Arizona State Men’s Ice Hockey traveled to University Park, Pennsylvania this weekend to take on the No. 10 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in a two-game series.
The Sun Devils (2-11-0) fell short on Friday, losing 4-7. On Saturday, the game took a turn for the worst as Penn State (11-1-1) put up five goals in the 1st period ending for an 8-0 shutout.
Game One
The Sun Devils put forth a strong effort in game one of the series, but could not compete with the depth that the Nittany Lions have.
Penn State’s Denis Smirnov scored his first goal of the night just 58 seconds into the game. ASU goaltender Joey Daccord gave up a big rebound out to the slot off his right pad where Smirnov buried his sixth goal of the season.
Just over seven minutes later, freshman forward Tyler Busch netted his fifth goal of the season. David Norris fed him a pass into the high slot from below the goal-line and Busch put the puck over the right shoulder of Penn State goaltender, Peyton Jones.
Penn State would then take over the rest of the period, scoring three goals in three minutes. Sophomore forward Andrew Sturtz would earn two of those goals back-to-back with a redirect on a Power Play and a snipe off of a faceoff win.
Daccord would be pulled after allowing four goals on just eight shots and was replaced by Ryland Pashovitz. The twin, Steenn Pasichnuk, would get his first goal of the season for the Sun Devils to cut the deficit, 2-4.
Penn State’s leading-scorer, Denis Smirnov, earned a hat trick in the second period with his third goal of the night to go up 5-2.
The Sun Devils began to battle back. Freshman forward Brett Gruber would score his second goal of the season with a shot that went off the post and in.
After three minutes into the third period, ASU’s Jakob Stridsburg took a slapshot from the blueline to bring the game within one score, 4-5.
The Nittany Lions took over the rest of the game. They would go on to score two late goals for a 7-4 win over the Sun Devils. Freshman goaltender Peyton Jones earned his ninth win of the season.
The story of the game boiled down to shots-on-goal. Penn State outshot the Sun Devils, 47-22. Pashovitz faced 39 shots after coming in late in the first period and managed to keep out 36 of them.
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Game Two
Arizona State desperately needed to come out fast in the second game if they wanted to steal one on the road. However, it seemed the road-trip caught up to them.
The Sun Devils allowed five goals in the first period alone. The Nittany Lions racked up 51 shots throughout the game. The Nittany Lions would tack on three more goals on their way to a 8-0 win.
Penn State’s back-up goaltender, Chris Funkey, would only face 18 shots throughout the game notching a shut-out in just his third career start.
Arizona State will now head back home for four straight games. Rensselaer Poly comes to the desert this weekend, and then the Sun Devils take on Colgate the weekend after. Both series will be at Oceanside Arena in Tempe, Arizona.