ASU Men’s Hockey: Slow start dooms Sun Devils in 4-3 loss to Bemidji State

(Photo: Noah Furtado/WCSN)

TEMPE – Arizona State Men’s Hockey struggled offensively en route to a 4-3 loss to Bemidji State on Wednesday night.

ASU had a tough time keeping pace with the Beavers’ aggressiveness in the early going. The Sun Devils trailed 3-1 after the first period.

“You come out with that poor of a start against a really good team like that, they’re going to make you pay,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “We just dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t quite climb out of.”

The Sun Devils’ biggest issue in the first frame spurred from offensive woes. They amassed just 12 shots in the first 20 minutes of the game.

“We can’t pick and choose when we want to play hard,” Powers said. “When you want to compete and battle. If we do that we will be a .500 hockey team.”

After ASU’s egregious start to the game, it displayed a more even showing during the final two periods.

“We have resilience and we’ve come back from down quite a bit this year and won,” Powers said.

After shooting the puck at Bemidji State freshman goaltender Mattias Sholl just 12 times, the Sun Devils kept pace with the Beavers offensively the rest of the way. They amassed 48 shots in the second and third periods and added two more goals to their total.

“I think when we get bodies in front of the net and pucks there, I think we can score a lot more goals,” senior forward Chris Grando said.

Defensively, ASU played phenomenally for the full 60 minutes. The Sun Devils amassed 29 saves and 12 blocks. They only allowed 20 shots in the last two frames after giving up 18 in the first.

ASU junior goaltender Ben Kraws pieced together another great start despite the loss. With three minutes left in the second period, Kraws made perhaps the play of the night. Senior forward Owen Silinger skated across the rink to take a wide-open save, but Kraws deflected the puck. After the deflection, the puck found Silinger’s stick again and, he could’ve scored a goal had it not been for Kraws’ quickness to dive on the puck.

“Ben played unbelievably,” senior defenseman Jacob Wilson said. “He’s been steady and solid for us back there. We owe a lot to him.”

ASU also struggled on power-play chances on Wednesday, scoring zero goals on four opportunities. With 14:31 left in the second period, the Sun Devils played with two extra men against the Beavers, but couldn’t capitalize on the advantage. During its power plays, ASU took just one shot during the entire game.

Powers wants to start much more aggressively against Bemidji State on Friday.

“We have got to come out here and be as desperate as we’ve ever been on Friday,” Powers said.

The Sun Devils certainly have bought into that notion, and seem prepared to showcase that mindset on Friday.

“We were 6-6 going into tonight,” Grando said. “We have got to be desperate every single time we touch the ice.”