(Photo Courtesy – Joey Plishka)
After an upsetting split last weekend, Arizona State men’s hockey (3-4-0) gets game one started on the right foot against Colorado College (2-3-0).
The Sun Devils closed out a close one with a final score of 5-3.
Tonight was all about establishing dominance early, scoring three goals in the first period alone after Colorado College got the night started 1-0 – giving slight flashbacks to last Saturday when Colgate scored first and went on to win 4-0.
This time the Sun Devils were able to bounce back quickly when fifth-year forward Demetrios Koumontzis got the building rocking on a successful breakdown of the Tiger’s penalty kill. Koumontizis penetrated the Tigers’ box defense to tie the game at 1-1.
Just north of the five-minute mark in the first period, Arizona State took the lead with a beautiful shot from point courtesy of senior forward Robert Mastrosimone.
Koumontzis put the biscuit in the basket again late in the first, using his speed and skill to generate chances for the Sun Devils all night long.
“He was the best player on the ice, no doubt about it,” head coach Greg Powers said. “He was the best player on the ice in every way. He came here too young at ASU, and he’s just coming into his own. He’s a hell of a player, he’s going to have a big year for us.”
“The goals that we did score (in the first period) were all just kinda what we were preaching. Koumo (Koumontzis) going to the net, getting a tip. Obviously, power-play goal was huge for us.”
The second period for the Sun Devils was a different story offensively. After running all over Colorado in the first with speed and skill, they were only able to net one more while giving up two.
Probably the biggest goal of the night came in this second period from the freshman forward Ryan Alexander, who netted his first collegiate hockey goal to give the Sun Devils a three-goal lead at 4-1 lead early to start the second.
“(It felt) not too bad,” Alexander said, smiling slyly. “I mean, I don’t know, waits over, it’s a confidence boost, so get that under you and try to produce more.”
While a moment he won’t be soon to forget, the puck he will have to forget as supposedly he won’t get that until the end of his senior year. The next time he sees his puck, it will be in his senior plaque. Otherwise, he would have rubbed it on his stick every game.
The Tigers started to chip away in the second when sophomore forward Josh Doan took a five-minute major for roughing about midway through the period. With around a minute left in killing off the penalty, junior forward Tyler Coffey scored off a breakout pass from junior forward Matthew Gleason.
That goal changed the complexion of the second period. Giving Colorado all the momentum and confidence as they ran the table, scoring another goal and cutting the lead to one, 4-3.
But no further damage could be done.
The third period proved to be better for the Sun Devils on the score sheet, allowing only six shots to see sophomore goalie Tj Semptiphelter after 19 only a period ago.
While six shots were all Semptiphelter had to face, they weren’t all easy, but he was up to the task in his seventh start of the year.
An empty-net goal by AUS that cleared the heads of everyone on the ice for Colorado with less than a minute left in the third was all she wrote in terms of scoring.
After allowing Colorado College to close to within one, the Sun Devils battened down the hatches in the third to hold on to win 5-3.
“The third was a clinic on how to close out a game. I think they (Colorado) had one really chance good chance where they hit that post, I know it was a perimeter shot. We put on a clinic on how to close a game, so I’m really proud of our guys for that, but when you go up three goals, you have to play the rest of the game the way we did the third. Discipline hockey, pucks out, pucks in, tight-checking, and that’s what we did.”
While the Sun Devils were able to close out game one, game two of any series has been a struggle. Dropping the last two Saturday night games, first in Bemidji State and then at home against Colgate last weekend.
“This is the third Friday in a row that we’ve won…the message was remember the pain, remember how much it hurt losing in this building last Saturday, and fear is a good thing, it can be a great motivator, we’ll use that fear to motivate us, so we don’t feel that tomorrow… we got away with getting away from our game tonight and I think that, that will keep their attention for tomorrow – it better.”
Game two will be Saturday, October 22nd, the last game before the trip to Vegas and a chance to end the streak of losing back-to-back games.
