ASU Hockey: Sun Devils lose shootout against Alberta

(Photo: Megan Plain/WCSN)

As if one shootout wasn’t good enough.

After winning a shootout on Friday night, the Sun Devils failed to complete a two game sweep against the University of Alberta, dropping the game in a shootout on Saturday night.

Alberta was victorious in the shootout, but under exhibition rules, the game will go down as a tie.

Although both of its games were exhibitions, Arizona State knew not to take the University of Alberta lightly. Facing off against a team that was bigger and older than them was something they knew would be an uphill battle, but ASU responded like a team beyond their years.

The Golden Bears entered with a 12-3-1 record in the CIS and had not faced an NCAA team this season.

For the first time since October, ASU was back at Oceanside Ice Arena this weekend, and there was no doubt that the home ice worked to the Sun Devils’ advantage.

“It was great to come back and play in front of our fans and two sold out crowds,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “They saw some really good hockey.”

David Jacobson was given the start at goalie after Robert Levin got the nod in the first game. Ryland Pashovitz, who has started the majority of the Sun Devils’ games this year, was sidelined with an illness.

“It’s been a while, but I had a great time,” Jacobson said. “I think the guys really battled well in front of me and it was a great team effort.”

The Sun Devils started the scoring off with a goal by Ryan Belonger, who sent the game into overtime yesterday with a late goal.

“His leadership and his ability this weekend were huge for us,” Powers said. “He does everything, he is a jack of all trades.”

It was clear ASU had made the necessary start of the game adjustments that they had not done in the previous game. Ryan Ostertag had said that the Sun Devils just needed to settle in at the start of the game, which they did.

Alberta committed two early penalties and was not able to score a goal on six shots on Jacobson in the opening period.

The second period was strikingly similar to the first in terms of both the scoring and physicality. ASU took advantage of an opportunity to extend their lead, receiving a goal from freshman Jack Rowe on an assist from fellow freshman Ryan Stevens, which put the Sun Devils ahead 2-0.

“We were getting pucks behind their defensemen in the neutral zone,” defenseman Brock Krygier, who was recently named the fourth team captain, said. “Last night we had quite a few instances in which we were turning the puck over in that zone, so getting the puck in deep on the forecheck was working really well for us.”

The biggest action of the period came when Alberta’s Brennan Yadlowski committed a game misconduct penalty and was ejected after he hit Jordan Masters on a breakaway, shortly after Masters missed a breakaway goal.

Both teams would continue to banter during the period, which was largely in part to frustration from Alberta.

“I think the chippiness was by design by that team to get into the game more,” Powers said. “They were struggling for two periods, but we knew that it was coming and that is the way those guys play.”

Although the exchanges of words continued into the third period, the momentum completely shifted. The Golden Bears were able to tie the game up against Jacobson with two goals just seven minutes into the period, breaking up his shutout.

The game remained scoreless during the rest of the period, sending it into overtime.

Despite sending out snipers Ryan Ostertag and Jordan Masters for the shootout, the Sun Devils came up empty. Two goals in three tries scored against Jacobson was enough to give the Golden Bears the win.

“Just from watching these two games, I think we have to work on special teams,” Jacobson said. “Other than that, we just have to out-compete teams. That’s how we win games in Division I hockey and that is what we are going to do at practice starting Monday.

The Sun Devils will get back to their regular season slate next weekend with two games against RPI in Troy, N.Y.

You can contact Jacob Janower via e-mail or on Twitter @JanowerJacob

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