After a frustrating performance on Friday night, Arizona State found themselves in dire need of anything to move the needle in the conference standings.
Instead, the Sun Devils found themselves on the wrong end of another embarrassing defeat, losing Saturday night 7-2 and losing the weekend by a 13-4 margin.
The 9-goal margin of defeat for the Sun Devils is the worst performance for a weekend series since January 13-14, 2023 when the Devils were outscored 8-1 in a weekend sweep at the hands of Minnesota State.
Melo gives us the lead early 😈 pic.twitter.com/w82BX29P6n
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) February 14, 2026
Carmelo Crandell got the game off on the right foot with his 7th goal of the season to put the Devils on the board first, flipping the script from last night's 3-goal deficit. Goals from Samuel Sjölund and Owen Michaels put the Devils on their heels, but Ben Kevan tied the game up late in the opening period to take a 2-2 score to the intermission break.
The freshman ties it all up 🤝 pic.twitter.com/TueYIYIE8Q
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) February 14, 2026
From there, the wheels fell completely off the wagon. A parade of penalties put Arizona State shorthanded for half of the opening 10 minutes of the period, and Zaccharya Wisdom made the Devils pay on the third power play for what would amount to be the game winning goal. But the scoring didn't stop there, as Grant Slukynsky added on just over halfway through the period.
A golden opportunity for the Sun Devils to claw their way back in to the game came with just over 3:30 to play in the period with 52 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage, but Arizona State could only manage two shot attempts in that stretch, neither of them making it to goaltender Hampton Slukynsky.
With 1:25 to play in the period, Crandell was called for a boarding penalty, which was elevated to a major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct after official review. Western Michigan took full advantage, tallying three goals on that 5:00 power play to stretch the game to the final score of 7-2.
The importance of this weekend's games could not be overstated with the Sun Devils leading Omaha by just one point to stay in the NCHC tournament field. The team missed the assignment completely, getting swept in conference play and failing to gain points in consecutive weekends for the first time since joining the NCHC last season. The recent contract extension for head coach Greg Powers is threatening to turn in to a pumpkin before the next season even starts.
Once again Western Michigan dominated in all phases of the game, outshooting the Sun Devils 43-28, winning at the face-off circle by a 30-19 margin, and holding the Sun Devils 0-for-5 on power play attempts to extend their kill streak to 23 consecutive attempts, while converting on 4 of their 9 power play chances.
The process that Coach Powers has been sticking steadfastly to will be in need of a major revamp as the aforementioned Omaha Mavericks come to Mullett Arena next weekend for what will be a battle for last place in the conference. At the time of this writing, Omaha is tied 0-0 with Denver in the second game of their series, and will overtake the Sun Devils if they are able to gain a single point before the end of the weekend.
Both games next weekend will be streaming on NCHC.tv (subscription required), with Saturday's home season finale airing in the Phoenix market on Fox 10 Xtra. Tickets remain available for both games, Friday starting at 7pm and Saturday a 5pm matinee.