The Arizona State women’s hockey team won 6-1 Friday night against the University of Utah and grabbed their 11th win of the season, which is the most wins in a single season in the program’s history.
It was a shaky start for the Sun Devils and Utah took advantage of it as defenseman Cailey Scott scored with just over 11 minutes left in the first period.
ASU found itself on the penalty kill for much of the first period, but with three minutes before the end of the period, sophomore forward Danielle Dupont was able to score a shorthanded goal to tie the game at one apiece.
ASU began to find its stride in the second period and were generating more opportunities against Utah goaltender Samantha White.
Perhaps the biggest goal of the game came with less than seven minutes remaining in the period as sophomore captain Kat Jones scored her 14th goal of the season.
Minutes later, ASU went on its second power play of the game and quickly scored again, thanks to a pass from freshman defenseman Taylor Northcott, feeding it to Dupont who rebounded it for her second goal of the game.
With two more goals on Friday, Dupont now is tied for a team-high 14 on the season. Head coach Lindsey Ellis spoke after the game about how much the team appreciates how she approaches each game.
“She works so hard all the time, every time she’s on the ice she wants the puck and she doesn’t want to stop until it’s in the net,” coach Ellis said. “It’s pretty obvious when she’s on the ice. We’re proud of her for being able to do that so often.”
After 20 shots in the second period, the Sun Devils came out firing in the third period as well. Just over two minutes in, freshman Morgan Benson scored her first career collegiate goal extending the team’s lead to 4-1.
After killing their fifth penalty in the middle of the final period, the Devils scored two more goals from sophomore Sheridan Gloyd and senior Molly Potter, sealing their 6-1 victory over Utah.
“I thought it went well,” Ellis said on how the game overall went. “I thought we had a slow start and had to adjust to that and come out stronger. Obviously we had a better last 30 minutes than the beginning.”
As for what changed coming out of the first period, that had to do with what coach Ellis had to say during the intermission.
“Our coach gave us a little talking too,” Jones said after the game. “I think it woke us up and made us realize we need to play like the way we did against Adrian. We weren’t doing that in the first period.”
ASU converted on two out of its three power play opportunities. Dupont credited the success on the power play to better passing and communication.
“We were moving the puck better, so when we had it in the offensive zone we were connecting on passes better, we were communicating a lot better,” she said. “When I was out on the ice I could hear people calling for the puck, saying when their not open ‘No, no go back’ during the power plays.”
The Sun Devils had five penalties on the night, but penally kill came out strong and the team was able to keep Utah from scoring on each power play.
“We were able to play a few different people on the penalty kill and I thought we did great forechecking and minimizing those shots,” Ellis said.
Not only does this season mark the most wins in program history, it also makes it ASU’s first ever winning season.
“It’s really exiting,” Ellis said. “I actually didn’t realize until we walked out and a parent said congrats to me. There’s so many firsts and new things this season and we’re excited to continue with that and get a lot more firsts to go this season.”
As for the captain of the team, it means a lot to be apart of a historic season for ASU.
“It means everything to me,” Jones said. “It means everything to the team, this is something so special that isn’t going to happen every year so we’re just riding it out and enjoying it while it lasts.”
The Sun Devils still have one more game left on this home stand when they face Utah for a second game on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
