Arizona State drops opener to Augustana

Not unique to this season, the Sun Devils have long had issues in playing a complete 60 minutes.

Few times has that been more apparent than during tonight's matchup with Augustana.

Fresh off their 4th straight in season tournament championship, Arizona State looked to continue their winning ways against the Vikings of Augustana, who were celebrating their own home opener for the 2025-26 season.

Almost from the start, things were looking great as Sam Alfano got the Sun Devils on the board with his second goal of the season just 5:00 in to the game, followed quickly by Bennett Schimek with his second goal of the season at the 8:10 mark to give Arizona State a very early 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately games are not won in the first 8 minutes of play.

Penalties plagued the Devils throughout the first period. A bench minor for too many men on the ice, followed by tripping and interference calls to Austin Zemlak and Richard Baran respectively put Arizona State on their heels for much of the opening frame.

After a very lengthy review for a possible offsides call, Augustana got on the board late in the 1st period with the first career goal for freshman Leo Bulgakov. As seen in the video above, while the faceoff carried the Augustana player into the offensive zone before the puck, the goal was allowed because the skater "touched up" onside prior to the puck being possessed in the offensive zone, therefore allowing the good goal. Thankfully there was no further action in the period, and the Devils carried a 2-1 advantage into the intermission break.

At exactly the 3:00 mark of the 2nd period, Owen Bohn tallied his first goal of the season to tie the game at 2. Penalties came back to bite the Devils as Justin Kipkie had just served a carryover penalty for holding at the end of the 1st, forcing the Devils to play on their heels to open the period.

Unfortunately, Arizona State could never manage to find their momentum for the remainder of the period. In a low shot affair (Augustana won the period 8 shots to 6), Bohn's early tally was the only goal of the period, giving us a 2-2 tie through 40 minutes.

For those who have followed Arizona State hockey over the last few seasons, there has been an issue where the team "plays down" to their competition. The 3rd period is a perfect case study as the Devils did not appear to be playing to win, rather playing not to lose.

Augustana had the momentum with their game tying goal in the second period, and broke through for the lead midway through the 3rd on Ben Troumbly's first goal of the season.

Coach Powers pulled starting goaltender Connor Hasley with just over two minutes to play, but by then it was too little, too late. Colton Friesen got the empty net goal with 0.5 seconds left to play, securing the 4-2 upset win for Augustana.

By The Numbers

On a more positive note, Bennett Schimek recorded the 17th multi-point game of his career in the loss (third of the season). He has also recorded at least one point in all 5 games this season, which ties his career best point streak.

Despite going 0-for-4 on the power play, the Sun Devils did kill off all 6 assessed penalties.

Up Next

The Sun Devils will take to the ice on Saturday afternoon looking for a series split with the Vikings. Puck drop will be at 4pm Arizona time on Fox 10 Xtra.