(Photo: Connor Gleason/WCSN)
TEMPE – Arizona State seemed inadequate.
The Sun Devils looked exactly like a team playing without a consistent coaching staff for the past three weeks while dealing with the weight of having a teammate, sophomore defenseman Matthew Mayich, on life support.
Not only that, but the team had to brace for a new winding turn. Assistant coach Mike Corbett likely led the Sun Devils’ bench for the final time, with an interim coach expected to be named early next week. Corbett had one last chance to leave a positive mark at ASU.
After the 2-1 loss to Holy Cross the previous night, the Sun Devils inched closer to another heartbreaking fate when they conceded the equalizing goal with under 20 seconds remaining in regulation – seconds after ringing the post of an empty net.
Up came Jack Beck.
The second-year forward picked up the puck in the opposing zone just 40 seconds into overtime. Rather than find a teammate, Beck took matters into his own hands, rifling the puck past Holy Cross goaltender Connor Towle’s glove.
The Sun Devils rushed onto the ice, arms locked together in joy. This meant something more than just hockey.
Mere minutes after missing an open net that would have sealed a regulation win, Beck skated over to his assistant coach and embraced him as the Sun Devils (2-2-0, 0-0 NCHC) emerged with a 5-4 overtime win over the Crusaders (2-2-0, 0-0 AHA) on Saturday.
“Just sticking with it,” Beck said. “We kind of caught them sleeping a little bit in the third, and just showed how good of a hockey team we could be. And like Kyle said, we are playing for something bigger. Everything’s for Matthew, and there are people going through a lot harder things in the world. So, giving your all for 20 minutes isn’t too hard.”
Following Friday’s loss to Holy Cross, fourth-year forward and captain Kyle Smolen emphasized that the team needed to play with Mayich at the forefront of their minds. On Saturday, the Sun Devils appeared to do that.
Despite dominating much of the game’s possession, ASU entered the third period trailing 3-1. Early on in the final frame, the Sun Devils looked defeated. Shots were hitting posts. Players were missing quality chances. No sense of urgency was apparent.
Of all ASU’s skaters, freshman forward Nathan Behm ignited the team in his fourth NCAA game. After two unsuccessful power plays in the third period, Behm sliced through Holy Cross’ defense and backhanded his third goal of the season past Towle.
All of a sudden, the Sun Devils had life. Smolen joined the party with a goal, followed by third-year forward Ben Muthersbaugh, as the trio grabbed motivation from playing for their teammate and willed ASU into a third-period lead. They and the rest of the Sun Devils celebrated with intense, fighting emotion, knowing what a win would mean for a fractured team.
“I went in there and challenged them,” Corbett said. “They want to be coached hard, so I went there and challenged the group and said, ‘I want to see what they’re made of, and they show me what they’re made of, and that’s what you’re proud of that. It’s easy. It’s easy to go the other way. It’s easy to go the other way, and they didn’t go the other way, and they stuck with it, and we just battled back.”
Despite the win, ASU still seemed stretched out, at least mentally, in a plethora of different directions. In the lead-up to the weekend series, College Hockey News reported about a potential rift between players and the coaching staff, with one player allegedly sitting out until a new coach was brought in.
‘It’s a new day,” Corbett said. “You got to come out and don’t worry about what happened yesterday. These guys, it’s easy for players to be able to worry about the end result. Okay, and it’s hard to just win a game. Just focus on your next shift. The next shift’s so hard. It’s so hard.
“No matter what’s going on, just focus on the next shift. And if we can do that, and we can just win, we’ll win the game one shift at a time. Ultimately, everybody wants to think about the end result.”
For much of the weekend, the Sun Devils’ power play and late-game defense seemed broken, with pieces shattered all over the floor. The team would string passes together before missing a back pass, with the puck often ending back in their defensive zone.
Along with a lackadaisical power-play attack, ASU conceded five goals this weekend in the final minute of the period. It seemed that its players couldn’t stay focused for the full 60 minutes with their minds elsewhere.
“That’s where guys tend to relax,” Corbett said. “They don’t think things matter as much, and they just relax for that second. And you can’t. And to me, that’s a lot of it. What it comes down to is continuing the intensity until the buzzer blows.”
While the Sun Devils looked to show remnants of a working man-advantage or a competing hockey team, gluing the pieces back together will take work that can only be done with a true leadership voice at the helm.
As a new coach is expected to take over next week, ASU looks to take the glimmer of hope from Saturday’s victory and turn it into a structured, potentially winning brand of hockey.
“Don’t feel sorry for yourselves,” Corbett said. “Nobody feels sorry for us. This is Division One athletics. They’re on the road. They’re trying to get a sweep. You can’t feel sorry for yourselves. These young men want to be coached, and they want to be challenged. These guys are Division One athletes, and I went in there and challenged them. I challenged their manhood a little bit. But they needed to come together because we needed everybody.”
