MADISON – The first 29 seconds of Arizona State men’s hockey’s game against Wisconsin Friday night indicated that the contest might be a wild one.
ASU took a 1-0 lead on an easy 4-v-2 rush thanks to sophomore defenseman Josh Maniscalco’s snipe from senior forward Tyler Busch.
Wisconsin sophomore winger Roman Ahcan figured he could score an even easier goal, though. With 3:06 left in the first period, the Sun Devils had just killed a penalty which put Ahcan in the box. As he exited the box’s door though, he shot down the ice toward sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer and found himself wide open. A pass came from the other end via freshman center Alex Turcotte, and Ahcan put the puck past DeBrouwer to tie the game.
The game only got easier for Ahcan as he went on to score two more goals for a hat trick against the Sun Devils (22-10-3), including the game-winner with 1:09 left to seal a 7-6 shootout win for Wisconsin (12-18-1). Fantastic passing by Wisconsin, a team talented as any in the country despite their lowly record, set up the shot, which Ahcan buried from practically dead-on.
“We told the guys, if we wanted to get into a track meet with that team, we don’t have the skill to keep up, and at the end of the day, they got one more than us,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said after the game of the loss.
The loss was a brutal one for ASU, which had a 5-4 lead early in the third period and had two other leads at times throughout the contest. The team did rally, however, from deficits of 2-1, 4-2 and 6-5 in the game, despite allowing 45 shots, 30 of which came before the halfway point of the game.
Ahcan dominated the Sun Devils. Just a minute after his first goal, the freshman screamed down ice with Turcotte, creating a 2v2 situation for the ASU to defend. The fifth-overall pick of the Los Angeles Kings last year (Turcotte) dropped a pass between his skates to Ahcan as he skated in front of him, creating almost a screen-like action. An open Ahcan fired, and the puck went in for his second goal in less than minute to make it 2-1 Wisconsin.
Ahcan’s performance overshadows junior forward Johnny Walker’s two goal game, which vaulted him above fellow Wisconsin freshman winger Cole Caufield in the national ranking (The two were tied at 18 coming into Friday, good enough for seventh in the country).
Walker’s first goal came after a power play opportunity with 56 seconds left in the opening period. Junior center James Sanchez slid a puck across the ice to Walker, who fired it in, tying the game at two to cap an intense first act.
The second goal was another equalizer. Down 4-3 with 3:33 left in the middle period, Walker got the puck directly in front of the net in between the face-off circles and sniped it in to tie the game at four.
“He was great,” Powers said of Walker. “He was really good. I really liked how Johnny played.”
ASU’s loss could be pinned on the defensive effort as a whole. Sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer was not bad considering the seven goals he gave up – the starter made 38 saves on 45 shots. But he struggled against the talent of the Badgers in tough situations. ASU gave up multiple breakaway opportunities, and allowed good looks for talented players like Ahcan, Turcotte and freshman winger Dylan Holloway.
“Am I happy with our defensive effort?” Powers said. “No. It was our worst defensive effort of the year.
“It’s just simple stuff. Guys not picking up on weak-side, guys on entry, guys not getting simple block outs. [These are] mistakes that aren’t characteristics of the ones they usually make.”
ASU surrendered two goals to the Badgers at the end of power plays. The first was Ahcan’s leak, and the second came via freshman forward Ryder Donovan. He put Wisconsin back up 3-2 in the second period after another failed pick-up of the entering man. In the same exact way as Ahcan, Donovan trickled out and down ice from the penalty cell and received a pass from sophomore defenseman Ty Emberson, which he put in thanks to his favorable position against DeBrouwer.
“Just be aware,” Powers said. “There’s no strategy there other than your guy just has to be aware. I don’t know. We had a couple guys back there out to lunch. It is what it is.”
After the embarrassing gaffe, things only got worse for ASU. Wisconsin’s next possession saw the Badgers set up shop in the offensive zone. Sophomore defenseman K’Andre Miller fired a shot from the right side and it went through DeBrouwer’s legs, where it idled for a couple seconds before Turcotte hardly got his stick on it and poked it in to put Wisconsin up 4-2.
Sophomore forward Jordan Sandhu cut the lead in half with 12:42 left in the second, making it 4-3, before Walker’s second goal tied it at four.
ASU looked like they were truly making the comeback happen once the third period hit. Junior defenseman Gvido Jansons, the extra skater for the night, put ASU up 5-4 with 14:19 left in the game, but Turcotte found himself in the right position soon after thanks to a puck bouncing off DeBrouwer’s pad. The talented freshman shot it and scored, tying the game back up.
From there, it was more back and forth. Just seconds later, junior center Ty Pelton-Byce put the Badgers back up one, making it 6-5. Pelton-Byce caught DeBrouwer looking the other away and fired it from dead-on.
The Sun Devils then got a 5v3 power play opportunity, and senior defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk scored from his sweet spot 20 feet from the net. It was the captain’s fourth goal in two games.
But against Achan and the Badgers, it just wasn’t enough.
“Again, if you get in a track meet and you want to exchange odd man rushes with a team that skilled… nobody in the country can beat them [that way],” Powers said. “You got to make it a little harder on them to put the puck in the net.
“We [ASU] can score. We’re one of the highest scoring teams in the country. But we pry ourselves on being a little harder to play against defensively than we were tonight.”
