TEMPE — It only takes a quick glance at the stats to see how dominant No. 3 Western Michigan hockey has been this season.
Entering this weekend at 22-5-1, the Broncos score at a high volume while also possessing the size and savvy to effectively keep pucks out of their own end. If they do allow shots, they have two top-10 goaltenders capable of making the big save when necessary. Whether they’re at even strength or on special teams, the only word to describe WMU is dominant.
They are one of the best teams not only in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), but in all of college hockey. If No. 12 Arizona State intended to compete with such a heavy yet skilled group — and keep its NCAA Tournament hopes within its control — it needed to consistently match the physicality, take advantage of the chances generated and limit the Broncos’ opportunities at all costs.
WMU hadn’t suffered a regulation loss in conference play prior to Friday’s game at Mullett Arena. But the Sun Devils (18-11-2, 13-7-1 NCHC) went toe-to-toe with the visitors almost all night long, eventually reaping the rewards of their relentlessness on both ends of the ice pay off in a benchmark 5-3 win over the Broncos (22-6-1, 15-3-1 NCHC).
“Just great, great hockey game,” head coach Greg Powers said. “(It) could’ve gone either way. Loved our third period, loved our resolve… Just the slugfest, tons of resiliency of our guys, and just a huge win for the program.”
As soon as the puck was dropped, ASU’s commitment to playing relentless hockey was evident without any scoring chances even being generated. Both senior defenseman Ty Murchison and freshman forward Cullen Potter each threw their weight around on their very first shifts of the night.
It wasn’t just those two, either. The Sun Devils knew the brand of hockey WMU played, and were willing to match it. Powers deployed a fourth forward line of sophomore Tony Achille, sophomore Cole Gordon and junior Tucker Ness, which ultimately set the tone for the entire night by routinely putting a body on any Broncos player in their path.
“I think we did a really good job,” sophomore forward Kyle Smolen said. “I think our fourth line really led the charge with that. And I think up and down our lineup, we fed off it a little bit. I think there’s always room to get better with that, too. I think that you could always be more physical, you could always be harder on pucks, you could always be stronger on sticks… There’s a lot of things to take away from this game.”
Eventually, that aggressiveness paid off.
Just about halfway through the opening frame, graduate forward Ty Jackson forced graduate defenseman Brian Kramer into a turnover with a perfectly-executed forecheck. Graduate forward Lukas Sillinger picked up the loose puck in the slot and slid it across to Jackson, who beat a sliding graduate netminder Cameron Rowe up high to give ASU the game’s first goal. Not even two minutes later, senior forward Ryan Kirwan put a low shot through Rowe’s five-hole. 2-0 Sun Devils.
Through one period, ASU kept pace with WMU’s shots on goal and was strong defensively, blocking 15 shots with senior goaltender Luke Pavicich making timely saves. But in the first 10 minutes of the second, that all changed.
The Broncos netted two goals in a three-and-a-half minute span to even the score at two. This was the result of sloppy play from the Sun Devils, who, for the first time, seemed to lack that same fire they had under them in the first. So, Powers turned to his fourth line to up the physicality. It spread throughout the whole lineup and quickly yielded positive results.
“It was tilted,” Powers said. “It was all really just mismanaged picks and not marking hard plays. And credit to our fourth line, we put that together so they could get pucks in and forecheck and finish hits and give us energy and momentum. And they did that. (Ness) had a couple big hits. (Achille) had an unbelievable forecheck where he got the crowd into it, and the next shift, we went up 3-2.”
During the game’s waning minutes, the Sun Devils again led the Broncos by a goal, only this time the score was 4-3. WMU was desperate to avoid its first regulation loss in nearly two months, and it showed. Throughout the final 15 minutes of the game, the Broncos peppered Pavicich with numerous shots en route to ending with over 90 shot attempts.
However, the Sun Devils’ netminder stood tall and got significant help from the defense in front of him. Whenever WMU was threatening, ASU showed an unwavering willingness to step in front of shooting lanes and block shots, alleviating significant stress off of Pavicich.
Perhaps the best example of this was with just about four minutes remaining in the third. With the Broncos pressuring, a net-front scramble ensued with several players poking at the puck. Countless rebound chances were created, but Pavicich — along with his defense, who was quick to put themselves between the puck and the net.
WMU didn’t score, and the Sun Devils eventually potted an empty-netter to thwart any chance at a comeback the Broncos had. Once again, it was a relentless effort that resulted in success for ASU.
“I was thanking them, hugging every single one of them,” Pavicich said. “I was trying to get to all of them when I went back into the locker room. You guys see me make saves, but other people see (the blocks) too. The blocks are big-time, that’s playoff hockey, that’s how you win hockey games and that’s how we won tonight.”
Make no mistake about it: ASU didn’t play a perfect game on Friday. Regardless, the Sun Devils did enough to pick up a monumental win, not only for the upset itself but for their postseason aspirations.
Being relentless for a full 60 minutes has been something ASU has worked on for the entire year, and although that hasn’t been perfected, it’s come along far enough to not only hang with, but defeat one of the nation’s premier teams.
“I think it’s a work in progress,” Smolen said. “We’ve kind of been building it throughout the year. There’s times we’d have it and other times we don’t have it. Relentless is consistency — it’s consistently relentless all the time. I think we’ve built it out over time, the last couple weeks. I think it’s a matter of sticking to it.”
