(Photo: Patty Vicente/WCSN)
Oceanside Ice Arena may not have been the loudest it has ever been on Friday night. The energy in the arena, however, was different as a need for revenge permeated through the ice-chilled building.
Friday night marked the first meeting between Arizona State and Quinnipiac University since the Bobcats knocked the Sun Devils out of the NCAA tournament a year ago. Like a cloud, the loss hung over the heads of ASU’s returning players. Revenge was necessary.
“[The loss] stuck all summer,” sophomore defenseman Jarrod Gourley said. “It just sucked… for the year we had leading to the tournament. It still stings and its something we haven’t forgot about.”
The specter of the past can often motivate the results of the future. If for nothing more than morale and closure, ASU needed at least one victory against the Bobcats in Tempe. It would also help its unranked standing after losing three of its first six games. Motivated, the Sun Devils got their victory over the No. 9 Bobcats, 5-3.
“It was a great effort,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “Any time you can beat a top ten team, you don’t have anything to complain about. So, it was a really good win for our program.”
From the defensive success throughout the contest to the offensive play, Friday’s win over the Bobcats was one of the most complete in recent memory.
ASU defenders found ways to disrupt Quinnipiac’s breakouts and offensive charges. Unselfishly, they sacrificed their bodies in order to help limit the action sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer saw throughout the night. The Sun Devils successfully squashed a five minute major penalty that sophomore Demetrios Koumontzis received for checking Bobcat freshman forward Ethan Leyh from behind. The also killed a series of penalties in the final minutes of the game, as Quinnipiac threw all caution to the wind and pulled their goaltender for six-on-three and six-on-four advantages.
“[The defense] was amazing, tonight,” DeBrouwer said. “At the end, it was just mayhem. A lot of pucks I couldn’t see and probably would have gone in if it weren’t for the guys laying their bodies on the line. So, it was a great buy-in tonight.”
The ASU forwards played with the same zeal as the defensemen and picked up where they left off after the Air Force series.
Just 15 seconds into the game, ASU fired a puck past Bobcat goaltender and Detroit Red Wings draft pick Keith Petruzzelli. The goal was subsequently called back due to goaltender interference. Violation aside, the would be score set the pace for the rest of the contest.
Just two minutes after ASU gave up the first goal of the contest, junior defenseman Jacob Wilson, who missed last year’s tournament game due to a suspension, popped the lid off on scoring for the Sun Devils and tied the game, as he recovered his own rebound on a shot which came from the slot and threw it into the open net as Petruzzelli unsuccessfully tried to reset.
“The goal and just his energy and how he jumps into the play… was just tremendous,” Powers said. “Willy is one of our leaders. He is such a good player, he is such a good leader, he is such a good kid. We’re just happy to have him.”
For freshman forward Logan Jenuwine, Friday’s game will not be one he soon forgets.
The free flowing winger netted two goals for the Sun Devils, including the go-ahead goal that placed ASU up 2-1 in the first period off of a perfectly set up pass from freshman defenseman Jacob Semik, who fed the puck to Jenuwine between the faceoff dots. It was Jenuwine’s first two-score game in his collegiate career and furthered the narrative that his goal against Air Force would be the necessary catalyst for the high-octane scorer’s season.
“Obviously it’s awesome to get the opportunity to come in as a freshman and do what I can to help the team win,” Jenuwine said. “I feel a lot better on the ice, and I think that’s showing.”
Added Powers: “[Jenuwine’s] first goal, that’s a goal-scorer’s goal. He just gets it and it’s off the tape as quick as you can think, and hits the back of the net. And then the skilled that he showed on the second goal was what we see in practice, and what we recruited. He is going to be a prolific goal scorer for us.”
The Sun Devils also enjoyed solid special teams play as it was the penalty kill that came up performed in potentially game-altering scenarios. Koumontzis’s major penalty gave the Bobcats five full minutes of the man advantage but the Sun Devils stood stalwart and allowed just seven shots during the five minute disadvantage.
“I hardly had any shots,” DeBrouwer said. “And they weren’t grade-A.”
In the waning moments of the third period, the ASU penalty-kill shined the brightest. Up 5-2 over Quinnipiac, the Sun Devils killed three penalties and spent nearly all of the time defending a six-on-four or six-on-three Bobcat attack. Quinnipiac took one back from the Sun Devils with under 4:30 to play in the game but the Bobcats’ late surge was too-little too-late as ASU was able to seal the win.
“I think we [played to our identity,]” Powers said. I still think we worked hard. And I still think we can be a lot better, too.” Some of the penalties at the end were kind of effort plays, that can be avoided. We can learn from having it not make us pay, and we will..”
