ASU men's hockey coach Greg Powers feared this potential moment, but after what he described as a successful week of practice following a holiday break for the players, he didn’t expect Friday's Desert Hockey Classic to play out in such fashion.
After the Sun Devils lost 3-0 to Clarkson inside Gila River Arena, Powers reflected back to his fear that his players would lose focus. With previous shutout losses at home to then-No. 1 Ohio State and on the road against Nebraska Omaha, this loss marks the third time the Sun Devils failed to score this season.
“It is simple,” Powers said. “Our guys just weren’t ready to play.”
No. 15 ASU (14-7) lost momentum early when junior forward Steenn Pasichnuk and redshirt senior forward Dylan Hollman were called for hooking penalties.
With those penalties, opportunities arose for No. 19 Clarkson (10-6), and they capitalized quickly as freshman forward Josh Dunne scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal with 15:07 left in the first period.
Then, less than a minute later, Clarkson went up 2-0 after junior forward Devin Brosseau netted a 5-on-4 power-play goal to seemingly stun the Sun Devils, which echoed how it finished.
“We were just playing an uphill battle, and we couldn’t climb out of it,” Powers said. “It was one of those games. We just didn’t show up, but they also outworked us. (Clarkson) deserved to win that game. If the two teams play like that tonight 100 times, we are going to lose 100 times out of 100.”
Although he said he knows a goal could change the landscape for the game, as he coached from the bench, Powers said this felt like a game where the Sun Devils just weren’t going to find the net, especially when ASU several chances on power plays.
Powers said his team wasn’t sharp, specifically mentioning that freshman forward Demetrios Koumontzis passed up solid looks and sophomore forward Johnny Walker, who has 17 goals this season, held the puck too long.
Each Clarkson goal came on a power play as senior defenseman Aaron Thow scored on a 4-on-3 power play less than a minute into the final period. ASU junior goaltender Joey Daccord was tested early, late and often.
ASU plays No. 3 Minnesota State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in a consolation game.
“I told the guys if we show up mentality unprepared like we did today, it is going to be worse tomorrow,” Powers said. “We have to play our style of hockey. We had no juice tonight. … we have to find way to bounce back tomorrow and play our game, and we will be fine. If we do, we can beat anybody.”
Reach the reporter at nahiatt@asu.edu or follow @NATE_HIATT on Twitter.
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