Hockey

Freshman Cullen Potter ties game late, Sun Devils battle to draw with No. 10 Michigan

TEMPE — With time winding down in the third period, the energy from a 1-1 game had been extinguished, with two Michigan goals making it 3-1. However, what looked to be a similar fate to the night before for Sun Devil Hockey suddenly turned.

With under a minute left in the third period and an empty net for the Sun Devils along with being on the Power Play, graduate defenseman Noah Beck fired a shot from the point that found its way past freshman goaltender Cameron Korpi. Then, 15 seconds later, freshman forward Cullen Potter ripped a prayer from outside the blue line of the Sun Devil offensive zone to tie the game at three.

The Sun Devils (1-2-1) went on to win in a shootout, but the final score was a 3-3 tie with No. 10 Michigan (2-1-1).

“Hell of a weekend, hell of a series,” head coach Greg Powers said. “That’s a really good team. We’re gonna get better from playing them. Really proud of our guys, that felt like we deserved a bounce tonight. We didn’t get many bounces at all all weekend. They got a big bounce off the guy’s glove on their bench that didn’t get called dead on their second goal, and there was just never any doubt. Our guys believed the whole way, even down three, one, there was genuine belief that we could come back. Great goal to cut it to three, two, and then obviously we got a big bounce to tie it up.”

The game started similarly to the one night ago. In the first period both teams came out strong, but this time the Sun Devils kept the Wolverines off the scoreboard. Then, just before the five-minute mark of the second period, Michigan opened the scoring as junior defenseman Tyler Duke fired a shot from the point to beat redshirt junior Gibson Homer’s glove side. After the opening goal, it felt like things were going to fall into a similar theme from last night. But credit to ASU — it kept pressuring and finally got rewarded.

Graduate forward Dylan Jackson took the goose egg off the board for the Sun Devils after sophomore Anthony Dowd threw the puck to him in the slot. Jackson quickly turned and fired the puck over Korpi’s shoulder. After two periods of play, the game was deadlocked at 1-1, with shots on goal favoring ASU 22-14.

When the third period began, Michigan scored two unanswered goals and suddenly, the energy fell silent in Mullett Arena until Beck and Potter injected new life into the game late in the period. They say the two-goal lead is the hardest lead to hold in hockey, and it proved true. The Sun Devils clawed their way back into the game with two goals back-to-back in under 20 seconds, the first coming from Beck.

“We had the net pulled, and an extra attacker out there, so it just opened up a lane for me and luckily found it into that bottom right corner and got us going, and (Potter) did the rest from there,” Beck said.

Then, with a new life added to the building, Potter tied the game with his shot from outside the offensive zone.

“It was a surprise to me,” Potter said. “I just threw it on net, hoping for the best, and that happened. It was electric, got the fans going, and sent us to a shootout, and luckily, we won the game.”

Through only four games in his college career, Potter has already notched four points: two goals, and two assists.

“There are people that said he wouldn’t be ready for college hockey, and he just went out against [the] University of Michigan and was easily one of the best players on the ice, and he was for us, so sky’s the limit for him,” Powers said. “We’re just thrilled that he’s a Sun Devil, and it’s only going to get better.”

A big part of Saturday’s tie was Homer’s play. He faced 34 shots and turned away 31 of them, coming up especially big in overtime, standing on his head to turn away six high-quality chances from Michigan.

“He obviously held us in it in OT,” Powers said. “He was incredible in OT and the shootout. He’s a great goalie. He looked like an NHL goal tonight. He’s gonna win a lot of games for us.”