Through chaos on Friday and disappointment on Saturday, ASU hockey left a weekend series against Colorado College with a mixed bag of emotions.
A stressful 3-3 tie, followed by a shootout victory in the first game of the series, led to a 3-1 loss for the Sun Devils in the second game of the weekend.
ASU took a 3-5 record going into the series, with a 1-1 conference record after opening NCHC play last weekend by splitting a series against Miami of Ohio.
As the game started, Colorado College had no issue in the opening period of the weekend. Junior forward Drew Montgomery and sophomore forward Owen Beckner scored 50 seconds apart to give Colorado College a 2-0 lead early on.
Later in the first, the Tigers found the goal again. After freshman defenseman Lincoln Kuehne was sent to the penalty box for tripping, sophomore forward Gavin Lindberg capitalized on the power play to give Colorado College a 3-0 lead.
However, the Sun Devils pulled some momentum back in the second period. After a start to the period where ASU seemed to find a groove, freshman forward Jack Beck scored a power-play goal with a little over six minutes left in the period.
That goal marked Beck's second goal for ASU and his first at home. Beck was forced to sit out the first six games due to NCAA delayed enrollment rules, making his debut last weekend in the series in Oxford, Ohio.
The Sun Devils found even more momentum just over three minutes later, when senior forward Cruz Lucius scored his eighth goal of the season to cut the deficit down to 3-2.
After a rough start to the game, head coach Greg Powers was pleased with how his team responded to their opposing team's adversity.
"I'm so proud of how they collectively snapped out of it going into that second period," Powers said. "We got two power play goals there, but it was because we were out working, we were winning races, we were winning battles. We started moving our feet, started getting pucks in behind them and playing the way we need to play to have success."
In the third, ASU had momentum the entire period but struggled to find the goal.
Until senior forward Bennett Schimek stepped in.
With a little over one minute left in the game and the Sun Devils' goalie pulled, Schimek tapped in a rebound to tie it up and send the game to overtime.
In overtime, both teams had every chance to take it, but last-ditch defending and goaltending kept the game at a stalemate, forcing a shootout.
While the NCAA recognizes games that go to shootouts as ties, both teams were fighting for an extra point in conference play.
As the tiebreaker started, the Sun Devils had all the momentum and rode it to a shootout victory.
Beck and Lucius, who both scored in regulation, were picked to take the first two shots. They both scored. On the other end of the ice, freshman goalie Sam Urban saved shots from junior forward Bret Link and freshman forward Wilson Bjorck to win the shootout 2-0.
With ASU taking a shootout victory leading into the second game of the series, Beck was happy to finally be settled in.
"It's definitely nice to finally get in a groove and feel like I'm getting really good chemistry with (Cullen Potter) and (Johnny Waldron)," Beck said. "After sitting out the first six ... it's nice to be with those two and gain chemistry every week."
After a chaotic game that ended on a positive note for ASU, the message from Powers ahead of the second game was simple.
"Tonight, we took a huge step from a mental fortitude standpoint to get back in that game, and I'm really proud of them," Powers said. "We have to continue to ride the momentum tomorrow."
As gates opened for Saturday's game, seats filled at Mullett Arena with a crowd eager to see a second Sun Devil success.
The first period on Saturday was a different story from Friday's. Goalie play that saw both teams make 12 saves sent the game deadlocked into the first intermission.
Early in the second period, ASU killed a penalty, but followed it up by committing another foul. Off the back of the second power play, freshman forward Tomas Mrsic opened the scoring to put the Tigers up 1-0.
Just over a minute after its first, Colorado College found the net again. This time, off the stick of sophomore defenseman Fisher Scott, who gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
After Colorado College pulled some momentum, ASU found a way to get back into the game. The Sun Devils were knocking on the door near the end of the second period before Beck found the net with 25 seconds remaining.
In the third period, ASU continued the theme of struggling to finish chances. Despite putting up 13 shots — the most that the Sun Devils attempted out of any period on the night – ASU didn't find the net.
Lindberg then knocked home an empty-netter to take game two with a 3-1 score.
After taking a loss that moved the Sun Devils to a 3-6-1 record, ASU now looks ahead to a matchup against No. 8 North Dakota. Sophomore forward Cullen Potter had some ideas on how to reset and look ahead to the important matchup.
"Focus on the positives we did and learn from the negatives," Potter said. "Just be more confident as a team together. I think sometimes we miss some passes, or don't put it right tape on tape, so I think those are big things we can focus on."
Edited by Alan Deutschendorf, George Headley and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at aswift10@asu.edu and follow @alexswiftsports on X.
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