ASU Maroon Hockey: Savona, Teuber lead Maroon to rout of Northern Arizona

(Photo: Matt Harden/WCSN)

It was all smiles at Oceanside Arena Saturday night as Arizona State Maroon cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Northern Lumberjacks D3 squad. This one comes after a shootout win over the same NAU team on the road on Friday night.

Mason Teuber and Jake Savona scored two goals each and Matthew Davis added one as well.

“Very pleased with (tonight’s win),” head coach Tait Green said. “We’ve struggled against this team for whatever reason the past few seasons. Tonight, we took out some frustrations on them.”

A slow pace early on saw most of the game played in the Lumberjacks’ zone. NAU would get on the board first though, as Steven Taylor went five-hole on ASU goalie Ryan Seltenreich on the counterattack at 3:16 of the first.

That lead would be short-lived. After taking a feed in the neutral zone, Teuber weaved through the defense and beat NAU goalie Anthony Caruso to even the score at 3:46.

ASU would break the game open in the second period. Davis gave the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead when he chipped a rebound over the glove of Caruso. Teuber and Matt Brumfield would also tally in the period to give the Devils a 4-1 lead heading into the third.

The Sun Devils would add on to their lead in the third period. Davis scored again, Savona scored twice, and Zach Kazan also chipped in as ASU did not take its foot off the gas.

The most interesting story of the game wasn’t all of the goals scored by ASU. A chippy atmosphere was prominent in the game’s second and third periods with some near fights between the two sides. ASU’s Jake Savona and NAU’s AJ Wright were assessed roughing penalties in the second after a skirmish in front of the NAU net. ASU’s Nate Kiven was helped off with an injury after getting kneed by Tanner Marsden of NAU.

“There’s a lot of trash talking out there,” Savona said. “We just gotta keep our heads, know we have the win, keep working hard, and stay out of the chippy stuff.”

ASU Maroon is now 5-0 to start the season and will take next weekend off. The team will be back in action on October 24 at Oceanside against Cal State Northridge.

“I think so far we’ve been getting better and better every game,” Savona said. “We’re just trying to get better every time we step onto the ice.”