(Photo: Matt Venezia/WCSN)
With just over one minute remaining in Friday night’s matchup between Arizona State Men’s Hockey (15-13) and No. 1 ranked Minnesota State (24-5), things got pretty heated on the ice of Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
Down 4-2, with the game practically out of reach for the Sun Devils, tempers boiled over and in what was perhaps a show of frustration. Multiple ASU players got into a large scrum, leaving bodies all over the ice.
For their actions in the flare-up, ASU sophomore defenseman Tim Lovell and sophomore forward Matthew Kopperud were forced to sit in the penalty box and hopelessly watch as their team failed to get a late spark from the fight and fell to Minnesota State 4-2.
Coming into Friday night’s game, the Sun Devils were facing a tall task: go up against the Mavericks on their home ice. The Mavericks entered 12-1 on the season at home, and were also victors in 12 of their last 13 games. For the Sun Devils, their only shot at taking down the top-ranked Mavericks was seemingly to limit their penalties on defense, as the Mavericks were the No. 10 ranked team in power-play percentage, as well as compete throughout the entire game.
The first period started off ideal for the Sun Devils, as Kopperud netted his 15th goal of the season just 61 seconds into the game. The Mavericks then responded with a goal from senior defenseman Andy Carrol eight minutes into play, tying the game at one – a score that would hold all the way till the end of the period.
However, it was the second period that became the deciding factor in the game. Within the first few minutes, ASU senior defenseman Jacob Wilson racked up a couple penalties, giving Minnesota State the man advantage on multiple occasions. In the first six minutes of the period, the Mavericks were able to score twice, one coming from senior forward Reggie Lutz and the other from sophomore forward Ondrej Pavel.
“The start of the second period really hurt us, taking those couple of penalties, and we had guys step up in neutral ice and get in behind us,” ASU Head Coach Greg Powers said. “A couple of goals that we want back to start that second period, and that was the difference in the game – just the five minutes that we let off and let down. You can’t do that against that team, you have to play 60 minutes.”
For the Sun Devils, the entire third period was one they were playing catch up in. They had multiple chances, one coming on a 3-on-1 in which senior defenseman Tim Theocharidis wasn’t able to convert. The Sun Devils ended the third period with 12 shots on goal, only able to put one past the net, which came from the stick of Kopperud – his 16th goal of the season.
Even though his team didn’t leave the ice with the victory, Powers was still optimistic about his team’s chance on Saturday night, as they will stay in Mankato, Minnesota to match up with the Mavericks for a second-straight game – one that likely determines the Sun Devils’ NCAA Tournament hopes once and for all.
“It took us a little bit to get it back, but we did play really well in the third [period], so we got to build off of that going into tomorrow,” Powers said.
