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Last minute goal forces tie in men's hockey game between ASU and DU

The Sun Devils tied 2-2 against the No. 4 team in the nation on Saturday

_20191005 Hockey vs Mercyhurst edits 0008.JPG

Sophomore forward Demetrios Koumontzis (23) and Mercyhurst freshman forward Justin Cmunt (9) compete for possession on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019, at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Arizona. The Lakers defeated the Sun Devils 3-2.


After a 4-1 upset victory Friday night at Oceanside Ice Arena, No. 20 ASU was unable to come out of the weekend with the sweep against the No. 4 Denver Pioneers at Gila River Arena in Glendale on Saturday, tying 2-2.

A goal scored by DU’s Cole Guttman with 40.8 seconds left in the game notched the score at two apiece to send the game to overtime. But, after a scoreless overtime period, the game resulted in a tie.

“It stings right now a little bit more than it probably should with the nature of how they outplayed us,” coach Greg Powers said. “We were 40 seconds away from sweeping them.”

Although ASU left the ice in Glendale without a victory, Powers said they need to remain optimistic.

“The takeaway is that it’s got to be positive,” he said. “We won a series against arguably the best team in the country. That team was really good, they outplayed us tonight, they were the better team tonight, but (sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer) held us in it.”

DeBrouwer, who made his 12th consecutive start in the tie, made several key saves during the game to keep ASU on top.

“(The) team battled really hard,” DeBrouwer said of the performance. “Obviously, they’re a really good team, they wanted it tonight. I think they didn’t want to go home being swept so they showed up really strong at the start of the game. They put up a good fight … It’s unfortunate they couldn’t pull it out at the end.”

DeBrouwer made 44 saves on 46 shots in the game, 14 of which came in the third period. He has a .930 save percentage in 13 appearances on the season.

“I was seeing (the puck) really well,” DeBrouwer said. “A lot of times when you play a busy game, you just see the puck a lot more, a lot of action keeps your mind focused on the game, so I was seeing it well tonight.”

Following a scoreless opening frame, Sun Devils’ forward PJ Marrocco opened the scoring 7:56 into the second period on a rebound chance after a shot from senior captain Brinson Pasichnuk.

The Pioneers were able to find the scoresheet a few minutes later on a successful tic-tac-toe setup play in front of the net. Guttman was on the receiving end of a pass from winger Liam Finlay while on a 5-on-3 man advantage to tie the game midway through the second.

Sun Devil junior forward James Sanchez, the team’s point leader, slipped the puck home through the five-hole of DU goaltender Devin Cooley to put ASU back on top 2-1.

Despite the offensive success in the second period, ASU’s power-play continued to struggle, as the Sun Devils went 0-4 while on the man advantage.

“I thought we had a couple really good (opportunities) and their kill is really good, it’s very aggressive, it’s fast,” Powers said. “I thought there were a couple in the second there that we were moving it around pretty well, we just couldn’t pop one.”

For Powers, the series win over a top-five team was a large step for the future of the program going forward.

“In our last ten games we are 7-1-2…we have two top-ten teams that have come to Arizona and we swept one and won the series against another,” Powers said. “This is a monumental step for our program to prove that we can play with anybody.”

Following the tie, the Sun Devils (8-4-2) will travel to East Lansing, Michigan to play the Michigan State Spartans (7-7-1, 5-3-1 Big 10) next weekend.


Reach the reporter at aklatsky@asu.edu and follow @averyklatsky on Twitter. 

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