Hawks bruise Devils in Friday bout

It was a green and white invasion at Mullett Arena on Friday night, but that only raised the stakes that much more as the Sun Devils took on the NCHC-leading North Dakota Fighting Hawks to open a crucial series starting the push for the postseason.

It was a battle of old and new in net, as Connor Hasley took to the net for the Sun Devils against his predecessor, Gibson Homer. The Mullett faithful let Homer hear it with a chorus of boos when he was introduced as the starter.

The Sun Devils had control over the opening minutes of the game, holding a 4-1 shot advantage over the Hawks at the first media timeout, but North Dakota’s strength took over for the rest of the period. Anthony Menghini opened the scoring from Arizona native Jake Livanavage at the 6:13 mark. 5 minutes later, Ellis Rickwood slipped behind the defense and redirected Abram Wiebe’s shot from the point for the 2-0 lead that the Hawks would hold at intermission.

The second period was a different story. Arizona State kept the pressure in front of Homer and built momentum of their own, winning the shot battle 12-5. Tucker Ness got the Devils on the board with a floater from the point for his 2nd goal of the season from Ty Nash and Sam Court at the 11:38 mark, then Carmelo Crandell tied it up less than two minutes later, bringing the noise level all the way up.

North Dakota would get one back on Cody Croal’s 5th of the season to take the lead into intermission, but with the second period going the Devils’ way, momentum was building.

Keaton Verhoeff put an end to that momentum with a power play goal less than two minutes into the final frame, but Justin Kipkie brought the Devils back within striking range with his third goal of the season on assists from Kyle Smolen and Sam Alfano.

From there it got ugly. Dylan James and Will Zellers scored less than 90 seconds apart to stretch the lead to 3, but even uglier was the penalties. Approaching the midway mark of the third, Andrew Strathmann unleashed a high hit against Sam Alfano that left Alfano down on the ice in the North Dakota zone for a moment. He would get up under his own power, and a few seconds later unleashed a retaliatory cross check that started a full blown melee behind the net. Alfano’s cross check was ruled a major and game misconduct, and matching minors for roughing to Cody Croal and Logan Morrell were assessed. Officials would then go back to review for head contact and call the major and game misconduct against Strathmann. Coach Powers challenged for an additional major for a facemask but was unsuccessful.

Arizona State would make it 6-4 on Johnny Waldron’s first goal of the season, but at that point it was too little, too late. Will Zellers got his second goal of the game with the empty net to secure the 7-4 victory for North Dakota.

Adding insult to injury with tonight’s loss, the Sun Devils find themselves in 6th place in the NCHC after St. Cloud State took down Denver by a 4-2 score on the road at Magness Arena. Omaha got the 3-1 win at home against Colorado College to move within 2 points of the Sun Devils in the standings.

Arizona State will be going for the split on Saturday night from Mullett Arena. Puck drop will be at 5pm and will air in the Phoenix market on Fox 10. For those outside the Phoenix market, the game will stream nationally on NCHC.tv (subscription required).