ASU Men’s Hockey: Sun Devils lose to Wisconsin 6-2, ends regular season

MADISON – Friday night, Arizona State men’s hockey head coach Greg Powers stressed the need for his team to not engage in a shootout with the Wisconsin Badgers. It was clear, Powers said, that they were unable to keep up due the historic program’s 12 NHL draft picks on its roster.

ASU actually did a decent job of keeping up in the first game of the series though, as it scored six goals but allowed the Badgers to score a seventh with 1:09 left.

But Saturday night, ASU kept just one score low: their own.

The Sun Devils (22-11-3) were dominated by Wisconsin (13-18-1) 6-2 this time, and finished off their regular season by getting swept after riding a seven game win streak coming into the weekend. The game was marred not only by once again a poor defensive and goaltending effort by the Sun Devils, but by scrums that saw three ASU players get ejected. Senior forward Tyler Busch, freshman defenseman Jacob Semik and junior forward Willie Knierim were all issued game misconducts in separate incidents; Semik’s for coming off the bench during a fight, while Busch’s and Knierim’s were for a high hit. Further discipline for those involved in the scrums could be forthcoming, but a true ruling won’t be made till Monday, a team spokesperson told the Walter Cronkite Sports Network.

“Tonight is tough because I don’t feel like we ever gave ourselves a chance,” Powers said after Saturday’s game. “Just a couple turnovers from guys that don’t make them, a couple bad goals. We found ourselves down early and we couldn’t climb out of it. It was like quicksand. Tonight, they were the better team.”

Powers said he thought the refs misdiagnosed Semik’s actions on the play that lead to his ejection. Semik was enacting a shift change by the Sun Devils, but found himself hopping the bench as a scrum broke out near the net, according to Powers.

“He just got caught out there on a chase,” Powers said. “It was unfortunate.”

Powers was not disagreeing with the penalty levied against Busch though.

“Busch’s hit I didn’t like,” Powers said. “I apologized to their staff and program for that one.

“We’ve been one of the most disciplined teams in the country over the last two months. Tonight didn’t go our way. Every call did I agree with? Absolutely not. But like I said, we put ourselves in a hole. It was a bad dream.”

After giving up three goals in 23:42 of hockey, sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer was pulled for graduate transfer Max Prawdzik. DeBrouwer had a save percentage of just 75 percent in his ice time Friday night.

“I pulled Evan because he was struggling,” Powers said. “I thought Max would maybe give us some energy.”

Sophomore winger Roman Ahcan was DeBrouwer’s dagger. After scoring his first career hat trick Friday night, Ahcan put the Badgers up 3-0 with 17:17 left in the second period with a beautiful sniper shot from 30 feet-plus, which zipped right past the Sun Devils goalie. DeBrouwer was pulled immediately after.

A Wisconsin power play, a unit that played with a much faster pace than it did Friday night, generated early pressure for the Badgers. Twenty four seconds after Busch escaped the penalty box, the Badgers took the lead thanks to a tap-in by freshman forward Owen Lindmark, which snuck behind DeBrouwer with 15:38 left in the first period.

Just a minute and 35 seconds later, Wisconsin caught DeBrouwer in a similar spot, and the culprit might have been getting his revenge. A night after junior winger Johnny Walker took a lead on him on the NCAA’s goals scored leaderboard, freshman winger Cole Caufield answered back. The Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick planted himself on the right corner of the net and waited for the puck to hit his stick. The Badgers faster yet methodical power play moved the puck around beautifully, and it eventually ended up with Caufield, who slid it in right behind DeBrouwer’s back again.

ASU managed just four shots in that first period compared to Wisconsin’s 10, which set the Badgers up for a pace similar to Friday night when they fired 45 shots on goal.

“Five on five we actually had more scoring than they did,” Powers said. “Takeaway all the power play time that they got, we actually out-chanced them. I don’t think we lacked any chances. Their guy made some big saves tonight.”

Wisconsin continue to pour it on even after DeBrouwer left the game. Semik’s game misconduct brought a five minute power play to the Badgers, which they capitalized on to make it 4-0 thanks to a Max Zimmer goal. The senior winger was the beneficiary of great passing by the Badgers offensive attack.

“We never feel like we’re out of a game,” Powers said. “I think even going in down 5-1 we were positive in the room. We couldn’t climb out of it tonight.”

Not long after the major penalty expired, Wisconsin struck again. With 10:06 left in the second period, junior center Tarek Baker and Lindmark got a 2v2 opportunity in space. Lindmark slid the puck across the ice to Baker, who was racing toward the net, and tallied the assist as Baker popped it in for a 5-0 lead.

ASU got some life thanks to a Steenn Paschinuk goal not long after, but it didn’t matter – it was only one of two shots that the Sun Devils fired that went through. Wisconsin finished with 42 shots compared to ASU’s 32.

The weekend, where ASU was outscored 13-8, leaves a bad taste in the Sun Devils’ mouth heading into a long break before their expected appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Selection Day isn’t for another month exactly, and the tournament’s regionals don’t start for at least five days after that. If ASU learned anything from last year, it’s that two embarrassing losses on the road to close the regular season don’t typically translate to success in March. Then again, the Sun Devils are in a better position for the tournament this year than last, and the Quinnipiac Bobcats can attest: this team knows how to rally and get revenge when it wants it.

“I told the team this doesn’t define us,” Powers said. “We had a heck of a year. We had 22 wins. It’s one of the most in all of college hockey. We got some help tonight on the scoreboard from a Pairwise standpoint, so we’re still in a position where we can get in. Now we sit and watch.”