(Photo: Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)
Oxford, Ohio – Despite giving up the opening goal, No. 13 Arizona State Men’s Hockey (4-1-1) fights back on the road to come away with a 1-1 tie against the University of Miami (OH) (4-1-1).
Overtime was needed once again between the Redhawks and the Sun Devils; however, nobody was able to find the back of the net. The game went onto a shootout which favored the Sun Devils and senior forward Matthew Kopperud, who got the lone goal. But according to NCAA rules, the game ends in a tie if no one scores in 3v3 overtime – the shootout was purely for practice.
After giving up four unanswered goals the night before, the streak extended to five as the Sun Devils gave up the opening goal of the game midway through the first period. The Redhawks had established zone time, and senior defenseman Robby Drazner received a pass at the left side circle that he turned into a top corner goal with help from his teammate who screened sophomore goaltender Gibson Homer who was making his first collegiate start.
To begin the second period, the Sun Devils found their answer. ASU generated a turnover in their defensive zone that led to a quick transition back the other way and senior forward Lukas Sillinger finding the back of the net. On the initial rush, senior forward Dylan Jackson attempted to fire a shot; however, the puck caromed off the shin pad of graduate defenseman Jack Clements instead. Jackson wound up again but this time for a pass. He threaded the needle to Sillinger, who was driving the net in the slot for the game-tying goal.
After that, the well ran dry as both goaltenders stepped up to the plate to pitch a shutout for the remainder of the game.
Statistically, the Sun Devils won in some major categories, but they couldn’t find a way to score any more goals. Shots on goal 31-24, and faceoffs won 30-22 all in favored of ASU. However, their four-game power play streak came to an end as they could not capitalize, going 0-4 on the man advantage.
ASU did have chances where they could have tied the game up sooner or gotten the lead. One of those opportunities that sticks out is early into the second period. Not even two minutes into the start of the period, graduate forward Bryan Chambers finds graduate forward Tyler Gratton on a cross-ice pass. With a wide-open goal mouth and the puck on his stick, Gratton misses the net wide. If Gratton scored here, ASU could have tied the game back up at 1-1 even sooner than they actually did.
Late in the third period, the Sun Devils had their final chance of regulation. The Redhawks took two, too many men on the ice penalties, thus giving ASU 48 seconds of five on three as the two sentences crossed over. However, they came up empty and the two teams went to overtime knotted at 1.
The back end was solid for both teams in net. In his first collegiate start, Homer stood tall, only allowing one goal on Miami’s 24 shots, showing that he can be a viable backup to junior goaltender and Sun Devil starter Tj Semptimphelter. Likewise, graduate goaltender Logan Neaton fought off all but one of the Sun Devils’ advances.
With the heightened importance of playing well on the road if they want to be one of the teams in conversion come tournament time, Arizona State comes away from Oxford, Ohio, 0-1-1. Now ASU returns home for eight games featuring a series with the likes of No. 2 Denver and No. 7 Providence – neither an easy task. However, both teams did go 1-0-1 in their two games this weekend. Denver tied with Augustan and beat Air Force, while Providence won and tied with Vermont.
Next up for Arizona State is Stone Hill. The SkyHawks come to Tempe for a two-game set November 3-4, both games starting at 7 p.m. PST.
