(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
TEMPE — The Sun Devils have now won 11 of their last 12 games, have picked up at least conference points in all 12 of those games and once again stand alone at the top of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).
Sun Devil Hockey’s true depth is finally showing through as the team nears being fully healthy for the first time this season. The only bump in that road on Friday was freshman forward Cullen Potter being out with illness. However, it didn’t matter, as all but one line had at least a point in the contest. The lone line without a point was the second defensive pairing featuring freshman defenseman Brasen Boser and sophomore Anthony Dowd.
No. 11 Arizona State (14-8-1, 9-4-0 NCHC) hockey exploded with three goals in the second period to defeat No. 19 Colorado College (11-11-1, 5-7-1 NCHC) by a final score of 4-1 on Friday night.
“I mean, at this level, it’s the deepest, there’s no doubt,” head coach Greg Powers said when asked if this is the deepest team he’s coached. “I mean, we got really good players in the stands, and we had what very likely is going to be a first-rounder in the National Hockey League, not here in our lineup tonight. Yeah, we’re really deep.”
Despite Potter’s absence in the lineup tonight — his first game missed all season — Friday saw 11 different Sun Devils get on the score sheet, with four different goal scores.
“Every guy, we can count on, so if you’re in the lineup, if you’re not in the lineup, third line, first line, it doesn’t matter, everybody’s ready to go,” senior defenseman Ethan Szmagaj said. “We proved that tonight.”
The game remained deadlocked at zeros after a lackluster first period that saw the Sun Devils outshoot the Tigers, 8-4. The night’s first tally didn’t come until over halfway through the game in the second period.
Sophomore forward Cole Gordon notched his second goal of the year and first of the game to get things started. Freshman defenseman Sam Court threw the puck to the front of the net where an eager Gordon was waiting, and the Windsor, Colo. native cleaned up the rebound with a backhander over the pad of junior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko.
“We just stuck with it,” Powers said when asked about what sparked the change in the second period. “We just stuck with what we are, and what our identity is, and what our standard is, and again, your fourth line gets you a big goal to start, and then we just went downhill from there, and everybody chipped in. It was just a good team effort from the net out and a really good win.”
Szmagaj found his way into the goal column for the first time this year and in his first game back. The defenseman last played Nov. 16 against Omaha, where he registered 41 seconds in time on the ice. He was used as the extra defenseman in the St. Cloud State series a week ago; however, he did not register any ice time in those two games. Over halfway through a Colorado College power play, the Sun Devils broke into their offensive zone, junior forward Bennett Schimek found Szmagaj driving the slot and the rest was history.
Graduate student forward Dylan Jackson continued to run up the total in the second period as he snipped a wrist shot that beat Mbereko cleanly making it 3-0. Jackson returned to the lineup after missing the St. Cloud State series.
Sophomore Kyle Smolen added on in the third period with a power play goal to make it 4-0 after he picked up a puck loose in front of the net. That goal spelled the end of the night for Mbereko, as he was pulled shortly after.
“I thought it was just a really deliberate kind of dissection of a win, right?” Powers said. “I liked how we started; we weren’t generating a ton, but we were not giving up anything. We were just patient and stuck to our game and relied on the depth that we have, which we showed tonight, to kind of take it over, and the guys did that.”
Senior goaltender Luke Pavicich protected the crease, turning away 24 of the 25 shots he faced. However, with both Pavicich and redshirt junior Gibson Homer playing solid hockey, Powers confirmed that Homer will be starting on Saturday.
“He was steady, especially through the first two periods,” Powers said. “He didn’t see a lot of action, but he saw a couple nice, grade A’s there in the second, [and] made some big saves, fun for him. He didn’t get the shutout, he deserved it, but he was great tonight. We got two goalies that are kicking, two goalies that are winning goalies, two goalies that the guys believe in, that they play hard for. So I’m really happy for (Pavicich).”
Special teams continue to come through for the Sun Devils. They have at least one power-play goal in the last seven games and are 11-for-26 (42.3%) overall during that stretch. The last time they failed to convert on the power play was the second game against Minnesota Duluth.
Compared to this time last year, ASU was playing a brand-new Augustana team in a split series, dropping the first game and winning the second. ASU had also just been swept the week prior by then No. 18 Cornell. Now, ASU is winners 11 of 12, has won eight of those 11 games by two or more goals, stands again at the top of the NCHC and is ranked 10th in the pairwise. They are now a strong threat to win the NCHC and punch their ticket to the tournament, something they couldn’t do last year despite having 24 wins.
The kicker last year? The eight losses and, more importantly, the six games that ended in a tie. This year, a new conference has brought new hope to the Sun Devils’ postseason aspirations.
“We’re taking it one at a time, right?” Powers said. “We knew Western Michigan won tonight. We want to stay in first place. We want to win the league. We think we have a team that’s good enough to win this league, and for us, it’s all about just keeping our foot on the gas and not letting anybody catch us.”
