The best teams find a way to win.
For the third consecutive night, the No. 1 ASU hockey team fought and battled to come out with a 5-4 victory over No. 15 Stony Brook, thanks to junior Danny McAuliffe's overtime goal.
After trailing 2-0 after the second period, hopes seemed bleak for the Sun Devils (25-4 ACHA). Seawolves freshman goaltender Brendan Jones looked like a stone wall through two periods.
ASU found a crack in the wall in the third period.
The Sun Devils scored four times in a 12-minute stretch in the third period, out-shooting the Seawolves (9-10 ACHA) 17-6 in the period.
McAuliffe bookended the scoring, as he was the one to put the Sun Devils on the board and eventually won it.
“It felt good,” he said. “Nice to get the W.”
Junior Brian McGinty also tallied two goals, tying the game twice in a back and forth “roller coaster” affair, as he called it, that saw a tie game four separate times.
Junior goaltender Joseph D’Elia gave ASU the opportunities to win the games the last two nights. Saturday was an off night for him, as he allowed four goals — the most that went past him since Dec. 28 against British Columbia.
Despite the slump, the offense compensated for him.
“He needed (the offense) tonight,” ASU coach Greg Powers said.
McAuliffe agreed.
“He’s been standing on his head, so it’s finally nice that we get a good 'W' for him,” he said.
Although the Sun Devils committed several costly mistakes, Powers is just happy that his team came away with the win.
It was not pretty, but a win is a win. “We just found a way to win three nights in a row, Powers said. “You have to take the positives out of that and that’s what we’re going to do.”
ASU is back on the ice Thursday vs. Oklahoma, then take on Central Oklahoma in a weekend series Friday and Saturday.
Reach the reporter at jcemerso@asu.edu
