(Photo Courtesy – Xavier Litman)
Friday’s college hockey game in Tempe featured two teams, who each went into the night with opposite goals. For Alaska Fairbanks, the Nanooks controlled their own destiny, were sitting on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament bid and swept the Sun Devils in their own barn just three weeks prior. Meanwhile, for Arizona State whose 2023 tournament aspirations were put to rest several weeks ago, the goal was to win the game at hand and play “spoiler” to the team that ended the Sun Devils’ 2022 aspirations at Oceanside just a season ago. A winning season for ASU was still attainable, which would be the first since 2019-20.
A late effort in the third period was not enough for the Sun Devils, who fell to the Nanooks for the third time this season. Three weeks ago, Arizona State kept a close match in the first game of the series in Fairbanks with the game on the line all the way to the final seconds of the third period. That was the case once again on Friday at Mullett Arena.
“We had the game on our sticks six, seven times to tie it, even take a lead, and just didn’t put it in net,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “It was winnable though.”
Fairbanks dominated for the better part of the first two periods, attempting 19 more shots than ASU through two periods of play. For the second straight game, ASU’s opponent was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct late in the first, this time for a cross checking to the neck against an ASU player.
As the Sun Devils trailed 2-0 late in the first, sophomore forward Josh Doan’s slapshot from the top of the right circle found the back of the net, as he extended his point streak to four games. The 5-on-3 power play goal also continued Doan’s streak of earning a point in every game of his career against the Nanooks.
ASU successfully challenged two game-changing calls Friday evening, the first of which took a Fairbanks goal off the board early in the first due to an offsides infraction. The second challenge added a goal for the Sun Devils after senior defenseman Jack Judson got the puck past the goal line before it was kicked out by Nanooks’ goalie Matt Radomsky. From there, ASU maintained control of the puck in its offensive zone for the vast majority of the game’s final 10 minutes, as the Sun Devils dominated the Nanooks 27-11 in total shot attempts in the game’s final frame.
“I don’t think they had it in our zone after that. We were all over them,” Powers said. “It was a good push from our guys, but it just wasn’t enough. It was too slow of a start to overcome.”
ASU continued to battle to the end as it tried to capitalize on one of many scoring chances and force an overtime period, but fell short when a pass was deflected into the Nanooks’ offensive zone, allowing sophomore center Payton Matsui to complete the hat trick on an empty net goal with eight seconds remaining in regulation.
“That team is hard to play against, and there’s a reason why they’re on the cusp of making the tournament,” Powers said. “They’re a top 15 team and I feel like two out of the three games, we probably should’ve won.”
After seven total games to date in the last two seasons, ASU has not defeated Fairbanks since a 4-0 win on Nov. 9, 2019. Following Friday’s loss, the Sun Devils fall to 15-19 with just five games to play. To finish above .500, they must win out, which would mark the first winning season since 2019-20, a year they would have earned back-to-back postseason berths if not for COVID-19.
Their final game against the Nanooks this season will take place at Mullett Arena on Saturday at 5 p.m.
“It gives us a game to play for tomorrow, where we have an opportunity to play kind of a playoff-style game to try to end their season,” Doan said. “It’s going to be something that’s difficult, obviously, but no matter how many we have tomorrow, it’s going to be something we look forward to.”
