TEMPE – With three unanswered goals in three minutes and 11 seconds, the No. 18/19 Arizona State ice hockey team (3-0-0) had the Northern Michigan Wildcats (0-2-1) running from the Devils on Friday night at Mullett Arena. The Sun Devils secured the series-opening victory, 3-2, to reach the best start in program history.
Of the three goals in the second period, team captain Tyler Gratton claimed his first goal in the maroon and gold and the eventual game-winner. It's the transfer's fourth game-winning goal of his collegiate career and his first since Nov. 18, 2022 against Michigan State. Charlie Schoen was credited with the assist along with Tim Lovell, who obtained his third-straight game with an assist.
"Everybody did their part, you know, and, and we felt like we probably could have executed a little bit more and pulled away, and maybe iced it earlier and they got a bounce with credit to them off Szmagaj to stick on the last power-play goal, but the guys hung up. So it's just a good team win," said head coach Greg Powers.
Joining the trio of goals in the middle frame was Lovell, who started the rally after the Wildcats stuck first and early in the second period after a scoreless opening frame. The goal was Lovell's first of the year and ended a 23-game goal-scoring dry spell dating back to Dec. 2, 2022 at then-No. 1 Denver.
Just two minutes later, Kyle Smolen carried the momentum to give the Sun Devils the lead with his first collegiate goal off of a rebound from Ryan O'Reilly. Benji Eckerle earned the secondary apple in his second assist of the year, tallied in two consecutive games.
Less than 90 seconds later, Gratton muscled the eventual final nail in the coffin for NMU on an ASU power play with assists from Schoen and Lovell. ASU has successfully converted on the power play in two straight games after scoring two PPG against then-No. 15 Merrimack last Saturday night.
GAME NOTABLES
PERIOD BREAKDOWN
First Period
With both sides familiarizing themselves the first game action didn't occur until Ty Jackson was notified for hooking, putting the Wildcats on a power play, but couldn't muster anything toward the net keeping the game scoreless. In the final five minutes, Northern Michigan was called for tripping putting ASU on their first power play of the night, but wasn't able to break through keeping the score at zero going into the intermission.
Second Period
Both teams traded scoring opportunities to begin the period, but the first action of the night was Northern Michigan striking first on a loose puck that bounced in their favor to take a 1-0 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the frame. Less than two minutes later, Lovell found the equalizer after receiving Lukas Sillinger's pass from across the ice.
Carrying the momentum from the equalizer, the Sun Devils quickly found themselves with the lead after Kyle Smolen found the puck off a ricochet and found the back of the net halfway through the period. Benji Eckerle and Ryan O'Reilly were credited with the assists. The party didn't stop there with captain Tyler Gratton using his skate to give ASU a two-goal cushion after he received the puck from Charlie Schoen with 8:30 remaining. The remainder of the frame consisted of two penalties on the Sun Devils, each was later nullified by the pesky ASU penalty-killing unit going into the second intermission.
3rd Period
The final period opened with a Northern Michigan tripping penalty and while the Sun Devils were on the power play, the Wildcats committed a high-stick to put the maroon & gold on a 5-on-3 advantage for 30 seconds. Despite getting multiple shots on net, play returned to full strength with 10 minutes remaining in regulation
The Wildcats crept closer off of a power-play goal with five minutes remaining, keeping the game within reach, but the Sun Devil defense silenced the Wildcat's last-gasp effort to come out victorious.
Arizona State Head Coach Coach Powers:
On how the team is coming together this season:
"It's so far so good, you know, it was a good, just a good team win tonight. Balanced team win. Everybody did their part, you know, and, and we felt like we probably could have executed a little bit more and pulled away, and maybe, maybe iced it earlier and they got a bounce with credit to them off Szmagaj stick on the last power-play goal, but the guys hung up. So it's just a good team win.
On the surge in the second period:
"I think just the commitment to what our game plan was, you know, just tracking back hard and not giving them time and space defending really well, which I think we did. Most importantly, just slowing down their transition… We were really good. Northern Michigan has really been a strong, kind of special teams and top five right now in the power play strong last year."
On what needs to be cleaned up going into tomorrow:
"Just some puck management stuff, I mean, a lot of the stuff they did get five on five again was just not getting the puck deep when you could, not get it in behind them... You just have to keep it and possess it. The puck's gold and, if you don't have a play, just keep it and grind them out and, and make them play defense."
On how it feels to be at 3-0-0:
"Yeah, I mean, you get three wins, again, that's a team that's gonna compete to win their league. They're really good. I mean, they just gave Duluth all they could handle and they're gonna be one of the top teams in the CCHA. They could very well win it. I mean, they're really good. And then obviously the team we played last week is tremendous. They're really hard to play against, beat Clarkson. A really good Clarkson team 4-1 tonight held, I think, 16 shots, they're not easy to play against. So two wins against Merrimack, will just be the gift that keeps on giving because they're gonna win a lot of games."
Arizona State forward Tyler Gratton and defenseman Tim Lovell:
(GRATTON) On his first goal as a Sun Devil:
"It was a great pass by Chucky (Charlie Schoen). We were working on the back door play all week on the power play and we made it happen. So it was good to be able to capitalize an important part of the game."
(LOVELL) On the defensive core and being noted as 'dynamic' by Coach Powers:
"Obviously you're gonna have different defensemen. It's kind of just through hockey and I think that's a big piece of my game. But our defensive core as a whole unit is outstanding. I think people don't really understand that about our team yet. It's been coming along through the process and it's really good."
(GRATTON/LOVELL) On the student section:
GRATTON: "It's been awesome. I don't know if the student section was sold out tonight, but I know both games last week and they were, it looked like they were tonight, they're bringing the energy, it's awesome because we feed off that." (Student section was soldout on Friday night for the 20th game in a row).
LOVELL: "They get us going every game, when I look down there during warmups, it's awesome, I really don't really get the chance to really realize how supportive our student section really is."
(GRATTON) On the biggest change coming to ASU from Penn State:
"I think the biggest change is just being an independent team. You gotta show up every single night. It doesn't matter who's playing on the other side, we need to bring it because come the end of the season, it's going to be those games that are close or maybe we go to overtime. That might be the reason that we don't get into the tournament. So we just need to do a good job bearing down every chance we get, every time we put the jersey on and make it count."
Of the three goals in the second period, team captain Tyler Gratton claimed his first goal in the maroon and gold and the eventual game-winner. It's the transfer's fourth game-winning goal of his collegiate career and his first since Nov. 18, 2022 against Michigan State. Charlie Schoen was credited with the assist along with Tim Lovell, who obtained his third-straight game with an assist.
THREE IS A PARTY ??
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) October 21, 2023
The captain cashes in on his first goal as a Sun Devil@gratton_tyler /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/u89PUVcyyU
"Everybody did their part, you know, and, and we felt like we probably could have executed a little bit more and pulled away, and maybe iced it earlier and they got a bounce with credit to them off Szmagaj to stick on the last power-play goal, but the guys hung up. So it's just a good team win," said head coach Greg Powers.
Joining the trio of goals in the middle frame was Lovell, who started the rally after the Wildcats stuck first and early in the second period after a scoreless opening frame. The goal was Lovell's first of the year and ended a 23-game goal-scoring dry spell dating back to Dec. 2, 2022 at then-No. 1 Denver.
Just two minutes later, Kyle Smolen carried the momentum to give the Sun Devils the lead with his first collegiate goal off of a rebound from Ryan O'Reilly. Benji Eckerle earned the secondary apple in his second assist of the year, tallied in two consecutive games.
Less than 90 seconds later, Gratton muscled the eventual final nail in the coffin for NMU on an ASU power play with assists from Schoen and Lovell. ASU has successfully converted on the power play in two straight games after scoring two PPG against then-No. 15 Merrimack last Saturday night.
GAME NOTABLES
- Tim Lovell is on a three-game point-scoring streak with at least one assist in each game this season. Friday night against the Wildcats, Lovell scored a goal and tallied an assist for his eighth career multipoint game. He now leads the team in points with four through three contests.
- The Sun Devils also managed to outshoot Northern Michigan 31-25.
- ASU improves to 2-0-0 against Northern Michigan in all-time history.
PERIOD BREAKDOWN
First Period
With both sides familiarizing themselves the first game action didn't occur until Ty Jackson was notified for hooking, putting the Wildcats on a power play, but couldn't muster anything toward the net keeping the game scoreless. In the final five minutes, Northern Michigan was called for tripping putting ASU on their first power play of the night, but wasn't able to break through keeping the score at zero going into the intermission.
Second Period
Both teams traded scoring opportunities to begin the period, but the first action of the night was Northern Michigan striking first on a loose puck that bounced in their favor to take a 1-0 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the frame. Less than two minutes later, Lovell found the equalizer after receiving Lukas Sillinger's pass from across the ice.
Keeping things interesting ??@kyle_smolen SCORES HIS FIRST COLLEGIATE GOAL#BeTheTradition /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/bJLo4Uxz7z
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) October 21, 2023
Carrying the momentum from the equalizer, the Sun Devils quickly found themselves with the lead after Kyle Smolen found the puck off a ricochet and found the back of the net halfway through the period. Benji Eckerle and Ryan O'Reilly were credited with the assists. The party didn't stop there with captain Tyler Gratton using his skate to give ASU a two-goal cushion after he received the puck from Charlie Schoen with 8:30 remaining. The remainder of the frame consisted of two penalties on the Sun Devils, each was later nullified by the pesky ASU penalty-killing unit going into the second intermission.
3rd Period
The final period opened with a Northern Michigan tripping penalty and while the Sun Devils were on the power play, the Wildcats committed a high-stick to put the maroon & gold on a 5-on-3 advantage for 30 seconds. Despite getting multiple shots on net, play returned to full strength with 10 minutes remaining in regulation
The Wildcats crept closer off of a power-play goal with five minutes remaining, keeping the game within reach, but the Sun Devil defense silenced the Wildcat's last-gasp effort to come out victorious.
Arizona State Head Coach Coach Powers:
On how the team is coming together this season:
"It's so far so good, you know, it was a good, just a good team win tonight. Balanced team win. Everybody did their part, you know, and, and we felt like we probably could have executed a little bit more and pulled away, and maybe, maybe iced it earlier and they got a bounce with credit to them off Szmagaj stick on the last power-play goal, but the guys hung up. So it's just a good team win.
On the surge in the second period:
"I think just the commitment to what our game plan was, you know, just tracking back hard and not giving them time and space defending really well, which I think we did. Most importantly, just slowing down their transition… We were really good. Northern Michigan has really been a strong, kind of special teams and top five right now in the power play strong last year."
On what needs to be cleaned up going into tomorrow:
"Just some puck management stuff, I mean, a lot of the stuff they did get five on five again was just not getting the puck deep when you could, not get it in behind them... You just have to keep it and possess it. The puck's gold and, if you don't have a play, just keep it and grind them out and, and make them play defense."
On how it feels to be at 3-0-0:
"Yeah, I mean, you get three wins, again, that's a team that's gonna compete to win their league. They're really good. I mean, they just gave Duluth all they could handle and they're gonna be one of the top teams in the CCHA. They could very well win it. I mean, they're really good. And then obviously the team we played last week is tremendous. They're really hard to play against, beat Clarkson. A really good Clarkson team 4-1 tonight held, I think, 16 shots, they're not easy to play against. So two wins against Merrimack, will just be the gift that keeps on giving because they're gonna win a lot of games."
Arizona State forward Tyler Gratton and defenseman Tim Lovell:
(GRATTON) On his first goal as a Sun Devil:
"It was a great pass by Chucky (Charlie Schoen). We were working on the back door play all week on the power play and we made it happen. So it was good to be able to capitalize an important part of the game."
(LOVELL) On the defensive core and being noted as 'dynamic' by Coach Powers:
"Obviously you're gonna have different defensemen. It's kind of just through hockey and I think that's a big piece of my game. But our defensive core as a whole unit is outstanding. I think people don't really understand that about our team yet. It's been coming along through the process and it's really good."
(GRATTON/LOVELL) On the student section:
GRATTON: "It's been awesome. I don't know if the student section was sold out tonight, but I know both games last week and they were, it looked like they were tonight, they're bringing the energy, it's awesome because we feed off that." (Student section was soldout on Friday night for the 20th game in a row).
LOVELL: "They get us going every game, when I look down there during warmups, it's awesome, I really don't really get the chance to really realize how supportive our student section really is."
(GRATTON) On the biggest change coming to ASU from Penn State:
"I think the biggest change is just being an independent team. You gotta show up every single night. It doesn't matter who's playing on the other side, we need to bring it because come the end of the season, it's going to be those games that are close or maybe we go to overtime. That might be the reason that we don't get into the tournament. So we just need to do a good job bearing down every chance we get, every time we put the jersey on and make it count."