(Photo: Scott Russomano/WCSN)
TEMPE — One minute and 30 seconds left in regulation. The contest stood at a stalemate with three goals apiece. Arizona State was set to begin a turn on the power-play with fans ready to blow the roof off of Mullett Arena. Everything seemed to be in place for the Sun Devils to avenge a 4-1 loss the previous night and salvage a crucial in-conference series.
After pelting the net with a handful of shots, the clock ran down to 37 seconds when the puck was cleared into ASU’s own zone.
The last thing everyone in attendance expected to see was Arizona State (13-16-1, 6-11-1 NCHC) freshman goaltender Samuel Urban leave the crease and attempt the clear the puck himself, only to give it right to St. Cloud State (15-15-0, 8-12-0 NCHC) for an empty net goal that handed the Sun Devils a 4-3 defeat, a series sweep, and a serious setback in securing a spot in the NCHC tournament.
“It’s an unfortunate mistake that he made, but he held us in the game, and both goalies were really good,” head coach Greg Powers said. “He was really good tonight. That sucks for him.”
Carrying over from the series opener, ASU showed tenacity and physicality throughout the game. Outside of being relentless in pursuing the puck, the Sun Devils also showed a newfound aggressiveness on offense by outshooting the Huskies 43-32, just the sixth time all season they were not eclipsed in that category in NCHC play.
“We were really good in the forecheck all weekend,” Powers said. “Created a lot of chances off the forecheck, and a lot of chances we didn’t convert on, but we were really on pucks and finishing pucks and finishing checks and playing a heavy game. And tonight, I thought we were even better than last night. So, we did a lot of good things.”
Despite getting the puck off the stick at a higher rate than in most games this season, ASU wasn’t able to fully capitalize on offense due to sophomore goaltender Patriks Berzins turning in another outstanding performance. After stopping 34 of 35 shots the night prior, the Latvia native turned in a season-high 40 saves and a .940 save percentage.
Junior forward Sean McGurn opened up the contest by scoring his fourth goal on a power-play putback following an initial shot from freshman defenseman Justin Kipkie six and a half minutes into the opening period. The Huskies responded with two goals over the next 26 minutes, forcing the Sun Devils to play catch-up the rest of the way.
The two times that ASU put the equalizer in the back of the net put a spotlight on the growth of the team’s young forward core. Sophomore forward Noah Powell scored his second goal of the series on a wrist shot in the top left corner, while freshman forward Carmelo Crandell completed a sequence of beautiful puck movement by slamming a pass from sophomore defenseman Joel Kjellberg home.
“They’re managing pucks better than they have all year,” Powers said. “That’s everything. I think that’s their biggest learning curve as young players is managing pucks at this level. They struggled with that in the first half of the year, and now they’re really starting to get it, and you can see it.”
Crandell’s score 21 seconds after the end of the second intermission meant that both teams were even at the start of the third period. Despite being a consistent thorn in the Sun Devils’ side all season, the final 20 minutes of play saw them put up 21 shot attempts, hold the Huskies to 11 attempts, and put zero men in the penalty box.
The one area ASU had nothing to show for in that span was on the man-advantage. St. Cloud State committed two late penalties to put the country’s eighth-best power-play unit to work, but all seven shots either sailed wide or were put to rest by Berzins.
Urban’s blunder in the final seconds overshadowed the Sun Devils’ improvements in the third period and increased the team’s loss total when within one goal with 20 minutes remaining to 11.
“I told the guys I was proud of them, honestly,” senior forward Bennett Schimek said. “We showed a lot of resilience in that third period. The messaging was kind of just keep the shift short and just keep counting them after shift, after shift, after shift. I thought we did that, and we found a way to get ourselves back in the game. So, I thought we took a step tonight and I was proud of our resilience.”
Back-to-back losses in regulation mean that ASU still remains one point out of ninth place in the NCHC standings, the only spot that equals no entry into the in-conference tournament and no chance at an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Sun Devils travel to No. 4 Western Michigan next weekend before finishing out the regular season with a home series against Omaha and an away series against No. 8 Denver. In particular, the two games against the Mavericks look to be the most significant portion of the team’s remaining schedule as they currently sit in ninth place after a bye week.
ASU had 120 minutes to establish some sort of momentum and gain distance away from last place over the weekend, but the possibility of a postseason-less season only grows closer with three weeks left to go.
“Both games were winnable, especially tonight,” Powers said. “It’s really unfortunate. I mean, a year ago, we’re sitting here, first year in the league, I think we’re probably a point out of competing for the Penrose Cup. And it’s all the same messaging, but at the end of the day, we have not been able to get it done in close games this year.”
“That falls squarely on me. I haven’t been able to get through to this team and convince them what it takes to win games like tonight and last night, and North Dakota and you name it. So at the end of the day, we are where we are, and it’s completely on me.”
