Arizona State and Alaska Fairbanks had been rivals for years. The two schools were both independents before Arizona State joined the NCHC before the 2024-25 season.
In the school’s last series meeting as independents, defenseman Tucker Ness and forward Peyton Matsui left the penalty box to fight late in the game, among many other fights. Ness was a healthy scratch for the Sun Devils, and Matsui is no longer with the Nanooks. Some of that chippiness carried over to the first meeting since that series, as plenty of scrums happened and several players were sent to the sin bin.
No. 15 Arizona State hockey (2-2) demolished Alaska (1-3) 5-2 to win the Ice Breaker Tournament as senior forward Cruz Lucius had his first career hat trick in college. All five goals came on the power play, including Lucius’ third, which was on an empty net.
“For a young team to bounce back and win a trophy and score 10 goals and do a lot of good things is really promising,” head coach Greg Powers said.
Lucius had a tough season last year as he dealt with an injury that sidelined him for the first half of the season. The rust of not playing carried over to the second half as he was gelling with a new team. The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect showed his elite scoring ability.
The power play showed up after not doing so in the first three games, as it was 1 for 17. The unit was explosive, collecting all the goals. The line of junior forward Kyle Smolen, sophomore forward Ty Nash, freshman forward Sam Alfano, sophomore forward Logan Morrell and sophomore defenseman Sam Court looked nearly unstoppable, especially early in the game with Morrell and Smolen scoring a goal each.
“Morell's line have been huge for us, they've been really hard,” Lucius said.” They've been setting the pace for our team.”
Late in the game, it was the Lucius, sophomore forward Cullen Potter, junior forward Sean McGurn, senior forward Bennett Schimek and freshman defenseman Justin Kipkie line that dominated with Lucius delivering his hat trick.
The power play went 5 for 9 on the night and it is now up to 6 for 26 (23%). That is still not at last season’s 29.6% but now good enough to be closer to a strength than a concern.
Court, Kipkie and Schimek had two assists each on the night. Smolen, Morrell, McGurn and junior defenseman Anthony Dowd each had an assist.
“I'm really relieved that the power play stepped up like it did,” Powers said.
All four centers (McGurn, Potter, Smolen and Morrell) won more than 50% of their face-offs. That unit has been outstanding this year, with 56.6% after having 48.4% last year.
The team took four penalties compared to Fairbanks’ 10. Morrell had two of those as he was called for roughing and embellishment at the same point.
The defense stepped up as well; the unit allowed 36 shots, the first time that the number has been below 40 all season. Sophomore defenseman Brasen Boser could potentially come back next week, which could help that.
Senior goaltender Connor Hasley allowed only two goals with a 94.4% save percentage on the night. Hasley has been elite with a 92.0% save percentage this season.
“I'm ecstatic,” Hasley said. “I'm so happy to get that first one under my belt with the group we have, we got a lot more in us.”
The drawback to tonight was that the penalty kill allowed a goal on three UAF chances. The kill rate is 11-16 (68.7%) for the year, which is low compared to 83.5%.
The team has gelled together over the last week and looks a lot better. The Sun Devils take on the South Dakota school of Augustana (who split at Minnesota Duluth this week) next week on the road.
“If you want to be a top team in the country, your whole team needs to step up,” Lucius said. “That’s what we’ve been doing.”