ASU Hockey: Sun Devils close out vital road sweep against RIT

Gvido Jansons came up big with a goal in the third period for the eventual game-winner as ASU hockey ousted the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers, 4-2, on Saturday night.

The Latvian-native registered his first goal as a sophomore on Saturday night and it was a clutch one. Jansons’ score proved to be the deciding factor to help No. 16 Arizona State improve to 19-10-1 on the season.

“We knew we were going to win,” Jansons said after the game. “We had so much energy going. We knew we just gotta win the game. It was a matter of time that we were gonna score.”

With just over six minutes remaining in the third period, freshman Demetrios Koumontzis won a face off in the offensive zone. Jansons then quickly clapped a shot over the right shoulder of RIT sophomore goaltender Logan Drackett to light the lamp, breaking the tie, 3-2, in favor of the Sun Devils.

“His first goal of the season obviously came at an opportune time for us and we’re happy for him,” ASU coach Powers said.

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With a potential road sweep on the line, ASU stepped on the ice at the Gene Polisseni Center in blistering cold Rochester, N.Y, for the second-straight evening. However, the Sun Devils were in for a much tougher test than what was administered on Friday night’s 6-1 victory.

ASU entered the final 20 minutes of the game with a 2-1 lead. After a back-and-forth battle, the momentum shifted in the favor of RIT (12-11-3) when it was awarded a penalty shot because for covering of a loose puck in the crease.

Sophomore Jake Hamacher put a good move on ASU’s Joey Daccord and tucked it in the net to knot things up at two apiece with just over ten minutes to go in the game.

“It seemed like we had the cards stacked against us a little bit there in the third,” Powers said.

But resiliency was displayed once again by a team that has done it time and time again in its best season as a program to date.

“I thought our guys played great against a really good hockey team in a really tough environment, and to come in here and sweep them on the road – it’s a big time sweep for us,” Powers said.

This weekend marked the eighth time the Sun Devils have finished a two-game series with a sweep. And, it was the third time they’ve accomplished it on the road.

Sophomore Johnny Walker continued his unwavering success as a scorer for ASU on Saturday. The NCAA leader in goals tallied his 22nd of the season to get the Sun Devils on the board first in the opening frame.

Koumontzis, who had the crucial game-winning assist, tallied the only goal of the second period with the help of a good bounce. The sophomore got the monkey off his back after not having scored since the opening series of the season against Alaska Fairbanks.

Co-captain Brinson Pasichnuk added an empty-net goal to ensure the major win for the Sun Devils as they continue to push for their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

Pasichnuk had himself a four-point weekend, and ASU marked up the stat sheet with ten total goals in the series.

“We’re balanced,” Powers stated. We’ve got some of the best balance, from a scoring standpoint, in the country and that’s why we’re having success.”

The victories over RIT were seemingly must-win scenarios for the Sun Devils as confirmed by Jansons after Saturday night’s game. Entering the weekend at No. 12 in the all-important Pairwise rankings, a road sweep was vital to climb up even higher and gain cushion from the bubble.

Now, ASU is currently ranked No. 8.

ASU will get another week off before finally returning back to Oceanside Ice Arena for a weekend match-up with American International College on Feb. 15 and 16.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.