A couple of heroic comebacks kept the ASU ice hockey club's chances of attending the National Tournament alive after a weekend sweep against Weber State.
ASU pulled off a 5-3 win in a wacky affair on Friday at the Alltel Ice Den in Scottsdale and continued with a 3-2 victory on Saturday, which was the Sun Devils' fifth triumph this year over Weber State.
"We took care of business this weekend, which was important for us," ASU coach Mike De Angelis said. "It gives us an opportunity to shoot for Nationals."
The Sun Devils were ranked No. 17 coming into this weekend against Weber State. To make the National Championship Tournament, ASU must rank in the top 16 to qualify.
The final tournament rankings come out Wednesday.
"Hopefully, our past four wins have helped us get into the tournament, but we won't know till Wednesday," De Angelis said.
The Sun Devils got off to a rough start Friday, giving up an early goal to Weber State for the third consecutive game. Right before the end of the period, Ray Corey, the team's scoring leader, responded with a power play goal to knot the score at 1-1 headed into the first intermission.
"Corey has been huge for us this year," De Angelis said. "We are excited to have him and hope he continues to score big goals for us. He is Mr. Everything."
After getting a goal from senior Tony Biffignani near the opening of the second period, ASU gave up two goals on the power play to fall behind 3-2.
A fight then ensued near the crease of goaltender Tyler Gallant. Gallant was given a five-minute major penalty for head contact and was required to go to the penalty box to serve his punishment. Typically, if a goalie gets a penalty, another skater serves it in the box for him.
"I have never seen a goalie go to the penalty box in my life," De Angelis said. "I checked the rules afterward, and it was in the book."
After backup goaltender Paul Balducci entered the game while Gallant was in the penalty box, the Sun Devils got two three-on-three goals from defensemen Richard Ferroni and Mike Reveland, both on breakaways, to give ASU a 4-3 lead headed into the third.
"We were able to use our speed in the three-on-three play to get a couple goals and give us the lead headed into the third," De Angelis said. "It was a big confidence boost for us."
Coming onto the ice for the third period, ASU got strong goaltending from Balducci and Gallant to preserve the lead. Ferroni added his second goal of the game into an empty net to give the Sun Devils the 5-3 victory.
The Sun Devils gave up an early goal once again Saturday to fall behind 1-0 after the first period.
ASU responded early in the second period, when Greg Langston knotted the score at 1-1.
The Sun Devils then gave up a power play goal to fall behind 2-1 and went to the locker room down by one with a period to play.
"Gallant stepped up big for us in this game," De Angelis said. "He has made the big saves for us when he has, too."
Coming into the third period down by one, ASU received a five-on-three power play with a little less than seven minutes left and capitalized.
Biffignani scored his 18th goal of the season, and Corey followed up 20 seconds later to give the Sun Devils a 3-2 lead and, ultimately, the victory.
"The power play was big for us in the third period," De Angelis said. "We work on the power play daily, so when guys get out there, they know what they are doing, and it showed tonight."
Reach the reporter at: russell.brooks@asu.edu.
