Late surge leads Sun Devils past Colorado

(Photo: Allyson Cummings/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devil hockey team defeated the Colorado Buffalos 7-0 Saturday night at Oceanside Ice Arena. The team scored five goals in the third period to pull away for a blowout victory.

After Friday night’s less-than-stellar effort against Colorado, the Sun Devils came out with a lot of energy to try to grab early momentum.

“Coach wasn’t happy, we weren’t happy, and we didn’t give our best effort,” Brian McGinty said of Friday’s nailbiter. “We have to realize, being the number one team, that we’re a target for everybody and we’re going to get everybody’s best.”

ASU responded accordingly, putting pressure on Colorado from the beginning and not allowing Colorado any chances through the entire game. The Sun Devils held the Buffalos to just 12 shots in the game, making senior goalie Joe D’Elia’s night very easy.

Like in every other home game this season, ASU lit the lamp first. With 6:53 gone by in the first period, Sean Murphy picked up the puck in front of the Colorado net, after Chris Burkemper whiffed at a shot, and knocked it off of the right pad of goalie Alex Palumbo and into the netting for a 1-0 ASU lead.

In addition to the first period goal, ASU maintained the puck in the offensive zone and were always ready to shoot the puck. At 8:39 in the first, Murphy was sent to the penalty box for slashing and within ten seconds of the game restarting, Kale Dolinski and Colin Hekle were operating a two-on-one chance that was mishandled for a no goal.

ASU was just as dominant in the second period. The Devils outshot the Buffs 25-4 in the second stanza, while creating many more scoring chances. Palumbo played outstanding in the second as well, making stop after stop against the Sun Devils and appearing to frustrate the forwards.

The Sun Devils however, with the help of their captain, were able to extend the lead in the second. Senior forward Colin Hekle took the puck from Colorado and brought it into the offensive zone, deking Buffalo skaters to the front of the net where he passed the puck perfectly across the goal to Ryan Ostertag, who just had to tap it into the twine to extend the advantage to two goals.

In the third period, the Sun Devils took it to Colorado. From 9:40 remaining until the final buzzer, ASU scored five goals on Palumbo, who ended up facing a total of 74 shots on the night and saved 67 of them.

“I think the kid just got tired,” Coach Powers said. “He is good, he is really good. Hats off to him.”

Sean Murphy tallied his second goal of the evening, assisted by Hekle once again, on the power play to start the run. Hekle broke his stick during the possession, went back to the bench to retrieve a new one, took a pass from Jordan Young, skated towards the net and found Murphy with a lot of open space in the net to bring the lead to three.

Hekle got onto the score sheet in a big way in the third. The senior captain ripped twine twice in the frame, the first through the goalie’s five-hole and the second on the power play with less than one minute left.

“That goalie played unbelievable today and I couldn’t figure him out until the end of the third period, but luckily I did,” Hekle said after the game.

Troy Scott and Michael Cummings also put the biscuit in the basket during the five-goal third, making the seemingly-close game a full-on rout.
The Sun Devils will take on the number two ranked team in the country, the also unbeaten Minot State, on Thursday night at Oceanside.

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