Overtime needed, but No. 1 ASU hockey tops No. 4 Liberty 3-2
The last time No. 1 ASU and No. 4 Liberty met last season, it took a shootout to decide the winner.
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The last time No. 1 ASU and No. 4 Liberty met last season, it took a shootout to decide the winner.
No. 1 ASU hockey’s last three games have been against the No. 11 team in the nation, then two against the No. 5 team.
There are 12 metropolitan areas that have a team in the four major sports leagues: the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.Let’s say that each of these cities has a year in which all their teams won a championship. For which team would each city be most happy?
No. 1 ASU came into Friday’s game against No. 5 Oklahoma undefeated, and left with its first loss of the season. But how did Goliath fall?
Video by Justin Emerson
The last time the No. 1 ASU hockey team lost was in last season's ACHA Final Four. Ten months and 24 games later, the Sun Devils (24-1-0) fell to No. 5 Oklahoma, 3-1.
The University of Central Oklahoma always seems to play the No. 1 ASU hockey team close. ASU is 2-0 vs. the No. 11 Bronchos (18-8-3), winning by scores of 4-2 and 4-1 in the first meetings this season in Oklahoma.
ASU was left to hunt for a new athletic director when Steve Patterson left for the same position at the University of Texas at Austin. It was also left a chance for philosophical change.
As the adage goes, old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.
No. 1 ASU hockey won the first two matchups against No. 13 UA earlier this season, making it 34 straight meetings in which ASU has won, dating back to 2009. No current Sun Devil player has ever lost to the Wildcats. ASU (21-0-0) has also won 21 in a row to begin this season, the best start in program history. Friday and Saturday feature the best chance for the Wildcats (10-10-0) to end both of ASU’s streaks as the Sun Devils will travel to Tucson short eight players. “We are definitely going down and facing some pretty adverse environments and situations,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. Senior forwards Danny McAuliffe and Brian McGinty, sophomore defenseman Jordan Young, freshman defenseman Alex Temby and freshman forward Sean Murphy were selected to the US Men’s National University team and will compete in Italy on Sunday. None will make the trip to Tucson. In addition to the players in Italy, senior captain Colin Hekle, sophomore forward Kory Chisholm and freshman forward Patrick Yudez will all be scratched over the weekend with undisclosed injuries. Powers said he looks forward to seeing some players who typically don’t get much ice time. “Sometimes creating adversity for a team that hasn’t had to face too much of it is a good thing,” Powers said. “I’m just very excited to see these guys get the opportunity, and I have the utmost confidence that they’ll perform.” Part of Powers’ confidence comes from the fact that the Sun Devils still have senior forward Kale Dolinski. He has been lighting up the scoresheet, leading the nation in assists (29) and is second in points (40). His 11 goals are tied with Murphy and McGinty for third on the team behind McAuliffe (12) and Hekle (15).It hasn’t mattered all season who ASU throws between the pipes, because freshman goalie Robert Levin and senior Joe D’Elia have both been unbreakable. Levin and D’Elia are No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation in goals allowed average (0.93 and 1.11, respectively), and Levin leads the nation in save percentage (.960), while D’Elia is fourth (.950). Levin is tied for the league lead with four shutouts. The Wildcats, going against a weakened ASU roster, will counter with a full team, including senior forward Andrew Murmes. In November, Murmes had a five-game streak in which he scored at least a goal and an assist in every game. Murmes has 30 points on the season: 15 goals and 15 assists. Other than Murmes, no Wildcat has even 10 goals, though junior defenseman Shane Gleason has a team-high 17 assists. In net, ASU saw freshman goaltender Dylan Hojnacki back in October. Hojnacki struggled and has only played in one game since the teams last met in Tempe. The Sun Devils will most likely face senior Steven Sisler or freshman Garrett Patrick, both of whom are having a good season. Patrick leads the team in goals allowed average (2.57) and save percentage (.910).Puck drops Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Tucson Convention Center.Additional Notes – Hockey is not included in the Territorial Cup Series, and instead plays for the Cactus Cup. It is awarded to the school that wins a majority of the eight games the schools play against each other per season. ASU currently leads 2-0. An ASU sweep in Tucson would guarantee at least a tie in the Cactus Cup.– UA coach Sean Hogan will also be in Italy on Sunday serving as an assistant coach for Team USA.Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
Baseball was nuts on Tuesday.
Early in November, it was announced that five ASU hockey players were selected to the U.S. Men’s National University team. On Sunday, they will compete in Italy, leaving their team back in Tempe short-handed.
No. 1 ASU hockey (21-0-0) didn’t score much Tuesday night, but three goals were enough to beat No. 4 Iowa State 3-0.ASU coach Greg Powers said he was pleased with the win, but wished he could have seen more scoring in the game against the Cyclones (16-5-1). “We started out well, we were playing simple hockey, we were throwing pucks on net, we were going on net and then we got away from it,” Powers said. At the end of the day, a 5-1 (on Monday) and 3-0 win against a good team, we’ll take it all day.” Two freshmen defensemen started the scoring for the Sun Devils (21-0-0), netting the puck less than a minute apart from each other starting with Drew Newmeyer. He chased a loose puck back to the blue line then flung it at the net. It found its way through all the traffic in front of the goal and whizzed past ISU junior goalie Matt Cooper. Not to be outdone by his fellow freshman defenseman, Jarrod Levos took a pass from junior forward Liam Norris, wound up, slapped and scored a one-timer a mere 30 seconds after Newmeyer’s goal to give ASU a 2-0 lead. Following Monday’s game, Powers said soon people will see just how good freshman forward Ryan Ostertag is. As if Ostertag's performance on Monday wasn’t enough, his goal at the end of the first period might be. He found the puck, and unleashed a wicked wrister that Cooper never even saw. The second period came and went similar to Monday night with not much action. The teams combined for only 12 shots, and neither scored a goal. ASU had the best opportunity in the period on a two-on-one break with sophomore forward Chris Blessing and freshman forward Zack Holstrom. Blessing lured the ISU goaltender, junior Scott Ismond who replaced his teammate Cooper at the beginning of the second, away from the net and dished to Holstrom, who missed wide. ASU would not score again. The best chance for the Cyclones came with just over three minutes left in tthe third period. ASU was set to face almost two full minutes of a 5-on-3 penalty kill, and freshman goalie Robert levin stopped every shot. “The guys did a good job of keeping guys to the outside and letting me see pucks,” Levin said. “One hit the post, but beyond that, they didn’t really get any good chances.” It was Levin’s fourth shutout of the season, tied for tops in the ACHA. ASU has the weekend off before heading down to Tucson for a Cactus Cup clash with No. 12 UA Dec. 6-7.Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
The State Press caught up with Shane Dale, the author of "Territorial: The History of the Duel in the Desert," and talked with him about the Territorial Cup game on Saturday. He gave his keys to the game and even picked a winner. The State Press: ASU just clinched the Pac-12 South. UA just had the huge upset against Oregon. For which school does this game mean more? Shane Dale: For bowl purposes, obviously it's got to be the Devils. ASU's only Pac-12 loss was in a beating at Stanford. I'm sure ASU doesn't want to go back there for the Pac-12 Championship game, and I'm sure the Wildcats are licking their chops at the opportunity to (send them back). UA certainly has a chance to go to a bigger bowl game after its upset over the Ducks, but at most, that will probably mean the Las Vegas Bowl — not exactly what RichRod came to Tucson for, at least not in the long run. SP: ASU coach Todd Graham said last year's game has no effect on this year's. Do you agree with that? SD: From what I know about Coach Graham, I respect him a ton both on a personal and professional level — but I think he's 100 percent wrong there. In so many of the player interviews I did for the book (including Brandon Magee and Cameron Marshall), they would talk about getting payback for last year's loss as a motivational factor. The Duel in the Desert is a season within itself, and memories of each game run deep. You better believe UA's seniors are telling the newcomers such as Nate Phillips and Scooby Wright about returning the favor for the Wildcats' home loss last season. SP: UA coach Rich Rodriguez said he doesn't care that this game could clinch home-field for ASU in the Pac-12 title game. Do you believe him or do you think he wants to play spoiler? SD: He may not care about it on that level, because I'm sure that what ASU does or doesn't do outside of the UA game doesn't matter much to him. I think he takes the same approach to this game as he does to each one: He simply wants his team to outclass its opponent on that particular day. With that said, I'm sure he also understands that winning this game is important for in-state recruiting purposes. Losing your first two games to ASU isn't a good way to get that going. SP: The last four winners of this game have been the road team. Is there such thing as home-field advantage in this rivalry? SD: Nope. The road team has also won 13 of the last 21 games. Most of the players and coaches I talked to for the book said it doesn't matter. In fact, a small percentage, including Jake Plummer, said he loved playing on the road. He said it helped him to focus more and avoid some of the distractions of playing in front of your home crowd. SP: Is there any stopping UA junior running back Ka'Deem Carey? SD: He can be contained, and if ASU can hold Bishop Sankey to under 30 yards, anything is possible. A lot of ASU fans say, "Well, Ka'Deem is going to get his." Sure, but does "getting his" mean 100 yards or 200 yards? There's probably a 7-10-point difference in those yardage totals. If ASU can hold him to closer to 100 yards — which that defense is absolutely capable of doing — you have to like the Devils' chances. SP: What needs to happen for each school to win on Saturday? Let's start with ASU. SD: ASU's secondary has to take away the passing game. B.J. Denker may not strike fear in the hearts of ASU fans, but he's been pretty dang good the second half of the season — went 19 for 22 against Oregon — and has only thrown a few interceptions all year. I'm interested to see who gets the assignment of covering freshman wideout Nate Phillips, who is quickly emerging as a star. I'm guessing Irabor will be on him. If the Devils can lock down Phillips, it's going to be a long night for B.J. SP: And for UA? SD: The one thing the Wildcats absolutely have to do is put great pressure on (redshirt junior quarterback) Taylor Kelly. As fantastic as Kelly has been most of this year, including last week at UCLA, he has thrown 10 interceptions this season, so he is prone to making mistakes from time to time. The Wildcats have to find a way to flush him out of the pocket. If Kelly beats them with his feet or with great throws on the run, so be it. But UA must, at the very least, give Taylor Kelly the opportunity to make mistakes. SP: Every year it seems someone steps up and plays the game of his life. Who do you think it will be this year? SD: For ASU, if (senior running back) Marion Grice is out, you have to expect big things from (freshman running back) D.J. Foster. I think he's been surprisingly underused this season, and if given the opportunity, I think he can easily put up 150 combined yards against UA. On the Wildcat side, I'll go with Phillips. In the absence of last year's leading receiver, Austin Hill, he's emerged as Denker's top target. I can see him getting close to 100 yards and at least one touchdown on Saturday if he can get some separation from the secondary. SP: Finally, who wins and what's the final score? SD: I don't typically pick football games very well, but I was nearly dead on with my pick of last year's game. I had ASU winning 41-38. Not bad. This year's game should be higher-scoring, which is probably why it won't be. Things typically don't make much sense in this particular game. I think the Wildcats give the Devils the fight of their lives, but ASU narrowly snaps that home-team losing streak and wins 23-20 on a last-second (freshman kicker) Zane Gonzalez field goal.Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
It’s not every night that a player gets a chance at the game-winning goal and game-winning save, but Monday was a special night for freshman forward Ryan Ostertag.
The Kansas City Chiefs are 9-0 and are ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in just about every power ranking out there. They’re legit.
ASU hockey is 19-0-0, the best start in program history.
Thursday night, ASU coach Greg Powers lauded his power play unit, even though it came up empty on three attempts. Friday night ASU’s first two goals were scored with the man advantage, and they were enough to keep the undefeated start alive and beat Williston State 4-0. “The goal is to stay disciplined and make teams pay when they get stupid by putting us on the power play, and tonight we did that,” Powers said. For the 13th time in 13 home games, ASU (18-0-0) scored first. Freshman forward Ryan Ostertag collected a pass from senior forward Kale Dolinski, and Ostertag did not miss, blasting a one-timer into the half of the net that Williston State (3-3-0) goalie sophomore Tyler Ampe couldn’t cover. ASU freshman forward Sean Murphy was also credited with an assist. That was it for scoring in the first period. Williston State’s strength is its defenseman, led by sophomore Nick Zern. And even if the defensemen fail, the Tetons’ backup plan isn’t too shabby: Ampe led the team to a NJCAA national title last year between the pipes. Both the defensemen and Ampe played well, but in the end, ASU, especially on home ice where it has yet to trail this season, was just too much. ASU’s second goal was the first in the career of freshman defenseman Drew Newmeyer. Like the first goal, an ASU attacker had a half-empty net to shoot to, this time because of a rebound. Murphy had an assist, and thought he’d add a goal. Stationed to Ampe’s right just out of the crease, he took a pass from freshman forward Chris Burkemper and went top shelf to extend the ASU lead to 3-0. ASU added another goal in the third period, credited to junior forward Liam Norris and assisted by Dolinski. The 8:23 mark in the third period saw a huge scrum behind the Williston State net that put five men in the penalty box on the same play. For ASU, Murphy got two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, while Burkemper got a double-minor roughing and Norris served a minor. For Williston State, sophomore forward Henry Gutierrez got two for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct and sophomore defenseman Parker Tomcyzyk got two for roughing. In all, there were 32 PIMs handed out on the one one play, and that wasn’t even the biggest penalty occurrence of the night. With 5:29 left in the game, the glove dropped and out broke an old-fashioned hockey fight. ASU senior forward Brian McGinty locked up with Williston State freshman defenseman Karson Kuntz. McGinty ended up on top, and both were ejected and given game misconducts. The scrum also included two double-minors and two 10-minute misconducts. After the dust had settled, 95 PIMs were issued in the third period alone. Meanwhile, ASU senior goaltender Joe D'Elia stopped all 30 shots that came his way for his second shutout in as many starts. “Both goalies are going (well),” Powers said, including freshman Robert Levin. “We keep going back and forth, (and) they’re performing at a high level.” Same teams, same time, same place Saturday night: ASU vs. Williston State at 7:30 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
Sometimes, it’s obvious before the puck even drops that a great hockey game is about to happen. The clash between No. 2 ASU and No. 1 Minot State on Thursday was as advertised, and the Sun Devils came out on the winning end of a thrilling 2-1 game. The game was intense from start to finish as it began with Minot State’s near goal just 15 seconds into the game and ended with ASU (17-0-0 ACHA) holding off Minot State’s final empty-net attack. Earlier this week, ASU coach Greg Powers said he wouldn’t call his team the best in the nation until it beats Minot State (9-1-0 ACHA). “We absolutely are,” Powers said on ASU being the best in the country. “I think we proved it.” Coaches from both sides said whichever team wins will be No. 1 in the ACHA. ASU does not play an ACHA team for the rest of the weekend, and with the new ACHA rankings released Tuesday, ASU will be at the top. “It’s a little more than another win, but we don’t want to get to overexcited about it and let it distract us,” ASU freshman forward Michael Cummings said. The game came very close to getting off to an explosive start. Fifteen seconds into the game, Minot State freshman forward Brett McNevin found an open piece of ice in front of the slot and beat ASU freshman goalie Robert Levin stick-side. The puck spiked off the bottom of the crossbar and was instantly covered by Levin. Minot State protested, while ASU’s bench was silent. The play appeared to fool everyone but the ref, and replay showed it hit the bar and was not a goal. Back and forth the first period went, and the shot-sheet reflected that. ASU led 12-10 in shots on goal, but the Sun Devils also led where it mattered most. With just over eight minutes left in the first, ASU dumped the puck in the zone to what Minot State thought was icing, but it was waved off. Junior forward Faiz Khan raced behind the net, found the puck then found senior captain Colin Hekle in front of the net. With 8:05 remaining in the period, Hekle deflected the pass into the net for his team-leading 15th goal and the first score of the game. The second period was more of the same. Just over three minutes into the period, ASU senior defenseman Brett Prechel fired a shot from the point. It deflected off the pad of Minot State senior goalie Wyatt Waselenchuk and right to Cummings, who put it in the net to extend the lead to 2-0. It would end up being the game winner. “We talked about it before the game, we said we just need to get pucks on net, and the rebounds will come, and it just happened to be right on my stick,” Cummings said. Minot would not go down quietly, though. It took only 42 seconds from ASU’s second goal for Minot State to get on the board. Junior captain Michael Jordan beat Levin on a pass from freshman forward Jeremy Johnson. Minot State would outshoot ASU in the second, and after two periods, the shots were 23-22 in favor of the Sun Devils, with ASU leading 2-1. The third period was a defensive battle from both sides. With 2:15 left in the game, Levin glove-saved a blast from near the face-off circle. It would be the last good chance the Beavers had. Minot State pulled its goalie with under a minute left, but even the sixth man wasn’t enough to beat Levin. Time expired with six Beaver attackers unable to get the game-tying goal in the net. The key to the game was ASU’s penalty-killing unit. Minot State went on the power play three times, but was unable to score. Levin was quick to credit the skaters in front of him when ASU was down a man. “They let me see the puck, and if I can see it, I’ll stop it more times than not,” Levin said. Final shots favored ASU 33-30. Powers said he was pleased with the win, but also said this is not the end of the season and the Sun Devils need to keep working. “We’re not going to crown ourselves national champs just because we beat Minot State,” Powers said. “We have to continue to get better and we will. At the end of the day this is a great win working toward the goal of winning a national championship.” ASU has two games left on the weekend, Friday and Saturday against non-ACHA Williston State. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both nights at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
Update: The new ACHA rankings released Tuesday flipped the rankings of ASU and Minot State. No. 2 ASU will now face No. 1 Minot State.
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