Arizona State hockey has had a Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque season across most of its series this season. In the NCHC series in particular, the Sun Devils often have one game where they look like national title contenders and collect a win, often coupled with a loss where they look like a national bottom-feeder. With Friday’s overtime win, the Sun Devils had the opportunity to collect their first NCHC sweep of the season.
Arizona State (13-14-1, 6-9-1 NCHC) failed to do that, losing 4-1 (EN) to Colorado College (10-12-3, 4-8-3 NCHC) in an underwhelming fashion. The Sun Devils got dominated on the ice.
Part of the reason for the inconsistent play is that Arizona State head Coach Greg Powers has had his roster severely handicapped this season. That situation worsened this weekend, as senior forward Johnny Waldron is no longer with the team, according to reports, and freshman forward Braxton Whitehead suffered an injury in Friday’s game and did not play. Junior forward Tony Achille replaced Waldron in the lineup.
To replace Whitehead, things were a little more complicated. Senior defenseman Tucker Ness moved to forward, and junior defenseman Anthony Dowd entered the lineup on the defensive side. Ness played forward at times last season, but was at a wing position instead of center, like he was in Saturday's game.
The Sun Devils have had two other players depart the team, along with sophomore forward Cullen Potter and freshman forward Jack Beck suffer season-ending injuries. Regardless, that is not an excuse for the Sun Devils' poor performance.
The Tigers’ dominance started in the face-off circle, winning 31-21 over the Sun Devils. All three of the usual centers (Ness did not take a face-off) lost more than they won. Junior center Sean McGurn has struggled there since returning from injury, going 38.9%. McGurn has a season percentage of 54.1%.
In the first period, the shots on goal were 25-6 in favor of Colorado College. Arizona State only mustered 22 shots on goal all game; the Tigers finished with 42. The Tigers took 73 total shots compared to the Sun Devils' 42.
In the second period, the Sun Devils spent 37 seconds of the first 6:19 at even strength, as they committed penalty after penalty. The Sun Devils were great on the penalty kill, keeping Colorado College from scoring on the power play in its five opportunities. Opponents have scored on 18% of their power plays against the Sun Devils this season.
The Sun Devils scored a power play goal coming with 15 seconds left in the game, as they converted one of their five chances. Junior forward Kyle Smolen scored the goal, his third this season. Senior forward Bennett Schimek and freshman forward Sam Alfano had the assists.
Schimek now leads the team in assists and is tied for the team lead in points with senior forward Cruz Lucius. With his assist, Schimek set his single-season point total at 38, breaking his junior year total.
Despite getting credited with the loss, freshman goaltender Sam Urban played well, stopping 37 of the 40 shots he faced. Urban has a 3.22 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. In January, he had a .926 save percentage across six appearances.
The Sun Devils are now tied with Colorado College for seventh in the standings at 19 points. Saint Cloud State (sixth at 20 points) and Omaha (ninth at 18 points) have both played two more games than the Sun Devils, so they should be one of the eight teams in the NCHC postseason tournament. The Sun Devils have a critical series against the SCSU Huskies at home next week.