ASU Hockey: Sun Devils fall to No. 18 Air Force 4-3 in first game at Gila River Arena

(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)

Still reeling from an 0-2 start, Arizona State fell to Air Force 4-3 at Gila River Arena Friday night despite a late-game charge.

The Sun Devils entered the third period down 4-2 before the Falcon lead was cut down to one courtesy of sophomore Nicholas Gushue’s second goal of the season.

However, due to a late tripping penalty called on freshman Jakob Stridsberg, Arizona State wasn’t able to net the equalizer down a man.

“That penalty with three minutes left kind of just, was hard to overcome,” Brinson Pasichnuk said.

Freshman Tyler Busch continued to shine in the loss, scoring his third goal in as many games on the year. Freshman Brett Gruber has been impressive in his own right, notching his second assist of the season on Busch’s first period goal.

“All three of my goals I think have been my line mates making nice passes,” Busch said. “I’ve kind of had time in the slot to pick my slot, so it’s nice they’re going in, but at the end of the night I think I’d rather take a win for sure.”

As far as Busch is concerned, head coach Greg Powers feels like the sky is the limit for the Alberta native.

“He’s a good player, he’s only going to get better too,” Powers said. “He’s really good, I mean he’s off to a great start.”

Last weekend’s penalty epidemic in South Bend seemed to be corrected – the Sun Devils were called for six penalties in the game, a far cry from the 43 violations over the span of last weekend’s matchup with Notre Dame.

“We’re focusing on it,” Powers said. “We have to stay out of the box and that’s a huge point of emphasis.”

On the other side, despite three opportunities, Arizona State couldn’t take advantage of the power play.

On the season, Air Force has now killed all 15 of its opponent’s power plays.

“They’re just so disciplined, so aggressive,” Powers said. “Any bobble, any mess-up of any sort and they’re all over you, and that’s really how they play five-on-five, too.”

In goal, Powers decided to make a change about midway through the game, pulling senior Robert Levin in favor of freshman Joey Daccord.

Daccord finished with 19 saves and one goal allowed in 36 minutes, earning Sunday’s starting nod in the process according to Powers.

“It just wasn’t Rob’s night, you could tell,” Powers said. “I’ve coached him long enough where I know he’s engaged and really going. He was fighting it, so I just knew, I knew that we needed to make a change just to give the guys some energy.”

For Brinson Pasichnuk, his first collegiate goal came in the second period off of a feed from his brother, Steen.

Brinson described the moment as a relief, one that finally got the “monkey off of his back.”

“We [Brinson and Steen] did that [assisted each other] a lot in junior, but never thought it would happen at the college level,” Brinson said. “So that was pretty awesome.”

Despite the loss, Brinson’s confidence in his team hasn’t wavered and he feels that the team’s first win of 2016 will come on Sunday.

“We’re way better than that team,” Brinson said. “We’re going to bring it Sunday and we’re going to crush them”

Puck drop for Sunday’s game is set for 2:30 at Gila River Arena