(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
TEMPE — The importance of Arizona State men’s hockey’s contest against No. 18 Cornell on Saturday cannot be overstated.
After this weekend, the 11th-ranked Sun Devils have six series remaining, all against lower-ranked opponents. As an independent without an end-of-season conference tournament, this means the margin for error will be razor-thin if ASU wants any chance at playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Make no mistake, Saturday’s game was never going to make or break ASU’s postseason hopes. But in short, emerging victorious against a top-20 team after losing in overtime the night before would give the Sun Devils lots of momentum heading into such a pivotal stretch of the season.
ASU’s (16-5-5) 4-1 defeat to the Big Red (7-4-3) — which marked the first time it’s been swept in a series since Feb. 25 of last year, a stretch that spanned 29 games and nearly 11 months — isn’t going to help its postseason resumé, but it did put Greg Powers’ group in unfamiliar territory.
“This is the first real piece of adversity, over the course of a weekend, that we faced all year,” Powers said. “Our body of work speaks for itself. We’ve beaten some very, very good hockey teams. We’ve got 16 wins, and not many losses. So this doesn’t define us.”
However, if Saturday’s game could be defined by a single play, it would be by the one that came just 14 seconds into the middle period. With his team already leading 2-0, Cornell freshman defenseman Ben Robertson stopped a clearing attempt from junior defenseman Ty Murchison at the blue line, drifted along the boards and fired a sharp-angle shot that beat junior netminder TJ Semptimphelter on his glove side.
Robertson’s second goal of the series — his first being last night’s overtime winner for the Big Red — was a microcosm for the game up to that point. ASU had been playing a strong game, but a couple of unfortunate bounces left it demoralized and facing a 3-0 deficit.
“Yeah, [Robertson’s goal] took the wind out of our sails,” Powers said. “I think the first [period] did because we played really well, that was probably our best period of the weekend. I think five-on-five scoring chances were 5-2 in our favor, and we’re down 2-0.. I think when that [third goal] went in, it took us a while to recover.”
Right out of the gate, the Sun Devils did come out with intensity and kept it for the entire frame. ASU outshot Cornell 12-11 in the first 20 minutes. The Sun Devils generated multiple grade-A scoring chances in the first — including a point-blank one-timer from graduate defenseman Brandon Tabakin that junior goaltender Ian Shane miraculously turned aside — but managed only eight shots on net over the final two periods.
Despite the strong play early on, it was the visitors who got to Semptimphelter early. With just over seven minutes left in the first period, senior forward Gabriel Seger entered the offensive zone with no support but protected the puck until he could find freshman defenseman Hoyt Stanley at the blue line. Stanley’s ensuing drive was turned aside by Semptimphelter, who quickly found himself out of position as sophomore forward Nick DeSantis potted the rebound.
Less than three minutes later, Seger found himself driving to the net along the goal line and dropped a pass across the crease back up to the high slot, where defenseman Hank Kempf awaited. The junior defenseman stepped into his one-time blast that Semptimphelter couldn’t get in front of, easily finding the back of the net.
And, in the blink of an eye, it was 2-0 Cornell.
As strong as Semptimphelter has been this season, Saturday simply wasn’t his night. The junior allowed three goals on 13 shots — two of which he’d likely want back — and couldn’t seem to get into a groove. Because of this, his night was cut short, with sophomore Gibson Homer taking his spot between the pipes a minute and 45 seconds into the second.
“He just wasn’t sharp,” Powers said. “I knew after the first he probably wasn’t on his game a little bit. The first goal is a rebound that, if he’s sharp, he definitely controls. And then the second one, he was just late to recover and get over, [the shot] hit the middle bar. So I was a little bit concerned, but he deserves the right to go in and correct things.
“He’s human and he’s a great goalie. He’s our backbone and we’re 16-5-5 largely because of him.”
Homer was exceptional in his abbreviated appearance, stopping all 22 of the shots he faced. But what was even more impressive was his ability to fend off high-danger looks, specifically in the second period.
Over twelve minutes into the frame, ASU was awarded its second power play of the night thanks to a slashing call on junior defenseman Michael Suda. During the following two minutes, however, it appeared Cornell was on the man advantage. The Big Red turned multiple Sun Devil turnovers into odd-man rushes, including a breakaway for junior forward Kyle Penney and a pair of two-on-ones, all of which were thwarted by Homer.
For the most part, that horrendous power play represented ASU’s luck on the man advantage all night long. The Sun Devils didn’t come up empty — senior forward Matthew Kopperud buried his nation-leading 11th power-play goal of the season on a 5-on-3 late in the third period to make it a 3-1 game — but finished the night 1-for-6 on the man advantage largely due to sloppy play and an inability to establish themselves in the offensive zone.
“[The] power play got a five-on-three,” Powers said. “But if the power play is really clicking, it’s a game that they could have come back and probably tied it for us. It would’ve been nice to get one there at the end of the second and go in [to the third period] with some serious momentum.”
While squandering an opportunity for its fifth top-20 win of the season stings, it didn’t hurt too much in the PairWise Rankings. ASU dropped only one spot from No. 16 to No. 17, but at the end of the regular season, it will need to find itself around the No. 10 spot due to potential bid-stealers from conference tournaments.
“It is what it is,” Powers said. “We have 12 games left and we’re still well within striking distance. I think the weekend dropped us one spot in the PairWise, so we’re finally getting rewarded by the PairWise when we lose, unfortunately — it doesn’t seem to reward us when we win. But now we just got to go win. We take care of business, we still believe we’ll be an NCAA Tournament team.”
