(Photo: Sammi Maxwell/WCSN)
Sun Devil hockey mounted an offensive onslaught to defeat St. Cloud State Friday night and to take the lead outright in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) standings with 22 points.
No. 13 Arizona State University (12-8-1, 7-4-0 NCHC) hung five unanswered goals on No. 15 St. Cloud State University (11-10-0, 4-7-0 NCHC) to win 6-1.
The Sun Devils vault ahead of Western Michigan, North Dakota and Omaha in the conference standings. Three points are awarded for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, and one point for an overtime loss. Western Michigan defeated North Dakota in overtime 3-2, and Omaha defeated Miami 4-1. The Broncos sit in second outright with 21 points while the Fighting Hawks and the Mavericks are tied for third with 20. The win also moves the Sun Devils up two spots in the PairWise Rankings to 13th.
After a lackluster first period, with both sides scoring a goal, there was an offensive onslaught in the second that saw a combined five goals between both sides. St. Cloud State came out humming early, netting two goals in under five minutes. In years past, going down 3-1 for Arizona State seemed to spell the end, but this year has felt different.
The difference has come largely in part to ASU winning nine of their last 10 games, excluding the exhibition against the USNTDP — which they swept — and the fact that they have picked up some big wins. A shootout win against then-No. 10 Michigan, a sweep over then-No. 1 Denver, on the road and most recently a split with then-No. 14 North Dakota just to name a few. The Sun Devils found a way to bounce back on Friday night and it started first with senior forward Ryan Kirwan.
The DeWitt, NY native received a nifty behind-the-net pass from sophomore forward Kyle Smolen, and dancing with the puck, Kirwan made fifth year goaltender Gavin Enright go diving to make the save, which was to no avail. Then, under three minutes later, graduate forward Lukas Sillinger found his way onto the score sheet with only his second goal of the year and the game-tying goal.
The play was started by junior forward Charlie Schoen, who generated a turnover with the help of graduate forward Ty Jackson – who is returning from injury. With a smart heads-up play, Schoen found Jackson at the backdoor before the junior one-touched a pass to Sillinger in the slot. Sillinger made no mistake, firing home his second goal of the year.
Just shy of two minutes later, graduate forward Benji Eckerle netted the game-winning goal to give the Sun Devils the lead, 4-3. The offense continued to shine in the third period, with a power play goal courtesy of Smolen, and Kirwan netted the final goal, an empty-netter, to make it 6-3.
The faceoff dot struggles continued to rear its ugly head for ASU. The Sun Devils won only 20 of the 59 total faceoffs, with one of the faceoffs losses leading directly to a Huskies goal. Not even two minutes into the second period, the Sun Devils lost an offensive zone draw, which resulted right away in an SCSU goal, giving them the lead 2-1. Luckily, it didn’t bite the Sun Devils in the end.
The Sun Devils saw production from all four forward lines tonight, with at least one player scoring a goal. Freshman forward Cullen Potter opened the night (second line), Kirwan with two (first line), Sillinger (third line), and Eckerle (fourth line).
Head coach Greg Powers gave junior goaltender Gibson Homer the nod to the net after he started the Friday game against North Dakota but then was given the night off on Saturday. Homer turned away 30 of the 33 shots he faced. The Sun Devil special teams were a perfect one for one on the power play and three for four on the penalty kill.
Game two between ASU and SCSU is set for Saturday, Jan. 18, at 5 p.m. MST.
