The Sun Devil hockey club's ability to score goals early in the first period is just one of the many reasons why the team has experienced success in the rink this season.
That quick-strike capability hit a brick wall Friday night, however, as the Devils lost to the UA Icecats in Tucson, 3-2.
"It was brutal to say the least," team captain Adam Blossey said. "We just came out flat and didn't pick it up until the second or third period."
The Icecats scored with 8:10 remaining in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Sun Devils (10-3) managed to tie it up on sophomore forward P.J. Nelson's goal three minutes into the second, but the Icecats responded with another goal four minutes later to take a lead they would not relinquish.
It was UA's (5-6-1) first victory in three tries against the Devils this season.
Sophomore forward Ray Corey said the defeat was very disappointing.
"We weren't hard enough on them," he said. "We weren't playing team defense at all. It was the first time I've seen our system break down all season."
ASU outshot UA 31-27 in the game. Junior goaltender Colin Cook had 24 saves in the net for the Sun Devils, but his effort was not enough to prevent the club from losing two straight games for the first time this season.
The Icecats took a 3-1 lead less than a minute into the third period. Nelson scored his second goal of the game with 16:39 remaining in the third to make things more interesting for ASU, but neither team would find the net again.
Blossey said the team didn't execute like it knew it could.
"We had a lot of turnovers," he said. "We just weren't paying attention to the details."
All was not lost for the No. 12-ranked Sun Devils, however, for the teams would meet again on Saturday night. That second game of the weekend proved to have a much different result for ASU.
The Sun Devils scored on junior forward Derek Tannahill's shot with 5:26 left in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Icecats, however, battled back to tie the game at one early in the second period. Then, after trading goals for a 2-2 game, ASU scored three goals in the final 7:50 of the game to win 5-2.
Corey, who had three assists during the weekend, said it definitely was a tale of two different games.
"On Friday we came out slow," he said. "We weren't upbeat like we normally were. But on Saturday we came out excited and we knew we were going to play well."
Freshman defenseman Kenneth Fournier had two goals for the Devils Saturday night. Freshman forward Stephen Hipskind and junior forward Ryan Esner added a goal each. Esner's goal came with just 17 seconds remaining on the clock.
Cook made 22 saves for the Devils and ASU had 45 shots on goal compared to 24 for the UA.
Blossey said the team tried to put Friday night's performance behind it as quickly as possible by improving its play Saturday.
"We wanted to show it was a fluke that they won, that we were the better team," he said. "Everyone just came out and worked together to get the job done."
Corey said the team would be focused when it returned to the ice again next semester.
"That game on Friday hurt," he said. "We are not supposed to lose to teams like that and it's not going to happen again."
The team next plays Division II University of Colorado on Jan 7-8 at 7:15 p.m. at the Oceanside Arena in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at jeremy.a.cluff@asu.edu
