Senior forward Liam Norris skates with the puck in a game against Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Wildcats 7-2. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)No. 1 ASU hockey (30-3-1) defeated No. 18 Colorado (11-13-2) in its first game in Boulder on Saturday.
After a couple games off, ASU sophomore goalie Robert Levin was back in the net. He seemed a little rusty at first, letting in more goals than he averages, but warmed up later in the game. This season, rusty for Levin means letting any goals in after his numerous shutouts.
The first period started with the Sun Devils being the more aggressive team right from the start. They controlled the puck more and dominated almost every face off.
ASU was unable to get on the board first again tonight when Colorado forward Jake Bauer took the first goal of the night off the assists from defenseman Johnny Dora and forward Matt Anders.
The Buffaloes took the lead early but the Sun Devils made sure they didn’t hold it for long. Fourteen seconds, that’s how long it took for ASU to respond and tie up the game 1-1. Sophomore forward Patrick Yudez took his first goal of the night off the strong assists from junior forwards Kory Chisholm and Coda Engbar.
The second period was very similar to the first. But ASU had the first goal of the period with a slap shot from freshman defenseman Gianni Mangone off the assists from sophomore forward Tommy Cooney and sophomore defenseman Drew Newmeyer. With that goal, the Sun Devils took the 2-1 lead in the first seven minutes of the period.
Again, it did not take long before the other team to respond. Less than one minute later, this was a tie game again with a goal from Colorado defenseman Mick Bruce off the assist from Anders.
ASU had numerous scoring opportunities but Colorado goalie Alex Palumbo did not let anything else in the net during that middle period. Even when Cooney and senior forward Faiz Khan went one-on-one with Palumbo and nothing went in.
This was the cleanest a game can get with not one penalty. There were some hard hits throughout, but no called penalties.
The third period started off slow and ASU got the first goal from sophomore forward Eric Rivard unassisted, his 21st goal of the season after his hat trick last night against Colorado State.
The Sun Devils took control of the game late in the final period making it nearly impossible for Colorado to score. They took the 4-2 lead with a goal from freshman forward Mak Barden off the assists from Cooney and sophomore defenseman Alex Temby.
That was the last goal of the night as the Sun Devils defeated the Buffaloes 4-2.
ASU and Colorado will battle it out Saturday in Boulder at 7:30 p.m.
Three Stars
Alex Palumbo, Colorado (4 GAA, 28 saves, 87.5%)
Robert Levin, ASU (2 GAA, 15 saves, 88.2%)
Tommy Cooney, ASU (two assists)
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewenson Twitter.
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