The No. 3 ASU hockey team began the spring semester on a relatively good note by winning four of its first six games, bringing its overall record to 23-4-2 of the season.
Spending over a month off the ice since their last game, the Sun Devils got back and registered a 5–2 victory over the San Jose State Spartans on Jan. 12. The next week challenged ASU as it played five games in six days.
The first two games came against the No. 13 Davenport University Panthers on back-to-back nights. The first night ended with a comfortable 5–1 victory for the Sun Devils.
Sophomore goaltender Joe D’Elia’s first career start garnered the majority of the attention in team’s second matchup with Davenport.
D’Elia spent the 2011 fall semester as Davenport University’s starting goaltender, but he transferred to ASU after the semester ended.
ASU sophomore forward Colin Hekle scored the game’s first goal with 6:42 left in the first period. No goals were allowed in the second period due to stellar play from both goalies. This trend continued into the third period and the game looked as if it was going to end with Hekle as the lone scorer.
With 1:10 left in the game, Davenport pulled their goalie for an extra skater on the ice.
After playing great defense, the Sun Devils claimed a 2–0 victory when junior forward Brett Prechel scored an open-net goal with just 0.9 seconds left in the game. The goal gave D’Elia a win and shutout in his first career start at ASU.
“We kept it simple tonight, and got it to our forwards,” junior defenseman Brian Parson said.
D’Elia remained humble after the victory when asked about his first game and victory against his old team.
“It feels good any time you get a victory,” he said.
The high-scoring offense returned for the Sun Devils as they defeated No. 17 University of Central Oklahoma 5–2 on the road Friday, Jan. 20.
The weekend games were not kind to ASU as they took on the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners on the road. The Sun Devils trailed early after OU freshman defenseman Kevin Zehnder scored early in the first period. The Sooners added two more goals and jumped to a 3–0 lead after one period.
The game ended as a 3–1 loss for ASU with its only goal coming from junior forward Dan Styrna midway through the second period.
The Sun Devils failed to end the weekend on a high note as they again fell to the Sooners by a final of 3–1 on Sunday.
Junior defenseman Darcy Charrois put ASU in the lead on a power play goal midway through the first period. The Sooners scored twice in the second and once in the third period to complete their sweep of the Sun Devils.
ASU will take the ice again Friday against UA at Oceanside Ice Arena and will look to secure the 2012 Arizona Cactus Cup this year.
Reach the reporter at talopez3@asu.edu
