TEMPE, Ariz. – Throughout the series, the North Dakota fans' chants of their former nickname were drowned by Arizona State fans chanting “A-S-U.” However, at the end of Saturday night, the Sun Devil fans' response was minimal.
The response was because Arizona State hockey (12-13-1, 5-8-1 NCHC) suffered its first conference sweep of the season, losing 5-3 to North Dakota (20-6, 12-4 NCHC) with the Fighting Hawks scoring four unanswered goals to end the game.
“We got to learn how to hold the lead, that starts with older guys down,” senior forward Cruz Lucius said. “That can’t happen.”
The momentum shift was in the second period, where North Dakota scored with 22 seconds left in the period. The Sun Devils took four penalties in the period and four more in the rest of the game, compared to North Dakota’s four throughout the whole game.
Arizona State got outshot 45 to 21 and by double or more in every period, forcing freshman goaltender Samuel Urban to make a lot of saves. For the first 39 minutes, he was good and made a lot of great saves.
“He (Urban) made some huge saves, kept us in the game,” senior forward Bennett Schimek said. “We let him down.”
Urban’s 40 saves on 45 shots are a season high. He has a .914 save percentage and a 3.24 goals against average this season.
The Sun Devils' offense clicked at times, particularly on the power play, going two-for-three on the night, with both goals coming from the second unit.
Freshman forward Sam Alfano and sophomore forward Logan Morrell scored on the man advantage, their fourth and sixth goals of the year, respectively.
The Sun Devils killed two of North Dakota’s seven power plays. Arizona State head coach Greg Powers left the bench after he thought he was ejected when he was only given a minor penalty for applauding with a little less than three minutes left in the game.
Sophomore defenseman Brasen Boser scored his first goal of the season. He becomes the fifth defenseman to score for the Sun Devils this season, as they need depth scoring, as two of their top six forwards, freshman Jack Beck and sophomore Cullen Potter, are out for the season.
“It was awesome,” Powers said. “We’re starting to get some production from the back, which is huge.”
Senior forward Cruz Lucius had two assists, setting his new single-season point total at 35 and tying his single-season assist total at 23. He has the most points and is tied for the most assists on the team.
Schimek, sophomore forward Ty Nash, junior forward Kyle Smolen and sophomore defenseman Joel Kjellberg each logged an assist. Schimek’s assist puts him at 23, tied for most on the team, and it set a single-season record for him.
Despite scoring a goal in Friday’s game, senior forward Johnny Waldron was scratched in favor of junior forward Tony Achille, as Powers wanted more energy on the forecheck.
Arizona State lost the face-off battle 26-22. The Sun Devils have won 52.2% of their face-offs this season.
The Sun Devils face Colorado College on the road next week, and they need to win as they fell in the NPI to No. 28.
“Those are big moments, we talk about them all the time, the last two minutes of the period, 1st two minutes of a period,” Schimek said. “You don’t necessarily have to score, but you just can’t give one up, and we did in both those scenarios; it is our line, and it’s unacceptable.”