(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The first matchup ever between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Cornell Big Red on Friday turned into a result the Sun Devils would like to put into the rearview mirror.
A 6-1 defeat was the result as ASU was “outworked [in] every facet of the game,” coach Greg Powers said after the game. The team gave up 52 shots, while only putting up 25 themselves and winning just 36 percent of the faceoffs.
“Our guys just got outworked,” Powers said. “We dug ourselves a hole mentally in that first period. That’s as poorly as we’ve played all year.”
The first few minutes of the game painted the picture for a back-and-forth affair, both teams finding their skates early. Cornell found their’s first, and pushed Daccord to his heels quickly, forcing the junior netminder to make save after save in a barrage of shots just five minutes into the period.
That early spark was all that the Big Red needed, as Cornell tilted the ice pretty much 90 degrees and proceeded to pepper Daccord with shot after shot, after shot.
Daccord stood strong through the majority of the first period, but it was Big Red sophomore Brenden Locke who opened the scoring with just under three minutes to go in the period.
Just 1:55 later, a Cornell dump, mixed with some miscommunication from the Sun Devils, led to a breakaway goal by sophomore Cam Donaldson to put the Big Red up 2-0 after one period. Daccord recorded 24 saves in the period.
The second period opened up in a dramatic way for the Devils, as they found themselves facing a 5-on-3 penalty kill just four minutes into the period after subsequent cross-checking and holding penalties on defensemen Joshua Maniscalco and forward Anthony Croston. Luckily for ASU, the Big Red squandered their 5-on-3 with a too many men call. ASU kill the remainder of the penalty and Cornell killed ASU’s 55 second man-up advantage.
The Sun Devils attempted to shift the momentum late in the second period after a sprawling kick-save from Daccord which stopped Cornell’s leading point scorer Morgan Barron on a breakaway.
The save sparked the Sun Devils but superb goaltending by Cornell’s Austin McGrath, plus the help of the post, kept the score 2-0 after the second period. The Big Red outshot the Sun Devils 41-18 through two periods.
Third period action brought out the hungry and desperate side of the ASU team, as the Sun Devils finished checks and kept the puck in the Big Red zone. But the high pressure led to miscommunication on the ASU backcheck and Cornell senior Beau Starrett found himself all alone with Daccord and finished off his shift with a top-shelf backhander to put the Big Red up 3-0 less than five minutes into the period.
The Sun Devils answered back quickly, and a little over a minute later, a breakaway opportunity saw NCAA leading goal scorer sophomore Johnny Walker tally his 19th goal of the season to bring the Devils to within two. Walker’s goal put his points total to 27, passing junior Brinson Pasichnuk’s program record of 26 points set last season.
Yet, only three minutes later, Cornell junior Connor Murphy would seal the game with his first goal of the season in front of the net to make it 4-1.
The Big Red scored two more before the final whistle.
ASU freshman goaltender Evan Debrouwer saw his first minutes of ice time after Daccord (45 saves, .900 save percentage) gave up his fifth goal of the game. Debrouwer saved one shot on two attempts.
“Young teams have games like this,” said Powers, whose Sun Devils will try to avoid getting swept in Saturday night’s series finale. “We’ll hit the reset button. We know what we’re made of. We know what we’re capable of, and I’d put good money on our guys to show up tomorrow and give a much better effort.”
