(Photo: Allyson Cummings/WCSN)
Brian McGinty scored on the power play with 7:13 to go in regulation and Kale Dolinski netted a shorthanded goal with 2:03 left to seal ASU’s 6-2 victory over the Colorado State Rams.
Dolinski would end the All Hallows Eve night at Oceanside Ice Arena with 4 points, adding to his lead in overall assists (22) and points (33) on the ACHA leaderboards.
Senior forwards McGinty and Captain Colin Hekle also were offensive stalwarts in the Sun Devil’s 14th win, with both being just 1 shy of a hat trick.
Hekle drew first blood on the power play: he accepted a nice feed from Dolinski and chipped the puck over CSU goalie Alex Steidler’s glove. The Rams’ blue line, however, would keep the pressure on ASU’s lines, not allowing any of ASU’s 16 remaining shots to end in the back of the net.
“[CSU is] a physical team that goes hard and works hard,” Coach Powers said. “They like to hit-that’s the book on us. Teams try to hit us and knock us off our game. We’ve just got to stick with it and stay tough and by the end of 60 minutes we’ll prevail.”
The no. 1 ranked Sun Devils once again showed their strength on the power play, netting 3 of their 6 goals on the man advantage.
CSU would answer right back on their own power play in the second when a wrist shot by freshman forward Chandler Yoder put the Rams behind by just 1 goal.
But a new face would shift the momentum back to the Maroon and Gold.
With 6:07 left to go, freshman forward Eric Rivard would put the puck between the pipes with fellow freshman Sean Murphy and senior defenseman Brett Prechel garnering the assists. After missing ASU’s first 13 games due to an upper-body injury, the former Soo Eagle is expected to be another offensive weapon on an already stacked Sun Devil offensive unit.
“It is what you can expect,” Powers said. “[Rivard’s] a big, physical, skilled mucker. He’s really good down low, really good around the net and he’s deceptively skilled. The kid’s going to score a lot of goals.”
“I felt really comfortable today,” Rivard said. “I played a lot in juniors, so the speed of the game- I felt pretty adjusted to it.”
The Rams did not want to go down without a fight in the 3rd. Just 14 seconds after McGinty scored his second goal on the power play, defenseman Jordan Gnatowsy would net an unassisted goal.
But a one-timer from Captain Canada would allow Dolinski to bank the puck off the crossbar and behind Steidler, giving CSU a bitter end to their Halloween night.
Part 2 of the Halloween edition of Sun Devil hockey continues as the Colorado Buffaloes take on the Sun Devils a 7:30 P.M at Oceanside. Watch the live broadcast at http://cronkitesports.com/live-broadcasts
