The Halloween weekend set the stage for what could have easily been a trap for the ASU club hockey team.
A one game weekend, with a Division II team coming in was a scary thought for the Sun Devils the past two seasons.
But not these Sun Devils and not with the mad scientist coach Greg Powers, behind the bench. ASU rolled in the Friday matchup, 8-2 over UNLV.
Powers took the opportunity to get some new faces into the line-up. Freshman forward Jon Eades, sophomore forward Taylor Chomiski and freshman goaltender Kyle Dietrich all got their first starts as Sun Devils.
Eades and Chomiski both played on the fourth line, which produced two goals, one by Eades, and looked solid all night. Dietrich earned his first victory at ASU, giving up just two goals.
“It was awesome, it felt great,” Dietrich said after the game.
Eades was eager to get into the lineup for the Sun Devils and capitalized on his chance with the goal.
“It felt good, it was really good to get it out of the way,” Eades said.
The No. 3 Sun Devils (7-0-2) controlled play from the minute the puck dropped right up until the final buzzer sounded. ASU jumped the Rebels with four goals in the first period to take a 4-1 lead.
Junior forward Kris Myshak got the Sun Devils on the board with a deflection off sophomore defenseman Darcy Charrois’ shot from the point.
It quickly became the Colin Hekle show for ASU as the freshman forward scored a first period hat trick to give the Sun Devils a 4-1 lead. Hekle’s play has steadily improved since the season got underway and he is now pushing Joe Schweiger for the team point lead.
Hekle said that the success is coming from his skates. The freshman sharpened his own skates back home in Canada, and when he couldn’t get his hands on a sharpener in Arizona it was his father who came to the rescue.
“My pops went out and bought me a skate sharpener so I could do my own like back in Canada, so it’s a lot better than it’s been so far,” Hekle said.
The Sun Devils got goals from senior forward Chris Vassos, junior Marcus Wilhite, sophomore Patrick Rogan and Eades in the second period.
ASU’s depth was on display all night and while the goals from Rogan, Wilhite and Hekle have come to be expected, the production from Vassos, Myshak and Eades was icing on the cake, as the Sun Devils cruised to the victory.
Next up for ASU is No. 6 Ohio. The Sun Devils will need to come out strong against the Bobcats (5-2-1), the same team that bounced ASU from the National Tournament last March in Chicago.
When asked if revenge was on the Sun Devils’ minds headed into this weekend, Powers denied the idea.
“As far as revenge, we’re not really looking at it that way,” Powers said. “A lot of these guys weren’t here and we just want to go on the road against a very good team and come out on top.”
The games will be in Athens, Ohio Friday and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Arizona Time.
Reach the reporter at nlicalzi@asu.edu