils won’t have a lot of time to dwell on Friday night’s loss. The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 4 p.m. MST.
