After ASU hockey took its largest defeat of the season against No. 3 Denver, they pulled together an upset victory to split the series.
Hours before the series started, news broke that ASU head coach Greg Powers signed a five-year contract extension, creating a buzz in Tempe ahead of an important few games.
READ MORE: BREAKING: ASU Hockey head coach Greg Powers inks five-year extension
Going into the weekend, 4-7-1 ASU was off the back of an upset victory at No. 6 North Dakota on Nov. 15, while No. 3 Denver carried an 8-3-1 record.
Denver wasted no time getting on the board Friday night, as junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp put one home about three and a half minutes into the game to give the Pioneers a lead.
Just a few minutes after the Pioneers scored their third goal, they scored another, Pohlkamp's second of the game, making it 4-0. After giving up four goals, Powers decided to pull starting goaltender freshman Samuel Urban and put in senior Connor Hasley.
After scoring a goal in the second period, ASU failed to maintain its momentum into the third, losing 7-1.
That score set the mark for ASU's largest defeat alongside the most goals it had given up in the season.
After the defeat, Powers did not mince his words.
"People are going to look at the score, and the score sucks," Powers said. "The score is embarrassing, and I hope it pisses our guys off, and we come back a lot harder tomorrow."
As fans piled back in for Saturday's game, the Sun Devils were looking to reset after a rough loss.
After the puck dropped, ASU looked anew.
The Sun Devils started strong with a two-goal first period, with freshman forwards Carmelo Crandell and Jack Beck scoring to send the game into the first intermission with a 2-0 score.
Co-captain and junior forward Kyle Smolen was blunt about the mindset the Sun Devils had to open the game.
"What was there to lose at this point?" Smolen said. "No one's coming to save us. At the end of the day, it's on us to figure out how are we going to dig ourselves out of this hole?"
However, Denver pulled back some momentum in the second period. Junior forward Sam Harris shot one past Hasley to cut the ASU lead in half and set the score to 2-1 before the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Despite giving up a goal, Hasley made 19 saves in the second period. Denver also had three power plays that it failed to capitalize on. Powers credited his goaltender for the success of the penalty kill.
"The kill was good as it gets," Powers said. "(Hasley) was really big, you need your goalie to be your best penalty killer, and he was."
Denver continued to roll into the third period, where Harris scored his second goal of the night to tie the game at 2-2.
However, great goaltender play from Hasley continued to the end of the period, sending the game into overtime.
Overtime was a nervous affair for all involved, with Hasley making five important saves before sophomore forward Cullen Potter scored the game-winner with 20 seconds left to secure an upset victory for ASU.
That goal marked Potter's third of the season and second in his last three games. After winning it for the Sun Devils, he felt relieved.
"It's always good to score," Potter said. "To get that big win for us, it's huge. It's always good on a Saturday night."
After defeating the No. 3 team in the country, Powers was very proud of the way his team responded to the defeat the night before.
"When that happens, you have to, obviously, peel it back, and it's so cliché now, but focus on what part of the process … worked," Powers said. "Tonight was easily our best 60-minute effort of the season."
After pulling off upsets on back-to-back Saturdays, ASU, now 5-8-1, looks ahead to another series at home next weekend, taking on Ohio State on Nov. 28 and 29.
Edited by Jack McCarthy, Henry Smardo and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at aswift10@asu.edu and follow @alexswiftsports on X.
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