(Photo: Sammi Maxwell/WCSN)
There’s something about overtime hockey at Mullett Arena.
Since the brand-new 5,000-seat venue opened before the 2022-23 season, Arizona State Men’s Ice Hockey had never lost in extra time at the shiny new rink, posting a 6-0 record entering into Friday’s matchup with No. 9 Providence.
After 60 minutes on Friday, the No. 13 Sun Devils and Friars were tied at three and required an extra five minutes to determine a winner. And despite being outplayed through most of the period, ASU (10-2-1) maintained its perfect overtime record on home ice, as senior forward Dylan Jackson netted the game-winner to defeat Providence (8-4-2) 4-3.
“We’ve got a lot of skill, a lot of speed,” Head coach Greg Powers said. “Tonight, [Providence was] probably the better team in overtime. [Junior goaltender TJ Semptimphelter] made some big saves, and then we had a great individual play by Dylan. That was just a ton of poise and what a finish.”
With the clock dipping under two minutes in overtime, senior forward Ty Jackson took a big hit along the boards as he attempted to clear the puck from his defensive zone — a hit that everyone on the ice thought would be a penalty. However, Dylan Jackson, who was lurking at center ice, took the puck and nudged it past Friars junior defenseman Guillaume Richard, giving himself a breakaway and a chance to ice the game.
Gliding in from the right side, Dylan Jackson moved the puck to his backhand as he slid across the goalmouth and found the back of the net, going five-hole on sophomore goaltender Philip Svedbäck.
“It was kind of a weird play,” Dylan Jackson said. “Everyone kind of stopped, I even did a little bit, and they didn’t blow the whistle. So I saw [Richard] hesitate and I thought I could poke it around him, so I just kept going and kind of got lucky there.”
Lucky or not, Friday’s win was extremely telling for ASU. Providence entered the weekend as one of the best defensive teams in all of college hockey, boasting the lowest goals-against average (1.9) and second-lowest shots-against per game (22.5) in the nation. For an offense that has been firing on all cylinders, the defensively-minded Friars proved ASU’s toughest test of the season.
After potting the game’s first goal, the Sun Devils battled back from a pair of one-goal deficits in the final two frames despite being held to under ten shots in both periods. Graduate forward Tyler Gratton tied the game at three midway through the third, putting home a one-timer from the slot as he fell to the ice. On the other end, junior netminder TJ Semptimphelter played a huge role in keeping things close, logging 38 saves on 41 shots.
“Just a resilient effort and win by our guys,” Powers said. “To go into the third down, and then a huge play by all three seniors on that [graduate forward Brian Chambers] line, and finish by [Gratton] to get us going. [Semptimphelter] was great, so just proud of our guys.”
Graduate forward Alex Young almost perfectly embodied that same toughness in the victory, scoring two goals to end a seven-game scoreless drought. After logging 39 points in 40 games last season at Colgate, Young hasn’t enjoyed the production he’s hoped for since arriving in the desert, as he had just five points in 12 games entering this weekend’s series.
But much like his team, the Alberta native wasn’t going to let past results move him away from his game.
This showed on his first goal of the night, which came with just over six minutes to play in the opening period. Young carried the puck into the offensive zone with a full head of steam and fired a wrister just as he reached the high slot, catching Svedbäck off guard and him on his blocker side.
Young displayed a similar willingness to shoot on his second goal, as he took the puck from his own end to the offensive zone — creating a 2-on-1 in the process — and went top shelf to tie the game at two with five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the second. With four shots on net on Friday, Young now has nine in his past two contests, a telltale sign he’s beginning to find a groove.
“Taking shots at any time you get the chance,” Young said on how he got back on the scoresheet. “Like you saw on my first goal, I just took a shot from far out with the defenseman screening, and it happened to find a way. Just really getting pucks on net and trying to find a lucky one to get the confidence back, and I think that’s what happened tonight.”
Despite the victory, an area that ASU struggled mightily in was the power play. Operating at an 88.1% success rate before Friday, the Friars boasted the ninth-best penalty kill in the country and showed they could make life extremely difficult for opposing power plays.
The Sun Devils did generate their fair share of good looks, including a wrist shot from senior forward Matthew Kopperud in the second that rang off the right goal post. However, at times, it appeared they had no response for Providence’s gritty style of killing penalties. The Friars chewed the clock on multiple kills by relentlessly pressuring ASU in its own end and even drew two penalties while a man down — prematurely bringing them back to even strength.
This strong penalty killing coupled with occasional sloppy play from the home team resulted in the Sun Devils being held scoreless in seven power play opportunities on Friday.
“I thought we still had some good looks,” Jackson said. “[Kopperud] hit the post a couple times, and it’s not always going to go in on the power play. So just watching video and see if we can figure some plays out here, but try not to get frustrated with it and keep going.”
With Friday’s victory, ASU now has four ranked victories through just 13 games, providing a strong resumé despite much of the season still ahead. Sweeping a top-ten team is now a very real possibility, but things won’t get any easier in Sunday’s series finale, as the Sun Devils are facing a Providence squad that has narrowly lost each of its last three games.
“You’ve got to play some blue-collar hockey against Providence or you stand no chance,” Powers said. “They’re a hell of a team, I know that they’re going to come out. They’ve lost three in a row now, in three games that they played well. They played well tonight. They could have easily won that game and in stretches, they were the better team.
“But we found a way to win, so we know how much better they’re going to be Sunday, and we’re going to have to be exponentially better than we were tonight to have a chance to beat then.”
