(Photo: Emma Gonzalez)
Tempe — The last time Arizona State and Colorado College hit the ice at Mullet Arena was in January of 2025. The Tigers scored four unanswered goals, overcoming a three-goal deficit for a win that stunned Sun Devil fans. When the two sides found themselves back in Tempe on Friday, history was flipped on its head.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, ASU (3-5-1, 1-1-1 NCHC) came storming back in the last 40 minutes, forcing overtime against No. 20 Colorado College (5-3-1, 0-2-1 NCHC) before winning in a three-man shootout. A scoreless overtime means the game will technically count as a tie on its record, but the breakaway battle did secure two important points in the NCHC standings.
“I am so proud of how they collectively snapped out of it.” ASU head coach Greg Powers said, “It was because we were out working, we were winning races, we were winning battles. We started moving our feet, started to get pucks in behind them, and playing the way we need to play to have success.”
While Mullet Arena did erupt in the end, the only smiles to be found in the first frame came from the faces of Tiger fans. The Tigers were on their heels before the first TV timeout, with ASU holding all of the momentum in the first eight minutes. However, after the break, Colorado College took over, rattling off three goals in a six-minute span.
“It wasn’t even poor decisions,” Powers said, “It was just like the puck was a hot potato or a grenade, like our guys didn’t want it . . . we just had really bad, sloppy touches especially by our defensive core.”
The Sun Devil blue line was in shambles. Their failure to pick up a wide-open man led to the first goal, and a lack of net-front presence led to a pair of rebound goals shortly after. They also surrendered a number of costly turnovers that led to numerous quality chances for the Tigers.
The offensive zone was not much better. ASU generated a lot of chances to start the game but was only able to muster up four shots on target in the last 12 minutes — a testament to its lack of offensive prowess.
The last half of the first period left Powers and the Sun Devils with a lot to improve on heading into the intermission, as nothing seemed to be clicking at either end of the ice. The Maroon and Gold needed to flip a switch.
“He said it wasn’t our best performance,” said freshman forward Jack Beck regarding Powers’ intermission speech. “We weren’t living up to what ASU hockey is. We have a brand, and we weren’t playing to it. We were kind of on our own page, and if we stick to that brand, I don’t know if anyone in the country can play with us.”
Coming out of the intermission and for the rest of the game, every trend in the first period flew right out the window.
ASU dominated the second period, doubling the shots of Colorado College, but still struggled to find the back of the net. Then, after a hooking penalty, senior forward Cruz Lucius wired a pass through the seam, leaving Beck looking at nothing but net as the horn blared for the first time of the night. Beck had one goal and two assists on the night, giving Tempe a show in his first game on home ice.
ASU was sent back to the power play three minutes later, where Lucius found a goal of his own — muscling a wrist shot past a stunned senior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko to claw back to within one as the Sun Devils stuck one foot in the door. Lucius’ goal moved his team-leading mark to eight, tying him for the sixth most in the NCAA, as his red-hot start to the season shows no sign of slowing down.
“I mean, the first one I didn’t have to do too much,” Beck said. “I think anyone could have scored that goal. Cruz set up a backdoor tap-in. He’s a special player. It was pretty easy to put that one in.”
Heading into the third with a newfound life, the Maroon and Gold needed one more goal to complete the improbable comeback, but struggled to find it. With Mullet Arena on its feet and only 76 ticks hanging on the clock, ASU came out of a timeout with one last chance to level the score.
Right off the faceoff, a bit of puck luck left senior forward and co-captain Bennet Schimek with a full six-by-four, which he took full advantage of, as the last piece of the comeback fell into place.
“I think it was probably the first bounce we got this year,” Powers said. “Beck made a good play and Schimek had a stick on the ice, good habit, and we were able to tie it up.”
Overtime saw a number of chances but ultimately no score as both netminders made a number of saves, including ASU freshman Samuel Urban stoning a Tiger cold who was all alone at the top of his crease. The scoreless fourth period led to the game ending in a tie, but two points were still up for grabs in a shootout.
Beck and Lucius both lit the lamp, and backed by two monster saves from Urban, the Sun Devils were able to hit the glass in front of their classmates despite their first-period woes.
ASU’s come-from-behind performance may mark a turning point in what has been a rocky start to the season, but Colorado College will search for revenge on Saturday as the Sun Devils will try to defend home ice and collect their first conference win at Mullet Arena this year. Achieving that will likely take a performance similar to the one seen in the last two periods.
“We have to find a way to string together 60 minutes like that,” Powers said. “And when we do, hopefully it’s tomorrow, we are going to be a really, really good team.”
