TEMPE – Sun Devil Hockey (5-4-0, 1-2-0 NCHC) fell short, 6-3, in the series opener against No. 4 Denver (6-2-1, 3-0-0 NCHC) on Friday night at Mullett Arena.
Arizona State surrendered two consecutive power-play goals following a five-minute major penalty in the final period, which ultimately proved to be the difference as regulation time wound down.
Sophomore goaltender Samuel Urban set a new career high with 45 saves in the effort, the most by a Sun Devil goaltender since TJ Semptimphelter registered 53 against then-No. 1 Denver on Dec. 2, 2022. Urban surpassed his previous career high of 42 saves, set against UMass Lowell on Oct. 17.
Junior forward Cade Littler notched his first goal as a Sun Devil, snapping a nine-game goal drought late in regulation to cut the Pioneers' lead to 5-3 before an eventual empty-net goal sealed the 6-3 final.
ASU's freshman duo of forwards Nathan Behm and Lukas Sawchyn each found the back of the net in the second period to account for the Sun Devils' first two goals of the evening.
Behm tallied his team-leading fifth goal of the season and has now scored twice in three home games. His five goals are good for a share of second place nationally among all freshman skaters.
The Sun Devils will aim to even the series in a rare Sunday finale, with puck drop slated for noon MST at Mullett Arena. Fans can tune into the action on FOX10+ / NCHC.tv or over the radio on FOX Sports 910 Phoenix.
Period-by-Period Breakdown
Period One
Neither squad got on the score sheet through one period of play as both teams went 0-for-1 on the power play. Urban stopped all 16 shots he faced to keep the game scoreless heading into the second period.
Period Two
Nathan Behm broke the ice for the Sun Devils, tapping home a feed from freshman forward Landon Hafele at 6:26 of the middle frame for a 1-0 ASU lead. The Pioneers tied things up just eight seconds later before the Sun Devils took the lead right back when freshman forward Lukas Sawchyn sniped one past the Denver goaltender at 9:37.
Denver then knotted the game at two at 15:18 of the second period.
Period Three
The Pioneers took their first lead of the night, going up 3-2 at 7:07 of the final frame. After ASU's Hafele was assessed a five-minute major penalty, Denver scored twice on the man advantage to extend its lead to 5-2.
Cade Littler then found the back of the net for his first goal of the season at 17:22 to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Denver sealed the contest with an empty-net marker for a final score of 6-3.
Quotes
Head Coach Dave Hakstol
On the third period as a whole:
“In the third period, we wanted to go in with an opportunity to do some things a little bit better. And I actually saw some flashes of that, but obviously not enough in terms of working through the different layers and pressure that they had. So, it's pretty consistent throughout the hockey game. We didn't get out of our zone cleanly and we certainly didn't get through the neutral zone with any regularity or any speed to be able to generate a whole lot. And you probably see that actually in the game-winning goal. I mean the focus is probably on what happened in the D zone. But it's a play that started 200 feet away on a forward check. Time and space and speed for them through the neutral zone, and that just puts you on your heels, that leads into that game-winning goal.”
On changes for the penalty kill on Sunday:
“They got a couple on us today that we didn't dictate a whole lot on the penalty kill, and I'll give their power play credit for that. So we've just got to do what we do well. Our kill has been very effective throughout the year. We faced a very skilled power play tonight. I said coming in, they have a ton of skill on the power play, but they're meat and potatoes in many ways in the way they approach it. The first goal, that's move the puck around, find a shooting lane from the top, and have a great net front. So, we have a couple of things that we can do better to make sure that that one is not quite as easy as it looked, but they did a good job on that one.”
On the freshmen performance so far this season:
“You’re going to see growth out of these guys throughout the year. (Hafele) brings that combination, (Hafele) brings a little bit of pace there. He's a straight line power forward. He brings speed, and he created off of that play, quick transition. (Behm), he's a real smart player with a really strong stick and a good stick. Those guys, they're going to continue to grow throughout the year. There's a ton of areas of the game that we're going to want to focus on with the little areas of the game that we're going to continue to push them to improve on. We want to see their natural abilities and talents continue to come through.”
Junior forward Cade Littler
On adjusting to the new system midway through the season:
“We’ve had a couple of off weeks which also isn't normal but I think it's been really good for us to have those off weeks, have a full week of practice, kind of like main training camp. It's time for us to learn and try to make it better.”
On being able to establish an offensive zone:
“I think quicker changes have more energy. Some of the times they hemmed us in our own zone and we were more tired than they were after they had changed and had fresher bodies. When we hemmed them in we were quicker on the changes and had more energy than them.”
On what was going through his mind before his goal:
“I wanted to make sure I got the shot off. The far d-man was coming so I wanted to shoot it early enough, and give myself enough time to shoot.”
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