Junior forward Chris Blessing waits for a pass during a home game against West Chester on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. ASU won against West Chester 14-0. (Photo by Stephanie Specht)No. 1 ASU Sun Devil hockey scorched the competition on Friday, setting a program record for goals in a route of the West Chester Golden Rams 14-0 at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.
The Sun Devils (3-0) got off to an explosive early start, and rode the momentum as they skated away with a relatively easy record-breaking victory. ASU outshot West Chester (0-1) 64-14, a total that impressed ASU coach Greg Powers.
“The best solution to putting the puck in the net is putting (the puck) on net, right?” he said. “No shot is a bad shot, any coach will tell you that, and we just wanted to get pucks on net and it worked out.”
West Chester struggled to keep up all night as the Sun Devils skated circles around the defense in the attacking zone, with ASU always seeming to be a step ahead.
“In (West Chester’s) defense, there’s not many teams in this league that are at our talent level,” Powers said. “But anything can happen, so we’re going to go back and treat tomorrow like today never happened. In my opinion, that team is probably not too much off of (No. 20 Niagara), but when teams don’t get really good goaltending against us, they’re going to struggle.”
ASU led almost the entire way, scoring the opening goal just 17 seconds into the game off of a wrist shot from junior forward Ryan Belonger. Then the team scored again. And again. And again. About halfway through the first period, the Sun Devils led 3-0.
After going on the power play for the first time, ASU took no time to get on the board again. This time it was junior forward Chris Blessing who knocked in the rebound, giving the Sun Devils their first successful power play of the season.
ASU continued their success on the power play in the game, converting on their first four such opportunities, and six of eight overall.
After wrapping up the first period with a couple goals on the power play from sophomore forward Sean Murphy and Belonger, ASU jumped on another opportunity, with sophomore forward Tommy Cooney going end to end to put the Sun Devils up 7-0 early in the second.
Before the second period was over ASU hit the back of the net two more times, with Murphy and Blessing each finding the back of the net for the second time of the game.
ASU coasted towards the end, piling on even more goals after finishes from Rivard, freshman defenseman Gianni Mangone, two from freshman forward Mak Barden, and sophomore forward Mike Cummings to reach the final total of a whopping 14-0.
Sophomore goaltender Lucas Felbel impressed despite limited action in his first start of the season for ASU, picking up 14 saves and the shutout. Felbel started in the place of Robert Levin, who gave up three goals in each of his first two games.
“It was pretty easy (getting the shutout) today,” Felbel said. “My teammates made it really easy for me. It was about getting to shots on the side, limiting second chances, and they made it really easy for me.”
The defense played well in picking up their first shutout of the season, an improvement from where Powers saw the team last week against Niagara.
“Good defense starts in every zone,” Powers said. “Doing the right things, the little things, all right, and we really, really worked on details this week. I don’t think it was much of anything but we just played really well (on defense). The guys wanted to prove a point and they did.”
The offense spread the wealth around, with six players (Belonger, Cooney, Rivard, Blessing, Murphy and Barden) picking up two goals each. They also added two other goals on a slap shot from Mangone and a shorthanded goal by Cummings.
Three Stars (as voted on by the media):
First Star: Chris Blessing (Two goals, assist)
Second Star: Lucas Felbel (0 GA, 14 saves)
Third Star: Gianni Mangone (One goal, two assists)
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @fardaya15
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepressport on Twitter.
