Photo: Jacob Rudner/WCSN
Over the past two years, the success of No. 20 Arizona State men’s hockey team has been defined by the grind-it-out victories against solidified college hockey programs.
It was the moments all throughout last season where the Sun Devils were down, but never out that kept the team’s ambitions of making the NCAA Tournament during the regular season.
Although that fighting spirit served as a guide for ASU’s record-setting campaign a season ago, that feeling of being down but not out was forced to come back in Saturday’s home opener against Mercyhurst University in Tempe. The difference? Last night ASU could not complete the comeback.
Fortune fell on the Lakers’ sticks as freshman Owen Norton’s goal with 18 seconds left stunned the Sun Devils, 3-2, in the first game of the season at Oceanside Ice Arena.
“We played a really good last few periods,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “They got a fortuitous call… We’ve won a lot of games like that where we’ve been outplayed over the last two years. Tonight, over the course of the 60 minutes, I thought we were the better team, but the slow start ended up dooming us… We got to play 60 minutes.”
The slow start presented a difficult challenge right out of the gates for the Sun Devils as Mercyhurst’s young, determined forward lines pressured hard, testing ASU’s starting netminder Evan DeBrouwer with off-angle shots early.
The Lakers’ aggressive fore-check set up senior James Anderson’s game-opening goal off a loose rebound.
The Sun Devils did not hesitate to respond.
Moments later, sophomore Josh Maniscalco’s perfect stretch pass to the tape of junior William Knierim, who buried his first goal as a Sun Devil to knot the game up at one.
However, ASU did not take advantage of the momentum thereafter.
Through the middle frame, the Sun Devils created several high-quality scoring chances, led by ASU’s third line of Logan Jenuwine, Jordan Sandhu and Austin Lemieux. Despite four consecutive dislodged goals during ASU’s offensive rushes, Mercyhurst’s netminder Garrett Metcalf looked sharp all night, stopping all 10 shots on goal in the middle frame.
The Sun Devils needed a spark, and junior co-captain Brinson Pasichnuk stepped up to begin the third period.
As ASU’s third power play of the night expired, junior James Sanchez sent a no-look centering feed to Pasicknuk, who rifled home a top-corner shot to give the Sun Devils their first lead of the night.
ASU locked down on defense, but special teams took over as eight penalties were called within a two-minute span late in the third period.
With 17:31 remaining in regulation, a wildly bouncing puck found the stick of senior Jonny Lazarus, who tipped a shot over a sprawling DeBrouwer to tie the game up, 2-2.
Just when the game appeared to be heading to overtime, the Lakers had other plans.
An odd-man rush in the dying moments of the game sent Norton through the goal crease. The freshman defenseman remarkably carried the puck across the goal mouth to bury the dagger.
“It was unbelievable,” Norton said. “I tried to put it home, and luckily it went in… It feels good to get the first win of the year.”
Despite the loss, DeBrouwer stood tall between the pipes, making 20 saves on 23 shot attempts in his first collegiate start.
“[DeBrouwer] was pretty good. He made the saves he had to make,” Powers said. “It’s tough. He didn’t see much action in the second half of the game.”
Last season, the Sun Devils lost only twice at Oceanside to then-No. 1 Ohio State, dawning an impressive 10-2 home record.
With Saturday’s loss to Mercyhurst, it will be a greater challenge for the Sun Devils to repeat last year’s home ice consistency as they tackle No. 2 Denver and No. 8 Quinnipiac at home later on this year.
The Sun Devils look to shake off the stunning loss as they prepare for the quick turn-around for the series finale Sunday at 3 PM MST.
