Sun Devils drop weekend opener

With only conference play left on the schedule, every game for the Sun Devils is of the utmost importance to position themselves best for NCHC tournament play and beyond.

Riding a five-game home winning streak, Arizona State opened the first of three consecutive "rematch series", hosting the Miami RedHawks on Friday night.

On paper, it would look like the Sun Devils had the upper hand throughout the game, a thought emphasized by Coach Powers in his postgame comments. Outshooting Miami 38-23 and winning faceoffs by a 33-21 margin, coming out on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime decision doesn't fit what the final stat sheet would tell you.

David Deputy's game-winning goal 1:07 in to the 3-on-3 overtime period made him the first star of the game, but the true first star was goaltender Matteo Drobac. Stopping 37 of the 38 shots the Sun Devils put on him, he turned the page from a rough recent stretch (0-3-2, 3.52 goals against average in his last 5 games) and produced a true gem of a game in net.

It was a game that saw the RedHawks use an all-freshman top line with the absence of Matteo Giampa, but Miami was up to the challenge, holding Arizona State's leading line to just a single point with Cullen Potter's assist on Sam Court's game-tying goal late in the 3rd period.

Connor Hasley played himself a solid game, stopping 21 of 23 shots in his second straight start, but the opportunity lies with a power play that went 0-for-5 on the night. It was a generally undisciplined night for both sides, 9 combined penalties but 0 power play goals to show for it. Miami brought a level of physicality to the game to keep the Sun Devils off balance, swarming to the area in front of Drobac and not allowing the Devils to create the traffic to throw Drobac off his game.

The puck luck was not on the side of the Devils as both Potter and Noah Powell each found the goal post with shots in the third period. Cruz Lucius also had a golden breakaway opportunity that never found the target. Inefficient passing through the neutral zone contributed to the inability to generate momentum on offense, despite the high volume of shots.

Injury Update

Lincoln Kuehne was a late addition to the injury report, joining Johnny Waldron and Jack Beck among the injured skaters. Coach Powers said postgame that it was an injury sustained in practice, but does not expect it to keep him out long term. With the off week coming up next weekend, Kuehne will remain out to get back to full strength.

Another addition to the injury report that may fly under the radar is third goaltender Chase Hamm. Not much is known at this point to his status, but the Sun Devils were forced to dress only two goaltenders for Friday's matchup. Hamm has 1:37 of career ice time under his belt in a 5-1 win over Lindenwood in the 2023-24 season, but the Devils can ill afford to have another goaltender go down with injury or illness.

Around the NCHC

All nine teams in the NCHC were in action tonight. Colorado College defended home ice, taking down conference-leading North Dakota 3-2 in overtime. Minnesota-Duluth was the lone team playing non-conference action, defeating Lindenwood 6-3 from AMSOIL Arena. The Western Michigan Broncos, immediately ahead of the Sun Devils in the standings, went in to Magness Arena and beat Denver 4-1, while Omaha applied the pressure on Arizona State with a 6-2 win at home against St. Cloud State, pulling to just two points behind the Sun Devils.

The standings following Miami's first conference road win in 1,049 days are as follows:

1. North Dakota (8-1-2, 26 points)

2. Denver (8-2-1, 24 points)

3.      Minnesota-Duluth (7-3-2, 21 points)

4.      Western Michigan (7-4-0, 20 points)

5.      Arizona State (5-5-1, 14 points)

6.      Omaha (4-7-0, 12 points)

6.      Colorado College (4-4-3, 12 points)

8.      St Cloud State (3-6-2, 11 points)

9.      Miami (4-6-1, 10 points)

Up Next

The Sun Devils will be looking for the series and season split against the RedHawks at 5pm on Saturday from Mullett Arena. Tyler Paley and Alex Coil will have the call on NCHC.tv (subscription required) and on Fox Sports 910 Phoenix.