(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)
Arizona State’s historic season drew to its conclusion on Saturday night in Allentown, Penn., after the Sun Devils dropped their first-ever NCAA tournament game by a score of 2-1 to the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
Heading into the final seven minutes of the game down 2-1, ASU’s offense sparked to life, on the back of a Brinson Pasichnuk goal just a minute earlier. The “last stand,” lead by Pasichnuk and backed by the Maroon and Gold faithful pumping “A-S-U” chants through the air inside PPL Center brought a barrage of shots, including one from sophomore forward Johnny Walker that rang off the crossbar just seconds after Pasichnuk’s goal. However, QU goaltender Andrew Shortridge, a Mike Richter candidate, stood strong through every shot, not allowing any more to get by him.
With just 3:44 left ASU’s upward climb got exponentially tougher as freshman defenseman Jarrod Gourley took a five minute major and game misconduct penalty for checking QU forward Nick Jermain from behind.
The penalty and one-goal deficit forced the Sun Devils to pull junior goalie and fellow Mike Richter Award candidate Joey Daccord from the net just to get back to 5-on-5. Although ASU spent most of the time on the kill inside of the Bobcat zone, the team could not get one past Shortridge by the time clock hit triple zeros.
The first two periods painted a drastically different picture of the game. It was all Bobcats, all the time. Quinnipiac imposed its will from the opening faceoff, something that ASU coach Greg Powers had noted he was worried about before the team flew into Allentown. The Bobcats drew first blood quickly as sophomore defenseman Joe O’Connor went five-hole immediately off of the faceoff scramble just 3:54 into the first.
Quinnipiac took the first goal in stride and managed to maintain puck possession for two-thirds of the first period.
ASU’s offense showed its first real signs of life with about five minutes to go in the first period of action. ASU finally found itself spending more than just a few seconds within the Bobcat zone, but only managed to put two shots up before the end of the period. Shots that either went high or wide of the net plagued the Devils when the team did have time in the QU zone.
The second period was even worse for the Sun Devils, who struggled to maintain puck possession for any part of the frame and, as a result, managed to only put up two shots on goal.
It was Daccord who stood on his head, saving 17 of 18 shots he faced in the period. The one goal Daccord conceded came from a rebounded shot by freshman William Fällström as an ASU defensive collapse allowed for junior Alex Whelan to take the original bad angle shot.
When the third period rolled around, the Sun Devils looked like a brand new team. They were more poised and clamped down in the defensive zone, allowing the offense to actually set itself up for a breakout. Passes were more precise, and pucks were finding their way on target much more than either of the previous two periods. It was the first and only period that the Devils actually outshot the Bobcats, edging them 11-9 in the final frame.
The Sun Devils composed play finally broke through the wall of Andrew Shortridge. Pasichnuk put the Sun Devils on the board after skating and holding the puck on the blue-line for almost ten seconds before finally ripping one above the blocker side of Shortridge with 8:18 left in the third period. The goal sparked the Sun Devils final push to the final buzzer.
Yet, they couldn’t come all the way back.
While the loss caps off ASU’s season on a sour note, the Sun Devils won more games in this season alone than in any of their full NCAA seasons combined. The team knocked off top-ten opponent Penn State away from home and secured its first ever tournament berth to cap off a 21-13-1 overall record.
ASU’s rise into the NCAA echoes in many ways the opponent the team lost to Saturday night. The Bobcats made their rise to D-I in 1998 from D-II rather than ACHA, but came into the NCAA under current head coach Rand Pecknold. The Bobcats, then Braves, qualified for their first tournament in the 2002 season.
Powers described the QU program’s rise as very similar to that of ASU’s, noting QU’s facilities were not great, but yet Pecknold turned the program into a “blue-blood powerhouse.”
“They’re the real blueprint,” Powers said of Quinnipiac. “They really are.”
Powers will be hoping his Sun Devils, with a first NCAA Tournament appearance under the belt, can follow a similar path and make get back to the postseason soon for another crack at reaching the Frozen Four.
