(Photo Courtesy – Hailey Rogalski)
It has been quite the journey for Sun Devil Hockey this season, who entered this weekend’s series coming off a split against then-No. 2 Minnesota last weekend that included an overtime thriller by senior forward Robert Mastrosimone and marked a second program-defining win over a ranked team just 15 games into its season. The team’s success has also been highlighted by a five-game winning streak that included sweeps over Colorado College and Alaska Anchorage. But the biggest challenge for the Sun Devils thus far, has been success on the road, possessing a 1-5 record heading into this weekend’s matchup against the top team in the country. Thus, the objective was to get at least one win, a move ASU head coach Greg Powers said is a critical piece to the team’s placement in the PairWise rankings.
Following a brutal 3-2 loss on Friday, ASU failed to reach that objective on Saturday, as No. 1 Denver swept the Devils 5-2. The Sun Devils were out-numbered in virtually every stat category, as the Pioneers nearly doubled ASU’s shot attempts, killing seven penalties compared with ASU’s four, and fewer penalties. For the first time this season, Arizona State was held to just 20 shots on goal in back-to-back games.
The game changing factor for ASU on Saturday was two segments of the game, where Denver scored twice in less than a minute of play. Denver freshman forward Jared Wright scored a goal in each of those sequences. The Devils attempted to come back late in the game with junior forward Ryan O’Reilly and freshman forward Teddy Lagerback’s fourth and second goals of the season, respectively, but it wasn’t enough as the Pioneers’ defense limited the shot attempts.
“We actually played a better game tonight than we did last night,” Powers said in a postgame interview on the Sun Devil Radio Network. “We made some critical mistakes in turnovers in the last two minutes of both periods. They scored two quick ones back-to-back in both periods, and that was the difference.”
Friday night’s game marked another milestone in sophomore goalie TJ Semptimphelter’s young career, earning a career-high and tying a program-record 53 saves and re-gaining the lead for most saves in college hockey. Saturday was quite the opposite, earning 26 saves and allowing four goals through the first two periods before senior goalie Ben Kraws’s season debut at the start of the third, the first time Semptimphelter has been replaced this season.
“He was great tonight, and he had just seen enough,” Powers added. “He deserves better and it was a good opportunity to get Kraws some action because at some point, we’ll need him this year.”
In an emotional weekend at Magness Arena in Denver, the officiating struck the biggest controversy of the series yet again on Saturday. As if the heartbreaking loss on Friday after an overturned no-goal call in the final minute wasn’t enough, the Sun Devils were denied a challenge once again, after technical difficulties with the instant replay system prevented officials from reviewing the Pioneers’ final goal of the evening, one that Powers believed was incorrect.
“LMAOO YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING,” read a tweet sent by the official Sun Devil Hockey Twitter account. “So Denver scores, ASU challenges it. AND THEN the replay system ‘is not operational’ so the call on the ice stands. You can’t make this up.”
Although it wasn’t the weekend the Sun Devils wanted, there are still plenty of games to be played, with a key road series in New Hampshire on Dec. 9-10 that will lead into a two-week break before starting a five-week homestand on Dec. 30 against Boston College. Following the sweep in Denver, the Sun Devils fell to an overall record of 8-9, 1-5 in their last six, and 1-7 on the road.
