[imagebrowser id=52]
At what point is a rivalry determined to be one-sided?
With the No. 3 ASU hockey team picking up their 19th and 20th consecutive wins over the No. 20 UA Wildcats in Tucson, Ariz., the rivalry is becoming a bit of a thorough domination.After the 6-4 and 7-2 wins, the Sun Devils are 4-0 this year against Arizona.
With first year head coach Sean Hogan at the helm, the Wildcats came out strong in both games and showed a lot of energy in front of a large crowd at the Tucson Convention Center.
However, patience and restraint led the Sun Devils to the victory as they refrained from dirty play for the first five periods of the series.
“We really want to just run the score up on them,” ASU junior forward Brett Prechel said. “We are a skill team. Basically that’s it. We want to pound them on the scoreboard.”
Despite the Sun Devils restraint, there were a lot of penalties. In the first game,there were only 16 penalties and 40 penalty minutes awarded. Not all that bad considering UA freshman defenseman Shane Gleason picked up a 10 minute misconduct late in the third period.
In the second game though, the refs couldn’t stop blowing the whistle, with every minor infraction resulting in a player going to the box. Altogether both teams accounted for 32 penalties and 86 penalty minutes.
“He called it both ways,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “I thought the guy did a pretty good job. Our special teams have got to be better. I thought we were better and that’s why we won.”
Despite all the penalties ASU showed composure until a hit from a UA forward knocked off ASU senior goaltender Mark Schacker’s mask.
“I came out to get the whistle, because I knew we had a delayed penalty on us,” Schacker said. “As soon as I looked up the guy was coming in and that was it.”
Amongst the scrum UA freshman forward David Rizk and ASU junior defenseman Brian Parson, skated out to center ice to drop the gloves. ASU sophomore forward Danny McAuliffe and UA freshman forward Michael Ferreira also fought with about three minutes left in the game.
“Last year I had a little tussle with one of their guys and got the better half and it’s made them hate me ever since,” Parson said. “They have fun with it and I do as well.”
The main aggressors for ASU were Parson and Prechel, whose back checking didn’t allow much room for UA to set up its offense. This created costly neutral and defensive zone turnovers, which led to a lot of ASU’s chances.
“It’s everything to our team to our goalie, Schacker, especially,” Prechel said. “If you’re not back checking hard that’s unacceptable.”
Prechel’s goal that tied the second game at the end of the first period shifted momentum quite a bit in the loud arena. However a lot of players had a hand in the victory as seven players scored this weekend.
With the two wins ASU is now one win away from locking up the Cactus Cup in its inaugural year.
“We want to win it in the first year,” Powers said. “It’s important that we win that thing and you’ve got to get to that fifth win.”
The Sun Devils will play host to UA at Oceanside Arena in Tempe, Ariz. just north of campus on January 27-28, 2012.
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
