(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Saturday was Military Appreciation Night at Oceanside Ice Arena and the Arizona State women’s club hockey team, normally wearing white at home, donned camouflage jerseys in honor of the military. The Sun Devils also looked to snap a five-game losing skid against Midland in the second game of the series, after losing to the Warriors 5-1 on Friday night.
The Devils opened up the first period aggressively and it did not take long for them to put a goal on the board. In fact, it would only take a minute and 16 seconds for Amber Galles to put ASU up 1-0. The score would give Galles a team-tying 12 points (tied with KC McGinley) and further her team-leading goal count with seven on the season.
“I’m really getting shots on net whenever I have a chance,” Galles said regarding her goal count on the year. “With not many skaters, somebody has to do it and step up and get those shots on net.”
It was ASU who would control the rest of the first period, with well-executed tape-to-tape passes as well as blue line control in the offensive zone. Sun Devil goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden also came out strong, stopping all fifteen shots she faced in the first period.
The first half of the second period continued on much like the first period, as ASU kept the momentum leaning their way and played solid hockey, not giving up too many major scoring chances.
The final five minutes of the second period saw a heavy momentum shift in favor of Midland, however. Two goals, coming from Isabelle Uhl Chmiel and Savannah Wright just 54 seconds from each other put the Warriors up by one goal with only three minutes to play in the second.
Arizona State did not go down quietly though. Alyssa Ayers struck back back two minutes later in the waning moments of the second period to bring the game back level to two goals apiece.
Despite the momentum from Ayers’ goal, the third period saw Midland jump ahead and not look back, as Uhl Chmiel scored again and Robin Hatcher netted her third goal of the series. Defense played a huge role for the Warriors late in the contest, especially killing a nearly two-minute five-on-three power play from the Sun Devils. When the final horn sounded, it was the Midland Warriors picking up the weekend sweep and Arizona State dropping to 3-8-1 on the year
Sun Devil head coach Lindsey Ellis expressed her optimism in the team’s power play capabilities going ahead after the team went 0-5 with the man advantage.
“We have been very successful on the power play this season as a whole. So fine-tuning the little things and being able to get those passes down is what’s going to help us in the future.”
The women have a couple weeks off before facing Grand Canyon University for the fourth and fifth times this year. They play GCU on Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9. ASU is 1-1-1 in the first three matchups with the Lopes.
