(Photo Courtesy: Billy Wuneburger)
Arizona State club women’s hockey steamrolled the Denver Pioneers in its weekend series, achieving shutouts in both games.
Sophomore goalie Karsyn Hellman would get her first start of the season as the Sun Devils started the first game of the series by exchanging penalties with Denver. Freshman forward Amelia Smith would score late in the period to get ASU the opening lead, and was assisted by graduate defenseman Sheridan Gloyd. Seconds later, junior forward Sydney Paulsen would score her second of the season to put ASU up by two before the period ended. Senior forward Karlie Chadwick assisted on the goal, her first point of the season. Graduate forward Mason Walker would get the other assist.
The second period would be an explosive one for the Sun Devils. Gloyd scored just a minute and 26 seconds into the period on the powerplay to give the Sun Devils a 3-0 lead. The goal was assisted by Smith. It wouldn’t take long for Smith to get her name on the scoresheet again as she scored her second goal of the game with an assist going to freshman forward Camryn Kozak. Walker scored a team-leading ninth goal of the season, allowing freshman forward Britney Bridel and senior defenseman Berkleigh Radcliffe to pick up assists
The Sun Devils would score their second powerplay goal late in the second period. The goal was scored by Gloyd, her second of the game with an assist going to graduate defenseman Flo Awde. Seconds before the period ended, Bridel would score with Kozak and freshman forward Logan Sutera getting assists. That goal would make the score 7-0 at the end of the second.
The Sun Devils weren’t done yet as they would put up more goals in the third period. Paulsen scored her second of the game with Walker getting the assist. Next, Walker would get another goal in the game, yet again on the powerplay. Smith would complete her hat trick with Gloyd assisting on the goal. Smith’s goal was on the powerplay as well. Sophomore forward Elle McKenna also scored, setting the final score at 11-0. Denver only put up nine shots with Hellman turning away all of them, getting her first win of the season. Meanwhile, ASU put up 46 shots against Denver.
The second game of the weekend gave freshman goaltender Quinn Eatinger to start her first game of the season and her first start as a Sun Devil. ASU would strike in the middle of the first as sophomore forward Sam Murphy got her first goal of the season. Murphy had recently rejoined ASU after a stint with Norwich University’s NCAA III women’s hockey team. Walker closed out the period by scoring the second goal of the game, which was assisted by Awde, pushing the score to 2-0 at the end of the first.
The Sun Devils once again exploded in the second period. Junior defenseman Sami Lutsch scored her first of the season which was assisted by Smith. Lutsch would score again two minutes later on the power play. Kozak and Murphy assisted on the goal. Next, Walker would score a short-handed goal with no assists credited on the goal. Finally, Smith would score the final goal of the period. The goal was assisted by graduate forward Kyran Lackey. The score was 6-0 at the end of the second.
ASU didn’t waste any time in the third period as Smith would come out 26 seconds into the period and score her second of the game, yielding ASU a 7-0 victory.
This would be Eatinger’s first win as a Sun Devil as she stopped all 11 shots she faced. ASU put up 45 shots in total against the Pioneers.
The two wins improved ASU’s overall record to 9-3-0, snapping a three-game losing streak.
The Sun Devils scored a combined 18 goals in their two games against the Pioneers. Amelia Smith scored eight points in the two games, five of those points were goals. She’s now second on the team in points with 10. Walker had six points increasing his overall season totals to a team-leading 18 points in 12 games, 12 of those points were goals. Kozak also had a great weekend with four assists which puts her third on the team in points with nine.
Both goalies were impressive as both of them started their first games of the season. Eatinger hadn’t even played a minute of a game this season but both recorded shutouts against the Pioneers.
ASU will return home to play Michigan at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Michigan is 12-3-1 this season, good for fourth in the league.
