When former Sun Devil goaltender Gibson Homer transferred to North Dakota, the Sun Devils knew that they would get their chance to beat their former netminder. On Saturday night, they got their first chance at Homer as North Dakota started freshman Jan Špunar in net on Friday.
Arizona State hockey’s (4-7-1, 2-3-1 NCHC) offense made sure to execute on its chances, winning 4-2 (EN) over No. 6 North Dakota (8-4, 4-2 NCHC). Despite the offense, the star of the game was Arizona State senior goaltender Connor Hasley.
Hasley was astonishing in the net, constantly making great saves. He weathered the North Dakota offensive storm that saw 41 shots on goal compared to the Sun Devils' 15.
Hasley’s biggest saves of the night were in the final two minutes and change, when freshman forward Jack Beck went to the box for holding a North Dakota player’s stick. At the same time, the Fighting Hawks pulled Homer, giving them a two-skater advantage, adding to the Nodak attack.
Hasley is now 3-4 in his starts this season. He has a 91.3% save percentage and a 2.94 GAA in the season.
The Sun Devil offense scored four goals on 15 shots, leaving Homer with a 78.6% save percentage. The final goal was an empty net goal courtesy of senior forward Bennett Schimek, his fifth of the season. Schimek, the team leader in points added three points to his total in the game.
Sophomore forward Cullen Potter started the scoring for the Sun Devils on a power play, as he netted his second goal of the season. His first goal of the year was on an empty net on Halloween.
Sophomore forward Logan Morrell and junior forward Sean McGurn had goals at the end of the second period, with McGurn’s coming with six seconds left in the period. Those were both players' third goals of the season.
Morrell had an assist on the night as well, but one of the best assists of the night was from freshman forward Sam Alfano on the Morrell goal. The team’s leader in goals scored, senior forward Cruz Lucius, had two assists on the night.
Sophomore forward Noah Powell was a part of some offensive line changes after not playing Friday night’s game and collected an assist. Powell and freshman forward Braxton Whitehead replaced freshman forward Ben Kevan and sophomore forward Ty Nash in the lineup.
The 15 shots on goal the Sun Devils put up were a season low, and the 36 on the weekend were the lowest of the season. The Sun Devils have put up 36 or more shots on goal in five games this season, which makes it interesting to see so few shots this weekend.
The power play was solid as it went 1-for-3 in the game and 2-for-4 on the weekend. The power play sits at 14-for-60 (23%) on the season.
The penalty kill killed off all four North Dakota power plays. The penalty kill went 1-for-6 on the weekend. It sits at an 81.6% (40/49) kill rate on the season.
Despite having over a 50% success rate on faceoffs this season, the Sun Devils fell short of that mark. Morrell went 14-for-27 on faceoffs, the only Sun Devil who took multiple that had a 50% or better success rate. McGurn went 4-11, Potter went 1-7, Whitehead went 1-5 and senior forward Kyle Smolen went 3-7.
The Sun Devils have some things to clean up as they face No. 4 Denver at home next week, continuing NCHC conference play, with another national top ten opponent.
In baseball terms, this win was a homer for the Sun Devils.