The ASU club hockey team reached its highest ever ranking in the American Collegiate Hockey Association on Friday. The Sun Devils jumped seven spots and are now ranked third in the nation.
While the Sun Devils remain undefeated in regulation, the weekend was likely too close for their comfort. The Sun Devils were victorious over No. 13 Rhode Island 5-4 on Friday in a game that went right down to the wire but were defeated 3-2 in a shoot out on Saturday.
The No. 3 Sun Devils (6-0-2) jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period Friday night on goals from sophomore defenseman Darcy Charrois and senior forward Mark Chadwick. Chadwick’s goal came off a feed from junior forward Dan Styrna, who used his speed to beat the defense before dropping a perfect pass onto the stick of Chadwick.
URI seemed to find its stride in the second period. The Rams (8-2) were able to put four goals past ASU senior goalie Mark Schacker, as their forecheck had the Sun Devils scrambling in their own zone.
ASU got a pair of their own on deflections from junior defenseman Jason Maltese and junior forward Marc Wilhite.
Wilhite was confident in the team going into the third.
“We just need to work hard," Wilhite said before the final period. "We need to get back to our basics, back to our fundamentals and just go to work.”
It was ASU’s freshman forward Colin Hekle who got the game-winner in the third period. With the score tied at four and the Rams pouring on the pressure, Hekle unleashed a hard shot from the point on the power play to give the Sun Devils the lead.
Schacker and the defense clamped down on the Rams after the goal, and the Sun Devils held on for the 5-4 victory.
Hekle credited the victory to the confidence in the locker room.
“We have good composure in that room, and were able to pull it out,” Hekle said.
The Sun Devils came out looking more comfortable on Saturday than they had the night before. The coaches had changed the way the team broke out of the zone, and URI’s forecheck was neutralized.
ASU senior defenseman Scott O’Neill said the team was “running the reverse real well and banking it back off the boards behind the net to the other defenseman.”
But the break out did not translate into as much offense as the team hoped for. The Sun Devils were up just 1-0 after two periods. The lone goal came on the powerplay as sophomore forward Patrick Rogan cashed in on a rebound.
The third period was not what the Sun Devils were hoping for, as the Rams scored a pair of quick goals to take a 2-1 lead with under ten minutes remaining.
Once again, ASU coach Greg Powers found the right combination of players for the Sun Devils to get the job done. Powers put Styrna on the wing with Rogan and Wilhite. It was Wilhite who knotted the score for the Sun Devils with a rocket from the slot off a perfect feed from Styrna. The goal came with under two minutes left.
The teams remained deadlocked through overtime, but URI earned the victory in the shootout.
ASU associate coach Noah Katz felt the loss was a tough one but believed that the team will take a lot from the battle.
The Sun Devils take on UNLV on Friday at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
Reach the reporter at nlicalzi@asu.edu
