Defender Connor Schmidt looks for an open teammate at a home game against UA. ASU beat UA 4-1 on Oct. 10, 2014. (Photo by Mario Mendez)Revenge was served ice cold to the No. 18 UA Wildcats Friday night, as the ASU hockey team picked them apart on their way to a 4-1 Cactus Cup victory from Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.
No. 1 ASU came into the game looking to avenge their “Senior Night” loss last season that gave the Sun Devils their first loss in the Cactus Cup series (39-1 overall) under coach Greg Powers, and one of just two losses that the Sun Devils (7-0) would have all year.
The Cactus Cup was physical from the start, as just over three minutes into the game a brawl broke out between both sides, continuing for minutes after the referees initially tried breaking things up. After things finally cleared up, each side sent two men into the penalty box.
The physical play would continue throughout, as later on in the period sophomore forward Eric Rivard retaliated to a hit near the UA goal, getting called for interference on the play.
Powers did not mind the physical play, passing it of as just a traditional element of the ASU-UA rivalry.
“(Physical play) is going to happen every game we play (UA),” he said. “They have to play that way, and every team we play honestly has to play that way. They can’t match our skill, they can’t match our depth, they can’t match our speed, so they have to try and mess up the flow of the game a little bit.”
ASU battled through the tough play, and eventually found success midway through the first period, as sophomore defenseman Alex Temby combined with sophomore forward Sean Murphy to find sophomore defenseman Drew Newmeyer for his first goal of the season.
As has been the case for much of the season, the Sun Devils came right back with another goal, striking again two minutes later after sophomore Mike Cummings stole the puck along the blue line and fired a wrist shot past goalie Garrett Patrick with 9:33 left in the first to put ASU up 2-0.
ASU scored again early in the second period, as the Sun Devils rotated the puck around from freshman forward Connor Mailey to senior forward Liam Norris, whose shot rebounded right to junior forward Ryan Belonger to knock it in and give ASU the 3-0 lead.
Belonger, who finished with a goal and an assist for the game, impressed in his first ever test against the Wildcats (2-2) .
“Obviously (the rivalry) is new to me but I’m not new to rivalry games in general,” Belonger said. “I know it’s always amped up a little bit, and it felt good to get the first one out of the way. It’s time to pump it up a bit more because we have a lot more to prove against (UA) for sure.”
UA forced their way back into the game just minutes later, converting on another Rivard penalty after Wildcats forward Alex O’dea slapped in the power play goal with 11:23 remaining in the period.
The Sun Devil attack broke through again early in the third period with a thing of beauty, as Belonger found Mailey on the wing, whose shot ran across goal and found the stick of Norris, who finished it to put ASU up 4-1 with 11:17 remaining.
Video by Fabian Ardaya | Sports reporter
Despite the win, there were some major flaws in the game for ASU, from the lack of flow to the game to the poor performance on special teams. After scoring off of the power play in each of their last four games, the Sun Devils went 0-5 in such situations on Friday and even let in a power play goal.
“(The special teams) was bad,” Powers said. “It was bad all the way around. We switched up units, maybe that was a bad idea. But, with (Jordan Young) back, I mean he runs the best power play in our league. He was rusty tonight, but that was to be expected.”
Powers was also frustrated with the overall effort of his team, believing his team was outworked despite the victory.
“(UA) works hard,” he said. “They’re not a skilled team, but from the standpoint of watching 60 minutes of hockey, (UA) outworked us. There’s no doubt about that.”
He also toyed around with the lineup yet again, and despite decent results was disappointed with the lines he put on the ice.
“We’ll figure it out,” Powers said. “We have a lot of interchangeable parts, but we still have a ways to go. This is a young team, and we’re not playing anywhere near close to our best hockey, but we’re 7-0 with five wins against top 20 teams.”
Additional notes:
- Friday’s win pushed sophomore goalie Robert Levin’s record to 6-0 on the season after he allowed just one goal and had 19 saves. UA’s Patrick finished with 29 saves off of 33 ASU shots.
- This was the first game back for junior defenseman Jordan Young, who missed the first six games of the season after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Despite solid all-around play Friday, Young said his recovery is still a work in progress.
“I think (my recovery is) a process,” Young said. “It was the first time with real game speed, and I think it’s just a matter of the mental stuff and getting all the small things to click. It’s coming with every period, so I think I should be right on track pretty soon.”
THREE STARS
FIRST: Ryan Belonger (One goal, one assist)
SECOND: Robert Levin (1 GA, 19 saves)
THIRD: Connor Mailey (two assists)
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @fardaya15
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