ASU Men’s Hockey: Sun Devils swept at home by Alaska Fairbanks 4-3

(Photo: Brendan Belfield/WCSN)

TEMPE — The University of Alaska Fairbanks handed Arizona State Men’s Hockey its second sweep at Oceanside Ice Arena this season on Saturday night. The Nanooks defeated the Sun Devils 4-3 in a game filled with extracurricular activities.

ASU freshman defenseman Ty Murchison and senior forward Sean Dhooghe were both escorted to the penalty box in the middle of the second period, and would not return to the ice until the third period upon their participation in a gnarly brawl. It included the five-foot, three-inch Dhooghe taking down a Nanook to which the crowd erupted. Dhooghe served a 10-minute misconduct penalty along with freshman forward Riley Murphy from Alaska Fairbanks for his impeccable takedown.

“It’s all emotional,” senior forward Colin Theisen said. “They want to come in here and shove it up us, and win the game hard. That’s exactly what we’re going to do when we go there.”

Despite the loss and chippy play, the effort was there for the Sun Devils on Saturday night. They scored three goals, amassed 41 shots, and junior goaltender Ben Kraws made 27 saves.

“I thought the effort was good,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “I thought the effort was good for 60 minutes. The energy was good.”

Alaska Fairbanks never trailed in the game, though, scoring a goal in the first 51 seconds of the game.

The Nanooks played fast and aggressive, which proved to work against the Sun Devils. Despite their speed, ASU was able to keep up with Alaska Fairbanks.

“We played with pace,” Powers said.

Odd-man rushes plagued the Sun Devils on Saturday, and ASU allowed a couple of goals off those rushes.

“We don’t get it in [the net],” Powers said. “We have a [defenseman] fall, and they have another odd-man rush and put it in the back of the net.”

Freshman forward Matthew Kopperud and Theisen scored all three goals for ASU.

All three of those goals were scored off power-play chances. ASU went two for three on such opportunities.

After Kopperud’s first goal and Theisen’s sole goal, the Nanooks were able to quickly respond with a goal of their own, breaking the tie with each score. Alaska Fairbanks freshman forward Harrison Israels scored just over a minute after Theisen’s goal.

ASU made a few costly errors, which hurt the Sun Devils in the long run.

“It was literally just three mistakes that you can’t make,” Powers said. “[Alaska Fairbanks] capitalized on all of them, and again that’s just a microcosm of our year.”

ASU has two more series left to finish the season. It heads to Fairbanks for a rematch with the Nanooks in a few weeks and then ends the year at Oceanside Ice Arena against Long Island University.