Sun Devils clinch 29th straight win over Wildcats in overtime

The second ranked Sun Devil hockey team extended their winning streak against the No.18 UA Wildcats to 29 as they were able to come from behind and win 4-3 in overtime.

The team was down 3-0 midway through the second period, but rallied to tie the game in the third period. In overtime, defenseman Darcy Charrois scored the game winning goal as he went top shelf on UA goaltender Robert Schultz.

“I had one more guy to get around, so I was just trying to chip it around him. I got by him clean and then the glove was where I was going,” Charrois said. “We just battled back and we never really got down and it was fun to get the win.”

Early in the third period, captain Colin Hekle was knocked into the boards and then went down on the ice with an injury. Hekle eventually skated off to the bench, and was sent to get checked up on.

“It’s always tough. Hekle plays hard, he goes through a lot of crap throughout the year. To see him leave the game, we don’t see that too often. We came back for him,” Charrois said.

The Sun Devils had multiple scoring opportunities in the first period, but were unable to come up with a goal. Towards the end of the period, the Wildcats struck first as forward Michael Ferreira found forward Andrew Murmes on the far side of the net for a backdoor goal.  This gave UA a 1-0 at the end of the first.

The momentum continued for the Wildcats in the second period, as they were able to notch another goal just six minutes in. Forwards Dane Irving and Jared Lowell got a 2-on-1 breakaway after an ASU turnover near UA’s blue line. Irving then dumped it off to Lowell who sent it past D’Elia for the goal. Two minutes later, the Wildcats struck again as forward Brian Slugocki netted a power play goal.

The Sun Devils then began to creep their way back into the game.

With five minutes left in the period, forward Stephen Collins backhanded the puck to forward Dan Styrna who put the puck on net. Styrna’s rebound was then sent home by forward Faiz Khan, to get the Sun Devils on the board. Then with 1:40 left to play, forward Kale Dolinski poked the puck in on the far side of the net for a power play goal. This made it a 3-2 game going into the third period.

In the third, the team rallied after Hekle’s injury and got the game tying goal when Dolinski fired off a wrister that snuck past Schultz at 7:19.

This goal then sent the game to overtime. Charrois’ game winner keeps the Sun Devils undefeated in overtime.

Both teams return to the ice tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.

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