(Photo: Nick Badders/WCSN)
While Arizona State women’s hockey advanced to the Western Women’s Collegiate Hockey League Championship game for the first time in program history, the Sun Devils (17-5-0) could not pull out the victory, falling to the Colorado Buffaloes (19-7-0) by a score of 5-1.
The Buffaloes struck early, as Mariah Dally scored just 2:19 into the first period on a power play.
Special teams was a major area of struggle for the Sun Devils, who surrendered a total of two goals on the penalty kill.
Sophomore forward and captain Kat Jones was able to tie things up in the first period, finding the net with a little under three minutes to go in the frame.
Despite an onslaught of shots on ASU senior goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden, the Sun Devils kept the score tied at one apiece through the second period.
While ASU fought hard to keep the score tied through the third period, Colorado continued to pepper the net with shots, rocketing 44 pucks at Nash-Boulden over the game.
The Buffaloes broke the tie 6:40 into the third period, then added three goals of insurance over the final four minutes, including two empty netters.
The Sun Devils could only manage 14 shots, with Jones’ goal acting as the only one of the day for an ASU team that spent a lot of the game in their own zone.
Even still, the Sun Devils limited high scoring chances, which kept the team competitive the whole game.
“Historically we’ve been pretty good about playing up and competing with these fast teams,” Nash-Boulden said. “We showed that again today. I really do think for the most part, we played a full 60 minutes and everyone gave it what they had, so not too much I would change.”
For Nash-Boulden and senior defenseman Molly Potter, the loss represented the final chapter playing for ASU, ending their careers with the program’s deepest playoff run and most successful season to date.
“I can’t say enough about these girls, to be able to build a locker room like we did,” Nash-Boulden said. “To have those kinds of high-caliber players, but also high-character players makes it a team you want to be a part of and a team I’ll forever be proud to have shared a locker room with.”
