(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
“Today was probably our best game all season. Just the overall effort level and excitement … we haven’t seen it yet this season.”
That was the mood expressed by Arizona State Women’s Hockey Head Coach Lindsey Ellis, even after a 3-0 loss to Lindenwood University-Belleville, their first game in the 2018 WWCHL conference playoffs.
The Sun Devils skated into Friday morning’s game against LU-B on the heels of a 4-2 victory over Ohio State while on a three-game road stand in Columbus two weeks prior, where Amber Galles netted her 11th and 12th goals of the season.
LU-B entered Friday’s game on an impressive hot streak, finishing the regular season 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.
The Lynx of Lindenwood-Belleville controled most of the game, putting up 46 shots on ASU netminder Jordan Nash-Boulden, while ASU was only able to generate 11 shots all game.
The 11 shots on net ties the lowest amount of shots taken on a team this year, the other time also coming against Lindenwood-Belleville.
A rejuvenated Devil defense rose to the challenge of fending off unyielding Lynx offensive zone charges, not allowing a single first period goal, and only giving up a single penalty in the entire game.
“We definitely kept up with them in the beginning for sure,” sophomore Molly Potter said. “Overall, I think the effort level was pretty good.”
Sophomore goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden echoed similar praise.
“I think this is one of the better games I’ve seen this team play,” she said.
ASU held the Lynx scoreless for 27 minutes before conceding a goal to the stick of Alicia Williams off a breakaway chance.
One minute and three seconds later, Kassie String found the back of the net for LU-B, via a screened snipe from the blue line, the Lynx would take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
The third period started with the Lynx skating full steam ahead as Maddy Millar made her way past the Sun Devil blue liners for another breakaway goal just 33 seconds into the period to secure the victory over ASU.
ASU went on to hold the Lynx scoreless for the remaining 19 minutes and 27 seconds of the game.
Overall, ASU posted one of its strongest defensive zone performances of the year, allowing only one non-breakaway goal, all the while spending the vast majority of two and a half periods defending in its own zone.
“I think the overall effort level and enthusiasm to want to get into the game we haven’t totally seen as a whole collective group, and I think that [enthusiasm] showed today,” Ellis said.
ASU continues its playoff journey tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. when the Sun Devils take on WWCHL conference playoff host Midland.
Both teams will have played the Lynx when the puck drops. This will mark the fourth time ASU plays Midland this year, and a chance for redemption after Midland beat ASU to end the 2017 WWCHL playoffs.
“We would like a little bit of revenge,” Nash-Boulden said. “Especially since we’ve had some close games this year. We are not the same team they saw a couple of months ago.”
Tomorrow holds a “game 7” scenario for the Sun Devils, the golden opportunity to prove to everyone in the WWCHL who they are and why they belong, as a win sends the team to the semifinals of the tournament.
