ASU Hockey: ASU-Notre Dame Series Recap
The Arizona State Men’s Ice Hockey team traveled to South Bend, Indiana this weekend to take on the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a two-game series.
The Sun Devils lost the first game, 9-2, and fell just short, 4-2, in the second.
The first game, played on Friday, was full of penalties as Arizona State and Notre Dame combined for 48 penalties for a total of 182 minutes.
The difference for Notre Dame was their power play. They cashed in 6 goals on 19 power plays. The Sun Devils didn’t convert on any of their nine power play chances.
Freshman Joey Daccord started in net for the Sun Devils. He had 42 saves on 51 shots for a .824 save percentage. Daccord faced more shots in the first period from Notre Dame, 25, than Arizona State had all game, 19.
The Sun Devils were able to put in two goals. Freshman forward Tyler Busch scored the first goal of the season on a one-timer in the opening period. The second goal was scored by sophomore defenseman Nicholas Gushue in the 3rd period.
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In Saturday’s game, the score was much closer. Arizona State cleaned up their game and improved in all aspects.
This time, Notre Dame only went one-for-nine on the power play, and the Sun Devils held them to 37 total shots.
Senior goaltender Robert Levin received the start in the second game. He had 33 saves on 36 shots, giving him a .916 save percentage. The 4th goal scored by Notre Dame was an empty-netter.
Arizona State responded to each of Notre Dame’s first two goals. After an early 1st period goal by the Irish, the Sun Devils scored just 18 second later with a goal from sophomore defenseman Jakob Stridsberg.
Notre Dame scored their second goal just 48 seconds into the 2nd Period. The Sun Devils fought back to tie it once-more later in the period on a power play goal by Tyler Busch, giving him his second of the season.
The pivotal point of the game was when the Sun Devils scored to take a 3-2 lead, but the goal was waived off by the referee signaling an interference call on red shirt junior David Norris.
Norris crashed down on the offensive zone face-off after it was won by Tyler Busch. The puck went straight back to redshirt junior Wade Murphy, and he gave it a one-timed blast from the top of the circle, beating the Irish goaltender, Cal Petersen, for the score.
The Sun Devils celebrated but quickly stopped after the referee disallowed the goal. Notre Dame scored the go-ahead goal just a 1:42 into the 3rd period.
Arizona State is 0-2 on the season now. The Sun Devils come back home to take on Air Force at Gila River Arena on Friday, Oct. 14.