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No. 12 ASU hockey drops series versus Minnesota

The Sun Devils must wait to see if they will play in the NCAA tournament

ASU LOSS.jpg

ASU freshman forward Jordan Sandhu (19) handles the puck in ASU’s 5-4 overtime victory over American International in Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2019.


The No. 12 ASU hockey team dropped back-to-back games to Minnesota over the weekend. The Sun Devils were defeated convincingly both times, losing 5-1 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday.

The Sun Devils committed ten penalties in Friday's matchup, with seven of them coming in the third period. The Golden Gophers took advantage of the penalties, scoring twice on power plays.

ASU's lone goal on Friday came from senior forward Jake Clifford, which was assisted by sophomore forward Dominic Garcia. The goal was Clifford's third of the season.

Junior goalie Joey Daccord recorded 37 saves in the loss. 

Saturday's matchup saw more of the same, just to a lesser degree. ASU committed five penalties in the game. However, Minnesota did not capitalize on any of the power plays they received.

It was a first period onslaught from the Golden Gophers that put the Sun Devils on their heels. Jack Ramsey, Darian Romanko and Sampo Ranta all scored in the first period for Minnesota.

Garcia and junior forward Brett Gruber scored for the Sun Devils. It was Garcia's second goal of the season and Gruber's seventh.

In the second period, sophomore defenseman Jacob Wilson checked Ranta high toward the head, sending Ranta to the ice. Wilson was ejected for the hit. 

Daccord finished the game with 26 saves. He ended the year with seven shutouts and will hold a share of the most shutouts by a goalie this season

Even with losing the sweep, ASU still remains No. 8 in the Pairwise rankings, meaning they will fall between a two seed or a three seed in the NCAA tournament.

The tournament selection show will be shown on Sunday, March 24 on ESPNU.


Reach the reporter at jhorst2@asu.edu and follow @HorseySeven on Twitter.

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Jeffrey HorstDigital editor-in-chief

Jeffrey Horst is the digital editor-in-chief of The State Press. He previously served as the publication's sports editor and worked at Cronkite News and ArizonaSports.com.


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