ASU hockey falls short in last ACHA semifinals, eliminated by Stony Brook

ASU hockey's Jordan Young skates against Colorado on March 6, 2015, in Strongsville, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of Nicole Vasquez)

ASU hockey's Jordan Young skates against Colorado on March 6, 2015, in Strongsville, Ohio. The Sun Devils won the game, but were eliminated in the semifinals. (Photo courtesy of Nicole Vasquez)

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – The road to Cleveland has ended, and shorter than ASU hockey had hoped.

It was clear from the start of the game that this would be the most difficult game for ASU thus far. Stony Brook kept the puck in their offensive zone much more and as a result sophomore goalie Lucas Felbel had more shots on net. Felbel proved in the past two games that he is reliable in the net and remained just as strong tonight only letting two goals in.

"He (Felbel) did what he had to do, he held them at two goals," ASU coach Greg Powers said. "We just didn't put any pucks in the net. Lucas did his job."

The first two periods were uneventful with only two coincidental penalties and no goals. For the first time in the tournament, ASU went into the first period without a goal, and then the second too.

This semifinal game was all about the third period, in fact it was almost a 20 minute hockey game that started with a bang.

Less than five minutes into the final period of a scoreless game, Stony Brook sophomore forward Joseph Bochichio scored the first goal of the night, which meant ASU trailed for the first time in the entire tournament. ASU went down by two just seconds later as Stony Brook scored another.

ASU's fan section fell silent.

The Sun Devils had to do something fast or their chance for a repeat was over.

It was a long five minutes before freshman defenseman Edward McGovern put ASU on the board with his first goal all week, off the assists from sophomore David Norris and senior Liam Norris. McGovern, along with others, had some additional scoring chances but nothing was going in.

There was hope late in the third as Stony Brook was sent to the box for tripping and ASU pulled Felbel to throw an extra man out on the ice. There was one minute of 6-on-4 hockey in ASU's offensive zone, some scoring chances, but nothing went in.

In its third consecutive and last trip to the ACHA semifinals, No. 1 ASU was upset by No. 5 Stony Brook 2-1 and its final ACHA season came to an end.

"It's hard. I mean you want to leave out on top," Powers said. "We played like a team with two seniors on it and they played like a team with 11. They were the better team today."

This was the last time that exact group of guys would be in a locker room together and the last time senior forwards Faiz Khan and Liam Norris would be in the locker room as players.

"What Liam and Faiz have meant to our program can't be measured," Powers said. "Today certainly as far a Liam goes, he's going to be upset about the game and being on the ice for those two goals but he's been one of the all-time greats, he always will be."

The road to Cleveland may have ended shorter than the Sun Devils had hoped but they do have the NCAA Division I hybrid season to look forward to, but it's too soon for that.

Stony Brook will advance to its first ever ACHA finals Tuesday night and will play the winner of Central Oklahoma and Minot State.

"I'm proud of our team, we went through a full season and post season 35-4-1," Powers said. "And right now it hurts, it's going to hurt for a while but I'm proud of them. We are a young team that's good enough to win it and it just didn't happen."

Three Stars