SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The season opener for the Arizona State men's hockey team was not your typical hockey game, as the Sun Devils and No. 9 Notre Dame combined for 48 penalties in a 9-2 Irish victory at Compton Family Ice Arena on Friday night.
Of the nine goals scored by Notre Dame (1-0), only three of them were tallied at even strength, which included a goal with a minute left in regulation.
"The last thing I would call tonight is a hockey game," said head coach Greg Powers. "When you have four full 5-on-3's called against you against one of the top five team's in the country, you don't stand a chance. We battled back in that first period to cut it to two, went in the room and made some adjustments that we didn't even get a chance to implement because of being in the box all night.
"I've been around this game my entire life and I've never seen what we all saw tonight. All we can do is erase it and start over. That wasn't a hockey game and that wasn't indicative of the work our guys have put in."
While Notre Dame took a 3-0 lead halfway into the 1st -- with two of them coming on the power play -- freshman Tyler Busch made a statement in his first collegiate game, putting a one-timer past one of the best goaltenders in college hockey to cut the lead to two with nearly seven minutes left in the opening frame.
From then through the rest of the period, the Devils (0-1-0) seemed to find their groove with freshman goaltender Joey Daccord making 22 saves through 20 minutes.
The second period started off again with more penalties, with ASU taking 11 total minors and two at the same time just 35 seconds in. The Devils would kill the penalty, but all three of Notre Dame's goals in the 2nd would come on the man advantage -- one with a 5-on-3 power play.
In the final 20 minutes, sophomore defenseman Nicholas Gushue fired a bullet from the top past back-up goalie Cale Morris for the Devils' second goal of the game -- both coming at even strength.
"In 5-on-5, we tied them 2-2 before they got an ugly one there at the end," said Powers. "I think the guys did some really great things in 5-on-5 and we have to play a lot more of that tomorrow. I said coming in here that in order to beat these guys, we had to win the special teams battle. Six power play goals and 31 penalties to 17 is just unheard of. Of those, there were three times where penalties were called on two different guys at the same time."
The Devils' were shorthanded 5-on-3 on at least seven different occasions, leading to just two goals by Notre Dame on those chances. Overall, ASU was 13-of-19 on the penalty kill. The good guys totaled 116 penalty minutes on the night -- 78 coming on the final scrum with 38 seconds remaining.
Game two will be on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. (ET)/4:05 p.m. (AZ) on NBCSports.com/live and the NBCSports App.
Of the nine goals scored by Notre Dame (1-0), only three of them were tallied at even strength, which included a goal with a minute left in regulation.
"The last thing I would call tonight is a hockey game," said head coach Greg Powers. "When you have four full 5-on-3's called against you against one of the top five team's in the country, you don't stand a chance. We battled back in that first period to cut it to two, went in the room and made some adjustments that we didn't even get a chance to implement because of being in the box all night.
"I've been around this game my entire life and I've never seen what we all saw tonight. All we can do is erase it and start over. That wasn't a hockey game and that wasn't indicative of the work our guys have put in."
While Notre Dame took a 3-0 lead halfway into the 1st -- with two of them coming on the power play -- freshman Tyler Busch made a statement in his first collegiate game, putting a one-timer past one of the best goaltenders in college hockey to cut the lead to two with nearly seven minutes left in the opening frame.
From then through the rest of the period, the Devils (0-1-0) seemed to find their groove with freshman goaltender Joey Daccord making 22 saves through 20 minutes.
The second period started off again with more penalties, with ASU taking 11 total minors and two at the same time just 35 seconds in. The Devils would kill the penalty, but all three of Notre Dame's goals in the 2nd would come on the man advantage -- one with a 5-on-3 power play.
In the final 20 minutes, sophomore defenseman Nicholas Gushue fired a bullet from the top past back-up goalie Cale Morris for the Devils' second goal of the game -- both coming at even strength.
"In 5-on-5, we tied them 2-2 before they got an ugly one there at the end," said Powers. "I think the guys did some really great things in 5-on-5 and we have to play a lot more of that tomorrow. I said coming in here that in order to beat these guys, we had to win the special teams battle. Six power play goals and 31 penalties to 17 is just unheard of. Of those, there were three times where penalties were called on two different guys at the same time."
The Devils' were shorthanded 5-on-3 on at least seven different occasions, leading to just two goals by Notre Dame on those chances. Overall, ASU was 13-of-19 on the penalty kill. The good guys totaled 116 penalty minutes on the night -- 78 coming on the final scrum with 38 seconds remaining.
Game two will be on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. (ET)/4:05 p.m. (AZ) on NBCSports.com/live and the NBCSports App.