Captain Colin Hekle checks a Liberty player, breaking the opposition's stick in half at a home game on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. (Photo by Mario Mendez)Defending champion or not, any team in the super-competitive ACHA is beatable.
No. 3 Central Oklahoma proved that last Thursday, beating No. 1 ASU (10-1) 7-4 and knocking off the defending national champions.
The Sun Devils were exposed in the loss as the Bronchos rang up a season-high seven goals and exploited a lack of discipline from ASU. Coach Greg Powers said the loss was something to expect from his young team on the road, and what mattered was how it responded.
"(Against Central Oklahoma), we just didn't get the goaltending we are accustomed to and being a young team on the road weren't able to pull it together," he said. "(Central Oklahoma) is a good team, but giving up some really questionable early goals was the root cause of the loss. That compiled into more mistakes, which great teams can't let happen."
As the game began to slip away, so did the composure of the team. There were multiple shoving matches on both ends during the final minutes of the loss, and five total players were ejected during the final period, including three ASU players.
ASU's response, however, was its best of the season so far in the eyes of Powers.
"We took a big step back against (Central Oklahoma) but then took a few forward against Oklahoma," he said. "The 3-2 win Saturday (vs. No. 5 Oklahoma) was by far our best game of the season. We feel like the score didn't indicate how much we dominated that game due to some great goaltending by Oklahoma."
Powers rallied his team after the loss, setting up huge wins for ASU as it won 5-2 and 3-2 against No. 5 Oklahoma on consecutive nights to close out the weekend.
"(After the loss to Central Oklahoma) I told them we weren't going undefeated and we can't win national championships in October," Powers said. "All we could do is use the loss as proof we are beatable and can't get outworked by opponents. Our guys really responded the next two games by playing our best of the season. That said, we still haven't even come close to reaching our potential but when we do, it will be fun to watch."
Now on the schedule for ASU is No. 9 Liberty (6-2-3), who have fallen on tough times despite a talented roster. They have lost four of their last five games, including two shootout losses, playing teams such as UA, Minot State, and Davenport University.
"Liberty is a very good team and has some high-end talent," Powers said. "Just like everyone we play, we'll get their very best so we'll need to bring ours to get a win."
The Flames are led by freshman forward Luke Hannon, whose 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) lead the ACHA and who is coming off a staggering five-goal game against Davenport in Liberty's 6-3 win on Saturday. Despite the overall goal-scoring ability Liberty possesses, Powers said he was determined to make the Flames adjust to ASU and not the other way around.
"I have seen a ton of film on Liberty and (Luke) Hannon is a special player for sure," Powers said. "We'll need to be aware when he is on the ice as well as a few other guys they have, but just like for every other opponent we won't change our game, they'll have to adjust to us."
ASU will also get a chance to pick up some rest this weekend, as the team plays just one game after playing its first three-game set last week.
ASU's first loss of the season last week was not factored into the most recent ACHA national rankings, which had them at No. 1. The new rankings will not be released until Friday morning, which is after ASU's next game.
The No. 1 ASU hockey team hosts No. 9 Liberty on Thursday at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. Puck drop is expected to be at 8 p.m. Arizona time.
Injury report:
— Sophomore forwards Patrick Yudez and Ryan Ostertag are both out for this week's game against No. 9 Liberty, Powers said. Yudez has not played since ASU's record-breaking 14-0 win over West Chester with an ankle injury. Ostertag has been out since the opening series against No. 20 Niagara with an undisclosed injury.
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @fardaya15
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Correction: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story's headline had an incorrect ranking. It's been updated to reflect that Liberty is No. 9.
