AMHERST, Mass. – The men's hockey team won back-to-back games for the first time this season, as the Sun Devils rolled to a 4-1 victory over the University of Massachusetts on Friday night. The Devils' (6-13-0) sixth victory of the season becomes a program best against NCAA opponents.
Highlighting the scoresheet was sophomore forward Anthony Croston who buried two rebounds for his second and third goal of the season, while senior goaltender Robert Levin made 30 saves for his second win of the year.
"That was a great team win led by some outstanding goaltending by Rob," said head coach Greg Powers. "He played his butt off tonight and earned that win."
Along with Levin, UMass freshman netminder Ryan Wischow was stellar through the first 34 minutes of the game. Both were going back and forth making big saves from the drop of the puck to the sound of the final horn.
The grade 'A' opportunities were there for the Sun Devils early, but Wischow stymied everything on net.
The Devils finally found a chink in his armor, as sophomore defenseman Liam McGing fired a shot for a juicy rebound right to Croston at 14:42 of the 2nd period. The assist by McGing was his first point of the season.
The second period would end there, but ASU continued to pressure and create scoring chances.
While the Devils were starting to click on all cylinders offensively, the penalty kill continued the streak they started against American International on Tuesday. They finished 4-for-4 against the Yellow Jackets, and started tonight's game on a 3-for-3 run into the third period.
Nearly halfway through the third period, fellow sophomore Joe Lappin, who joined Robbie Baillargeon and Wade Murphy on the top line for the first time, reaped the benefits. Murphy threw a pass off the boards at the Devils' blue line up to Lappin, who flew down the right side before sniping a shot passed Wischow.
Not three minutes later, Croston cleaned up the garbage again, but this time, linemate Louie Rowe served him up a meatball with a heads-up play on the 2-on-1 rush. Knowing he may not beat Wischow with a shot, Rowe threw a low shot off his pads again that ricocheted right to the stick of Croston for his second of the night.
On ASU's fourth penalty, UMass finally capitalized on the man advantage to kill the Devils' streak of seven in a row. It also would ruin Levin's shutout. Freshman forward Griff Jeszka snapped a shot from inside the right circle, beating Levin far side to cut the lead to 3-1.
The dagger would come three minutes later, as freshman forward Brett Gruber beat his man with a high pass off the glass up to Tuesday's hero David Norris, who buried the empty-netter.
ASU will have an opportunity to for their first sweep of the season on Saturday night against the Minutemen at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Highlighting the scoresheet was sophomore forward Anthony Croston who buried two rebounds for his second and third goal of the season, while senior goaltender Robert Levin made 30 saves for his second win of the year.
"That was a great team win led by some outstanding goaltending by Rob," said head coach Greg Powers. "He played his butt off tonight and earned that win."
Along with Levin, UMass freshman netminder Ryan Wischow was stellar through the first 34 minutes of the game. Both were going back and forth making big saves from the drop of the puck to the sound of the final horn.
The grade 'A' opportunities were there for the Sun Devils early, but Wischow stymied everything on net.
The Devils finally found a chink in his armor, as sophomore defenseman Liam McGing fired a shot for a juicy rebound right to Croston at 14:42 of the 2nd period. The assist by McGing was his first point of the season.
The second period would end there, but ASU continued to pressure and create scoring chances.
While the Devils were starting to click on all cylinders offensively, the penalty kill continued the streak they started against American International on Tuesday. They finished 4-for-4 against the Yellow Jackets, and started tonight's game on a 3-for-3 run into the third period.
Nearly halfway through the third period, fellow sophomore Joe Lappin, who joined Robbie Baillargeon and Wade Murphy on the top line for the first time, reaped the benefits. Murphy threw a pass off the boards at the Devils' blue line up to Lappin, who flew down the right side before sniping a shot passed Wischow.
Not three minutes later, Croston cleaned up the garbage again, but this time, linemate Louie Rowe served him up a meatball with a heads-up play on the 2-on-1 rush. Knowing he may not beat Wischow with a shot, Rowe threw a low shot off his pads again that ricocheted right to the stick of Croston for his second of the night.
On ASU's fourth penalty, UMass finally capitalized on the man advantage to kill the Devils' streak of seven in a row. It also would ruin Levin's shutout. Freshman forward Griff Jeszka snapped a shot from inside the right circle, beating Levin far side to cut the lead to 3-1.
The dagger would come three minutes later, as freshman forward Brett Gruber beat his man with a high pass off the glass up to Tuesday's hero David Norris, who buried the empty-netter.
ASU will have an opportunity to for their first sweep of the season on Saturday night against the Minutemen at 7:00 p.m. EST.