(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The Arizona State women’s hockey team finally made its home debut Friday night after two straight weeks of traveling to Colorado and Missouri. In the first of the Sun Devils’ two-game series against the Colorado State Rams, they were unable to pick up the home victory, falling with a final score of 4-1.
It was not the outcome expected from the Devils in their first home game of the year. Slow starts have been the story of each game this season for the Devils, and Friday night continued the trend.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t learned our lesson there yet,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said. “We have to come back stronger tomorrow.”
The Rams capitalized on the slow start from ASU by scoring two goals in the first period. The first period also provided a glance into what turned into a physical contest between the two teams – including four penalties combined in that first period.
“It is what it is. At the end of the day, we can’t control what the refs are calling,” Ellis said. “You’ve just gotta roll with the punches and keep going from there.”
ASU and CSU ended the game with a combined total of 14 penalties.
“We got a few penalties we don’t think we deserved,” freshman forward Ashlyn Sunderman said. “I think a lot of us got frustrated, which kind of lit a fire under us.”
CSU continued its aggressive play and forced the Devils to control their emotions. Of course, seven ASU penalties is not the result any team wants, but the team is certain they will have better control Saturday night.
“At first it was anger, but I’m learning to control my anger,” junior defenseman Alisa Manny said with a laugh. “We don’t get those retaliation penalties. It was frustrating. They’re a very physical team.”
In the second period, CSU’s Kristen Perry scored her second goal of the evening, giving the Rams a 3-0 lead. It wasn’t until late in the second period when Manny scored her first goal of the season to put the Devils on the board during a power play.
Despite taking nearly 50 shots, only one was able to find the back of the net.
“We were getting a ton of shots on net, but unfortunately we couldn’t pick up any of those rebounds,” Ellis said. It seems to happen to us a lot this year. We just have got to figure out how to get the puck in the net.”
The third period was capped off by a goal from CSU’s Emily Kruger to put the Rams up 4-1, sealing the game in Tempe.
“I think after losing 4-1 at our own rink, there’s kind of that pride,” Manny said. “It is a physical game and we’re going to be physical as well.”
Besides the physical aspect of the game, ASU has work to be done if it wants to split the series Saturday night, and it starts with continuing to put shots on goal.
“It comes down to positioning. When that rebound’s there, a lot of time we weren’t in position to get that rebound,” Ellis said. “Crashing the net but also realizing all three people can’t be on top of that puck, being able to communicate with each other.”
ASU is focused for Saturday night and has already forgotten about its Friday night loss.
“We need to start strong and don’t play down to them. We have our game, we need to bring it,” Sunderman said. “We started doing this thing in the locker room where we go around and tell each other something positive. Complement each other, keep our confidence up, keep going.”
The pressure will be on for the Devils come Saturday as they are looking for their first home victory of the season. It has been a much-anticipated weekend for players and fans, and seeing maroon and gold surround the ice has been comforting for the players so far.
“My dad and my grandma flew down from Canada to come watch, so it was pretty cool to look up and see them there,” Sunderman said. “It’s cool to see people with ASU jerseys. The colors around us and everything – it’s nice to be home.”
The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Oceanside Ice Arena in game two of a physical battle between Colorado State and Arizona State. For CSU, expect constant pressure and physicality throughout the matchup. ASU, on the other hand, has no plans on letting another game slip away on their home ice.
“You can always split a series. There’s another 60 minutes of hockey [Saturday night] that we gotta come out and win,” Ellis said.
