(Photo: Connor Gleason/WCSN)
TEMPE – The puck went out of play. Nothing new.
However, as Arizona State skated around, waiting for a faceoff, Denver head coach David Carle signaled for a challenge — accusing the Sun Devils of committing a major penalty. After a lengthy review, the officials agreed and sent first-year forward Landon Hafele to the box for elbowing a Denver player behind the play.
Leading up to the five-minute major, the Sun Devils looked like a car driving with a flat tire, barely scraping by. As ASU trailed 3-2 midway through the third period, Hafele’s major penalty completely popped the tire, sending ASU’s game off the rails.
The Sun Devils’ penalty kill, which was ranked fourth in the NCAA (98.6%) entering Friday’s game, conceded a pair of power-play goals, ending any hopes of a victory in head coach Dave Hakstol’s home debut.
The pair of third-period goals served as a catalyst for the difference in quality between the two teams as the Sun Devils (5-4, 1-2-0 NCHC) fell 6-3 to No. 4 Denver (6-2-1, 3-0-0 NCHC). Friday’s loss marked ASU’s third straight loss to the Pioneers and fifth in six games.
“We went in with an opportunity to do some things a little bit better,” Hakstol said. “Actually, we saw some flashes of that, but obviously not enough in terms of working through the different layers and pressure that they had. So it was pretty consistent throughout the hockey game. We didn’t get out of our zone cleanly, and we certainly didn’t get through the neutral zone with any regularity, or you know any speed certainly to be able to generate a whole lot.”
With Hakstol’s mid-season takeover, the Sun Devils spent the last few weeks implementing an entirely new system, which third-year forward Cade Littler described as “more pro style”. However, throughout Friday’s game, it proved apparent that the team has not fully adjusted to the new roles and positions set by Hakstol.
At times, Sun Devil players looked confused, which seemed to affect their decision-making. With just under five minutes to go in the second period and a 2-1 lead, second-year defenseman Richard Baran picked up the puck behind his own net, looking to facilitate an attack.
As he looked up, he didn’t like any of the options in front of him and instead decided to carry the puck forward. The problem? He skated straight into two Denver players on the forecheck, directly in front of second-year goaltender Samuel Urban, leaving him with no chance to save the game-tying goal.
“It had nothing to do with things being new,” Hakstol said. “We know we didn’t; our effort was good. We’re going to have to get much more consistent, just in terms of what we’re doing, coming out of our own end to start with. Outlet plays that turn into a second play with speed are at a premium, and there wasn’t enough of it.”
While the Sun Devils were only able to offer brief hints of a successful program in the making, Denver slashed through them time and time again, drawing on the experience many of its players had gained.
The Pioneers returned 17 players from their national championship team from last season. Combine that with Carle, who has three national titles and five Frozen Four appearances, and Denver has become the definition of stabilized winning in college hockey.
“I’m more worried about our standard,” Hakstol said. “I’m not comparing ourselves to anybody; I don’t need anybody to compare to. I know the standard that we want to get to, and that’s what we’ll do; that’s what we’ll continue to work for. We got a great group in the room. These guys are going to show up tomorrow, and they’ll have a great attitude, and we’re going to go to work.”
In moments throughout the game when ASU couldn’t get out of its own zone, the Pioneers did what any elite program would: stomped on their opponents’ necks, outshooting the Sun Devils 52-25. In the few times that the Sun Devils did move into the offensive zone, they were unable to establish much possession, frequently losing the puck after one shot
“When you extend shifts, when you’re not able to get through the neutral zone, you end up defending tired,” Hakstol said. “You end up losing the line change game. That happened a lot to us tonight. So we didn’t get things closed off quickly in our zone. Now you end up defending a little bit tired, and all of a sudden it gets really hard to get out and expand on plays.”
Though last weekend’s NCHC opening series against St. Cloud State served as a mild test for the Sun Devil roster — including the seven freshmen — Friday’s matchup against the defending national champions proved to be a different level, a different speed. The type of speed and quality that Hakstol eventually wants to see the Sun Devil program play with consistently, similar to what he saw at North Dakota during his first college hockey stint.
“I don’t think we got down on ourselves when they went up,” Littler said. “But I think our bench was still good. I think just staying up. Also, learning throughout the year. They’ve obviously played a lot of games in March and April recently, so I think that’s a good experience for us. Trying to get the young guys and trying to lead.”
The Sun Devils have a day off between games against Denver, giving them a chance to figure out how to slow the Pioneers down. While the Sun Devils will certainly not be able to match their opponents’ pedigree, they can draw on that experience to continue building on their newfound foundation.
“You’re going to get that every night,” Hakstol said. “ Their back end moves so well. So there’s not a lot of time and space there, especially when you know when they’ve got forwards pushing in the right spot. They’re not going to be any different on Sunday. We’ve got an opportunity tomorrow to look at it and work to get a little bit better tomorrow.”
