(Photo: Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)
TEMPE – Through the first three games to start the year, No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils (3-0-0) remain a perfect three for three as they beat Northern Michigan (0-2-1), 3-2 en route to their first 3-0-0 start in program history.
“It’s for an independent program to get off to a good start,” head coach Greg Powers said. “It’s really important, you know, and because you can play, you know, not loose, but you can play just a little bit less tight, right? And that’s the way we want our guys to play. We want them playing free; we want them having fun. When you’re 3-0 against two really good teams, you know, you can start to do that. [Northern Michigan] didn’t come all this way to get swept, so we’re gonna see their very best tomorrow. We’re gonna have to be better.”
To open the game, the Sun Devils were tight and tense as Northern Michigan took advantage, even getting a power play chance, which was unsuccessful. Despite the Sun Devils leading in shots 13-8 after the first period, the ice felt tilted toward the Wildcats as they seemed to generate better scoring chances with their opening eight shots, but the score remained knotted at 0-0.
After a slow start to the game in the first period, the Sun Devils failed to hit their stride to begin the second period. It was not until they gave up the opening goal to the Wildcats that things opened up. Someone had to break the ice to get things started, and once it started, it came in a wave of three unanswered goals in just over three minutes for Arizona State.
First, senior defenseman Tim Lovell started the scoring party by tying the game back at 1-1, showing his strengths as an offensively-minded defenseman.
“Yeah, obviously you’re gonna have, you know, different defenseman, it’s kind of just through hockey,” Lovell said. “And obviously, like, I think that [offense is] a big piece of my game, but yeah, our defensive core as a whole unit is outstanding. I think people don’t really understand that really about our team yet. It’s been coming along through the process, and, you know, it’s really good.”
Not long after, freshman forward Kyle Smolen netted his first as a Sun Devil via a backhand, top-shelf rebound that was left right on the doorstep to give ASU a 2-1 lead. Then the power play struck again as it has been lately. Graduate transfer Tyler Gratton tipped in a shot from the left circle to give Arizona State a two-goal lead at 3-1.
“It was a great pass by [Charlie Schoen],” Gratton said. “You know, we were working on the back door play all week kind of on the power play and made it happen, so it was good to be able to capitalize an important part of the game.”
The commitment to the game plan kept the Sun Devils alive in the second.
“I think just the commitment to what our game plan was just tracking back hard and not giving them time and space defending really well,” Powers said. “Which I think we did, and most importantly, slowed down their transition. When we did that, and I’m not going to tell you how we did it until after tomorrow, we were really good.”
Coming down the stretch late in the third period, the Wildcats proved why their power play is converting 33% of the time this year, cashing in on their fifth power play opportunity of the night. Redshirt freshman Tanner Latsch cut the ASU lead to one with the help of junior defenseman Ethan Szmagaj’s skate, making the score 3-2. However, despite several late chances by NMU, the Sun Devils managed to hold on to continue their perfect start.
“The whole focus of the third period was to just get pucks in and establish the forecheck and stay above pucks, and we did it literally perfectly,” Powers remarked. “They didn’t have anything five on five. We took an ozone penalty there with, like, what eight minutes left? Then we took another one in our D zone. I didn’t love the call. I didn’t think that that was actually a penalty, but the kill found a way; they found a way to get through it.”
Heading into tomorrow and looking for the sweep, Arizona State still has parts of the game that need cleaning up.
“Just some puck management stuff,” Powers said. “I mean, a lot of the stuff [Northern Michigan] did get five-on-five again was just not getting the puck deep when you could not get it in behind them. When you don’t have to play, you just have to keep it and possess it. The pucks gold, and if you don’t have a play, just keep it and grind them out and make them play defense.”
