No. 1 ASU hockey (21-0-0) didn’t score much Tuesday night, but three goals were enough to beat No. 4 Iowa State 3-0.
ASU coach Greg Powers said he was pleased with the win, but wished he could have seen more scoring in the game against the Cyclones (16-5-1).
“We started out well, we were playing simple hockey, we were throwing pucks on net, we were going on net and then we got away from it,” Powers said. At the end of the day, a 5-1 (on Monday) and 3-0 win against a good team, we’ll take it all day.”
Two freshmen defensemen started the scoring for the Sun Devils (21-0-0), netting the puck less than a minute apart from each other starting with Drew Newmeyer. He chased a loose puck back to the blue line then flung it at the net. It found its way through all the traffic in front of the goal and whizzed past ISU junior goalie Matt Cooper.
Not to be outdone by his fellow freshman defenseman, Jarrod Levos took a pass from junior forward Liam Norris, wound up, slapped and scored a one-timer a mere 30 seconds after Newmeyer’s goal to give ASU a 2-0 lead.
Following Monday’s game, Powers said soon people will see just how good freshman forward Ryan Ostertag is. As if Ostertag's performance on Monday wasn’t enough, his goal at the end of the first period might be. He found the puck, and unleashed a wicked wrister that Cooper never even saw.
The second period came and went similar to Monday night with not much action. The teams combined for only 12 shots, and neither scored a goal. ASU had the best opportunity in the period on a two-on-one break with sophomore forward Chris Blessing and freshman forward Zack Holstrom. Blessing lured the ISU goaltender, junior Scott Ismond who replaced his teammate Cooper at the beginning of the second, away from the net and dished to Holstrom, who missed wide. ASU would not score again.
The best chance for the Cyclones came with just over three minutes left in tthe third period. ASU was set to face almost two full minutes of a 5-on-3 penalty kill, and freshman goalie Robert levin stopped every shot.
“The guys did a good job of keeping guys to the outside and letting me see pucks,” Levin said. “One hit the post, but beyond that, they didn’t really get any good chances.”
It was Levin’s fourth shutout of the season, tied for tops in the ACHA.
ASU has the weekend off before heading down to Tucson for a Cactus Cup clash with No. 12 UA Dec. 6-7.
Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
