The ASU club hockey team went to Missouri over the weekend with a chance to capture the number one spot in the country for the first time in school history.
The No. 3 Sun Devils (9-3-1) took on two-time defending National Champion Lindenwood, and the No. 1 Lions (13-1) flexed their muscle all weekend long, outscoring ASU by nine goals in the two-game set.
ASU’s game never really made it out of Tempe as the Sun Devils played two solid periods on Friday before it all came crashing down. ASU was down 3-2 going into the third, but within five minutes it was 7-2.
ASU senior goaltender Mark Schacker entered the series with a stellar 93 percent save percentage. He gave up all seven on Friday and was pulled after just 12 shots on Saturday after giving up five goals. The Sun Devils’ backbone just never looked comfortable against the country’s top team.
Sophomore forward Dan Styrna scored in both games for ASU and he, along with sophomore forward Patrick Rogan, was the most consistent player all weekend.
The Sun Devils did not make it to the third period before the wheels fell off on Saturday. They played a strong first period and found themselves down just 2-1, but never made it out of the locker room in the second period. ASU had just two shots on goal all period and found itself down 6-2 after 40 minutes.
“In both games we had lapses, and when you are playing No. 1 that just can’t happen,” Senior forward Patrick Lind said. “We need to play a full 60 minutes each night if we want to be successful against the best.”
The Sun Devils have gotten through everyone but Lindenwood on pure talent. They have put together a full 60 minutes just once this season and it was against No. 7 Oklahoma.
“There was no attention to detail and the team lost concentration too often,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. “You can’t have lapses against the top team in the country and we had too many of them. Every time we climbed back in, they answered. We learned a lot about ourselves and where we need to improve moving forward.”
Powers has his work cut out for him in order to get the team playing back up to the level that it was in earlier in the season. How the Sun Devils respond to being swept for the first time this season will be key going forward.
The Sun Devils are back at it this weekend with a pair of games against Central Oklahoma on Friday and Saturday. UCO currently is No. 21 in the country, but the hard working team will be a test for ASU.
Nick Licalzi is a freelance reporter contributing to The State Press. Reach the reporter at nlicalzi@asu.edu