(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)
For the wrong and right reasons, Senior Night couldn’t have been any more memorable for Arizona State hockey’s first full Division-I senior class.
The Sun Devils blew a 4-1 lead to American International College before winning in overtime 5-4 Saturday night, thanks to PJ Marrocco’s bar-down goal on an assist from Brinson Paschinuk.
“We got through it,” a relieved ASU coach Greg Powers said. “We have an incredible backbone in our room.”
Here’s a higher quality version of @Peej_97’s OT game winner for @SunDevilHockey! pic.twitter.com/ewm6zYQrS9
— Riley Trujillo (@trujillo_riley) February 17, 2019
That backbone, the five seniors that shadowed Powers as he spoke after the game, is the one that has taken the program from start-up to a now probable NCAA Tournament team.
“The whole staff right now are passengers,” said Powers. “That’s when you know you have something special, when you as a coach, you just get out of the way. These guys are driving the bus.”
Saturday’s game featured a two-goal game from junior co-captain Tyler Busch, a three-assist game from freshman Demetrios Koumontzis, and a two-assist game from Brinson Paschinuk, whose defensive presence early on allowed the Sun Devils to jump ahead early.
Like Friday night, Saturday’s game started off fast and physical. But AIC’s powerful offense was neutralized a little longer than it was Friday, as ASU took a 2-0 lead just six minutes and ten seconds into the period and got their sticks in the way of Yellow Jacket passes and rushes.
ASU’s goals all came off great offensive awareness and positioning. First, forward Filip Buncis made a fantastic cut from the right side of the net to pop in a pass from Busch from center ice. Right after, a holding penalty on AIC’s Parker Revering gave ASU a power play opportunity, and they quickly capitalized on it just nine seconds in, as Busch received a pass from Brinson Paschinuk and lifted the puck into the net.
But it wasn’t all Sun Devils in the first. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead in half after a rush led to a blazing shot at goaltender Joey Daccord’s pads, which he wasn’t able to cover up. The shot rebounded out and AIC right winger Kyle Stephan put in.
It didn’t bother the Sun Devils though. Two minutes and 57 seconds later, Koumontzis made a gorgeous pass in front of the net to fellow freshman PJ Morocco. He then slapped it in, putting ASU up 3-1.
But Koumontzis didn’t stop there. Three minutes and 12 seconds into the 2nd period, he made another pristine pass, this time to Busch, while spinning around in the right corner of the rink, setting the junior forward up for his second goal of the night.
“It was a matter of time,” Powers said of Koumontzis, whose production had been fluctuating lately. “He’s a special player.”
That goal was the last positive play for the Sun Devils for a while, though. AIC, despite only scoring one goal, dominated the second period, possessing the puck well and using power plays to their advantage, as the Yellow Jackets got heavy pressure during and after their man advantages.
Those AIC rushes triggered the Sun Devils, leading to an extremely physical second half of the period. A huge fight involving sophomore forward Johnny Walker and freshman defenseman Josh Maniscalco had both teams send a player to the bench for two minutes before junior Steen Pasichnuk walloped a Yellow Jackets’ skater, resulting in his ejection and a five-minute major. The Yellow Jackets scored during the long penalty, thanks to a missile from Ryan Pollin, cutting the lead to 4-2.
“We were thrown somewhat I think was some pretty unjust adversity,” Powers said.
After the chippy second, the referees started to crack down, upsetting Powers and the bench.
The Yellow Jackets goal was the first of what was three unanswered and was what began ASU’s collapse from being up 4-1. The second goal also came on a power play, as Marrocco was called for high-sticking. It was the lack of discipline (ASU totaled nine penalties) that contributed to ASU’s lax final 40 minutes of regulation, as AIC got most of its offense from or right off the power play throughout the night.
AIC used that momentum all the way up until the final minute, when the Yellow Jackets pulled the goalie and tied the game at four with just a minute and five seconds left.
“That’s the first time all year we’ve been scored on 6-on-5,” said Powers. “They drew up a hell of a play and they executed. It was great. Credit to that team.”
Powers cited that AIC has come back from deficits multiple times this season, and said that the team knew that “they don’t quit.”
It didn’t take ASU long to respond in OT however. Just a minute and 29 seconds in, Marrocco came through.
Senior Anthony Croston, who played his last game in the rink he grew up in, said that the strength of this year’s team was the fact that anyone on any line could make an impact.
“If one line is not going, another one is picking them up,” he said.
Saturday night represented that well. The seniors that have led ASU back from deficits or guided them when opponents are making a charge did so one last time on home ice, giving the Sun Devils a sweep that moves them one step closer to an unprecedented NCAA Tournament bid, one that could maybe extend their final season a little while longer.
