Just over four years ago, Arizona State’s men’s hockey team made its debut in the NCAA’s Division 1 ranks. The Sun Devils were in Anchorage, Alaska taking on the Seawolves and were making history as they did it. ASU fell 3-2 in overtime on that October night – the first of 22 losses they suffered that season – but the impact that game had couldn’t be underrated. The state of Arizona, lush with cactus and desert, sent a NCAA hockey team to cold and dark Alaska to play a D1 game. It seemed impossible.
But fast forward to February 2020, and that historic matchup between a 35-year-old program and a first year program four years ago seems like no big deal. The rematch of the two had finally come, and this time it was ASU that looked like the program with a decades-long history.
On this Friday night, it was Arizona State looking to enshrine a member to its 100 point club – which had zero members in it coming into the game. It was Arizona State trying to send away a mightily important senior class with a victory in one of their last home games. It was Arizona State that was ranked in the top ten nationally and sitting pretty for a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
Everything they were looking to do, they did.
Brinson Pasichnuk was the first ASU player on the ice within the first hour and half before puck drop Friday night. The senior captain was passing the puck with a teammate down the blue line while wearing shorts and slides. He had a smile on his face and was talking as the two sent the puck back and forth between the boards of the ice.
When the game started, it was clear Pasichnuk was trying to get that illustrious point. On an ASU power play with 9:17 left in the first period, the defenseman fired three shots at the net from dead-on as hard as he could. None broke through.
He kept trying. In the second, Pasichnuk danced with the puck once again from that spot directly in front of the UAA goaltender. The senior captain was hunting the net.
With the game all but over late in the third period, with ASU up 4-0, Pasichnuk’s chances to score that 100th point Friday seemed slimmed. He was running out of time.
But a rush set up by sophomore forward Austin Lemieux generated Pasichnuk one more chance with 7:18 left. Paschinuk received the puck while skating in the right face-off circle and wristed it. This time it went in. Finally.
“It was cool,” Pasichnuk said. “I got to give God all the glory because I was not aiming five-hole on that shot. It’s a cool accomplishment. I never thought I would get to that many. I’m just so grateful.”
Pasichnuk’s big goal wasn’t the only big time play from ASU’s (21-9-3) seniors to begin their Oceanside Ice Arena send-off weekend though, which began with a 5-0 win over Alaska Anchorage (4-20-5). Sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer completed his second straight shutout with 25 saves.
“It doesn’t matter how our seasons ends,” head coach Greg Powers said. “What these guys [the four seniors] have done for us is never going to be able to be measured. The state that they have this program in. The way they’ve put this program on their back and made it into what it is. It’s immeasurable.
“They came here to build something really special and they did just that.”
Brett Gruber’s senior season had seen his production dip a bit, mostly due to the five games he missed with an injury. But on Friday night, he made up for it with his best game of the year.
Despite a torrid stretch by Seawolves junior goaltender Kris Carlson in which it seemed as if ASU couldn’t get anything to go in, Gruber set up shop behind the net before attacking from the backside, and poked the puck in around Carlson’s blind spot, putting the Sun Devils up 3-0 seven minutes and six seconds into the second period. The wraparound was a rarity from the senior center, who ranks second on ASU’s all-time assist leaders.
But Gruber didn’t stop there. With ASU on a power play with 1:05 left in the second, Gruber got an open shot from the left faceoff circle and fired it. It dinged the right goal-post and went in. His two goals on Friday accounted for two-thirds of the six he’s scored this season.
“I think we were just good in the d-zone and it translated to offense,” Gruber said. “I thought both of my linemates had really good nights and worked hard to get me pucks. I was able to capitalize on them tonight.”
Also contributing to the action from the seniors was forward Tyler Busch. It was he who made the pass to Gruber on the wraparound before the center took things into his own hands. It was Busch’s 16th assist of the season.
ASU first got the night going thanks to junior forward Johnny Walker, who hit the Seawolves with a beautiful toe-drag from the right side, and sniped it in putting ASU up 1-0 with 11:23 left in the first period. Walker’s goal was a precursor to the Sun Devils taking the period over, as a physical trend had developed in the beginning ten minutes of the first, limiting Alaska-Anchorage’s chances at putting any pucks in the net.
With 5:08 left in the first, sophomore winger PJ Marrocco got a similar chance to Walker’s, but instead of toe-dragging the shot, Marrocco simply skated with the puck to the right and shot. It went in, and put ASU up 2-0 after a dominant stretch of hockey.
ASU almost had two players with more than one goal Friday night. After his dazzling toe drag earlier in the game, Walker got his own wraparound chance with 10:07 left in the second, but the net came loose before Walker’s stick poked it in, according to the replay review.
Senior Night is technically Saturday. But Pasichnuk, Gruber and Busch made Friday seem just as special despite it being just the second to last game they’ll ever play at Oceanside.
“There will be some tears shed tomorrow for sure,” Pasichnuk said.
