ASU Men’s Hockey: Sun Devils falter, suffer sweep at Omaha

(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)

During Tuesday’s media session, coach Greg Powers was asked about whether opponents would stop overlooking No. 16 Arizona State now that the program was ranked for the first time and having it’s most successful season since beginning Division I play four years ago.

“We’re 10-4-0, we’re ranked, we’re not gonna sneak up on anybody,” he said last week. “These teams are gonna be ready for us.”

Nebraska-Omaha certainly was.

The Sun Devils were swept by the now 4-7-1 Mavericks by scores of 6-4 and 4-0 on the road this weekend, a team which ASU swept in Tempe just three series ago. It was a brutal weekend for the Sun Devils (10-6-0), who had the advantage in the box score in almost every statistical category throughout but couldn’t turn those advantages into wins.

ASU’s highly-touted powerplay went 0-for-6 against the Mavericks throughout the course of the two games. It led Nebraska-Omaha 71-50 in shots, mostly due to Saturday night’s effort, where the Sun Devils out-shot their opponents 44-23 but couldn’t sneak a single one by Nebraska-Omaha goaltender Evan Weninger, who was named the No.1 star of the game for his shutout. The Sun Devils fell behind early on Saturday night, after the Mavericks scored a power-play goal within the first 5 1/2 minutes of the game, and couldn’t catch up.

ASU’s defense, which has given up a high number of shots this season, usually relies on junior goaltender Joey Daccord to bail them out. But Saturday night was a different story. The defense only let Daccord see the puck 23 times, but the junior let four of those shots in.

Friday night’s game was more even, as the Sun Devils and Mavericks both tallied 27 shots apiece. The difference in the 6-4 scoreline was special teams. Nebraska-Omaha took advantage its power-play opportunities better than ASU, putting two of them in the net, including one to tie it up at four with 7:49 left in the 3rd period.

That tying goal was the beginning of a downward spiral for the Sun Devils that night. Tied 3-3 heading into the 3rd, ASU needed a spark and got one with a short-handed goal by Dylan Hollman with 8:43 left in the period. Less than a minute later though, Nebraska-Omaha knotted it up before a Fredrik Olofsson goal minutes later put them ahead for good.

While the resiliency and closing effort of this Sun Devils team have been praised this season, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some rough patches throughout and toward the end of games. While on the road against Penn State, the Sun Devils were up 4-3 heading into the third period of the first game and managed to let the Nittany Lions squeak out a 6-5 win. The next night, ASU blew a 3-1 lead heading into the third again but got away with it thanks to Johnny Walker’s game-winning goal in overtime. The next weekend, against Michigan State, the Sun Devils squandered an early 2-0 lead before pulling out a 5-4 win.

While not every blown lead by the Sun Devils has resulted in a loss, Friday night’s did. And unlike their series-split at Harvard last weekend, they didn’t make up for it on Saturday night in Omaha either. For ASU, which has grown tired of being overlooked and believes it’s ready to compete with the big boys, this weekend — its first time getting swept this season — might be a wakeup call. Perhaps it was the Sun Devils that were caught looking past an opponent this time.