ASU Men’s Hockey: Notes, quotes from Sun Devils’ 10-0 blowout loss to Minnesota

(Photo: Travis Whittaker/WCSN)

Here are the most important notes and quotes from Arizona State Men’s Hockey’s 10-0 loss to Minnesota Thursday night.

Notes:

1st Period:

With 14:52 left in the first period, Minnesota junior forward Blake McLaughlin scored to put the Golden Gophers up 1-0.
Three minutes and 52 seconds later, Minnesota made it 2-0 after a goal by junior forward Sammy Walker.
The Golden Gophers then took a 3-0 lead due to a goal by junior forward Nathan Burke with five minutes left in the period.
Minnesota was granted a power play with 4:19 left in the period after a high sticking call was made against ASU freshman center Michael Mancinelli.
With 2:17 left in the period, McLaughlin scored again to make it 4-0 Golden Gophers off the man advantage.
Seconds later, ASU senior center James Sanchez was given a penalty for tripping and Minnesota went to the power play again.
The penalty was killed by the Sun Devils.

2nd Period:

Just a minute and 43 seconds into the period, Walker scored his second goal of the night to make it 5-0 Golden Gophers.
Subsequently, a penalty levied on Mancinelli put Minnesota on the power play with 18:17 left in the period.
With 17:01 left in the period, Minnesota senior forward Brannon McManus scored to make it 6-0 Golden Gophers.
A power play was awarded to Minnsota after a cross-checking call on ASU senior defenseman Gvido Jansons with 12:02 left in the period. The penalty was killed by the Sun Devils.
With 6:38 left in the period, Minnesota freshman defenseman Carl Fish was sent to the box for boarding, putting ASU on the power play for the first time in the game.
With 2:08 left in the period, McManus scored his second goal of the game to make it 7-0 Minnesota.

3rd Period:

One minute and 12 seconds into the period, ASU sophomore defenseman Tanner Hickey was issued a penalty for interference, leading to Minnesota’s fifth power play of the night.
About halfway through the power play, the Sun Devils were granted a power play and 4-v-4 hockey ensued for 54 seconds.
All penalties were killed.
With 13:43 left in the period, McManus scored his third goal of the night to make it 8-0 Minnesota.
After a boarding penalty on Minnesota freshman defenseman Brock Faber, ASU went to the power play with 12:59 left in the period.
The penalty was killed by the Golden Gophers.
With 3:51 left in the period, Minnesota sophomore forward Ben Meyers scored to make it 9-0 Golden Gophers.
Walker finished a hat trick off with 1:15 left in the game to extend Minnesota’s lead to 10-0.

Stats:

Final: Minnesota-10 ASU-0

Shots: Minnesota-52 ASU-14

Goals (Minnesota): Walker (3), McManus (3), McLaughlin (2), Burke, Meyers

Saves: Justin Robbins (ASU) – 19 Jack LaFontaine (Minnesota) – 14

Quotes:

Head coach Greg Powers’ overall thoughts about the loss…

“We just don’t have anything in the tank. It was clear playing today. You hate to make excuses, [but] we just don’t have anything in the tank. We just don’t. It’s caught up with us. It is what it is. We got to erase this and find a way to bring more tomorrow or it will happen again. That’s arguably the best team in the country that was hungry and just got swept at home. We don’t have anything. We have a lot of guys out and we got four or five guys in the lineup that just shouldn’t be playing. They wouldn’t be if those six guys were here. It is what it is. We got to dig deep and find a way to come out and give them a better game tomorrow and get into this break and get healthy. That’s our main focus. We got to just get through tomorrow.”

Powers on the first 20 minutes of the game…

“The first five were actually fine. Stu [Junior defenseman Connor Stuart] just lost his guy and they tapped it in and it was just downhill from there. You need more out of guys that are getting opportunities that generally they don’t get. We’re having to play guys that are just dead and don’t have anything left. They’ve been on the road for two months out of the last 70 days. They’re tired. They’re mentally exhausted. They’re physically exhausted. Today it finally caught up with us. It is what it is.”

Powers on efforts he liked…

“I liked Bronson’s [junior goaltender Bronson Moore – a callup from ASU’s ACHA club hockey team in relief for freshman goaltender Cole Brady] effort. I thought PJ [junior forward PJ Marrocco] skated hard. I thought Grando [redshirt junior forward Chris Grando] skated hard. That’s about it. We’ve got five guys out there that just shouldn’t be playing. We’re just banged up and we weren’t able to practice this week. We had eleven skaters on the ice yesterday in practice because guys couldn’t go. We had to preserve what we could preserve. We were in preservation mode. Like I said, get through tomorrow and hopefully find a way to dig deep and bring a much better effort and get into this break and get healthy.”

Powers on Moore’s performance…

“I thought it was great. I made the decision after the second period that he was going to go in. I was going to put him in with seven or eight minutes left and let him get some shots, go out and let him have some fun and get his name in HockeyDB. He went in and was actually really good. He’s a good goalie. He had the two best saves of the night. I’m happy for the kid. He deserves it. He doesn’t have to be here. He’s with us as an emergency guy. I’m happy for him. Hopefully he’ll remember that moment for the rest of his life.”

Powers on the team’s fatigue…

“When you’re on the road this much, it’s unprecedented. I was so happy and so impressed with how we battled and fought last Sunday at Wisconsin because it was the same. We were banged up. Now we’re even more banged up and tired.

“It’s just catching up with them. We haven’t been at home in really two months. We had a short stint back. We’re excited to get back. This long break is a blessing in disguise. Those two exhibition games at home [against the U.S. Developmental Team on Feb. 4 and 5] are going to be great to get ramped back up and get us feeling good and ready for the next segment. This one, you just wash. It is what it is. It’s crazy. You see it happen from time to time and tonight it happened to us. Credit to Minnesota. They were ready to play tonight and they played hard. They played to get a big win and they didn’t let off the gas. Good for them.”