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ASU Hockey: Sun Devils feed off line changes, advance to Ice Vegas championship

At the beginning of the season, Arizona State head coach Greg Powers placed his three leaders, Anthony Croston, Dylan Hollman and Louie Rowe on the same line – a line that collectively failed to meet offensive expectations.

Instead of keeping the three together, Powers put them each on separate lines on Friday in the Ice Vegas Invitational.

And it worked.

“Our captains led the way,” Powers said. “Again, you can’t just make up leadership. It has to evolve naturally. It has to take shape naturally. Games and efforts like tonight out of those four will give them the confidence to go to the next level I think.”

But by placing the captains on separate lines, each was able to influence the game by making smart plays and putting the puck to the back of the net. Hollman and Croston opened up the scoring by netting three goals in the first seven minutes.

“It hasn’t happened too much for us this year,” goaltender Joey Daccord said. “We’ve been on the other end of that a couple times and it felt good to be on the other side of it.”

The Sun Devils were able to see goals produced by some players who have yet to add much to the score chart.

Right winger Gage Hough scored his first two goals on the season tonight while Rowe scored his second.

“He’s just a good kid and I’m happy for him,” Powers said. “He came in a little bit behind the eight ball and wasn’t in great shape and he’s worked hard on getting in good shape and when he plays and he moves his feet he’s got some finish that we need and that was on display tonight and he’s got veteran leadership and just kind of a calming presence on the bench and in the room. When he’s going like that we need him in the lineup.”

“Anything that i can do personally that can help the team is going to be good,” Hough said. “I was just fortunate to put two in tonight and it all starts with line mates.”

The Sun Devils scored more goals tonight than they have in any D1 game they’ve played so far.

“I think we can play better, I really do,” Powers said. “We had some really good things happen offensively but some defensive lapses. I think we could stay out of the box and be a little bit more disciplined so we still haven’t put together a 60 minute effort. Tonight was probably 40, the second period they took it us pretty heavy. [Daccord] held us in it so tomorrow Michigan Tech’s gonna wanna win a trophy too so we’re going to have to play 60 minutes.”