TEMPE – Sun Devil Hockey (5-5-0, 1-3-0 NCHC) suffered a 1-0 loss in overtime to No. 4 Denver (7-2-1, 4-0-0 NCHC) in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Mullett Arena.
Neither squad found the back of the net through regulation time with Arizona State sophomore goaltender Samuel Urban making 40 saves in the effort to earn his team a point in the conference standings.
Urban has now registered 40 saves in back-to-back games and three times this season dating back to his 42-save performance on Oct. 17 at UMass Lowell. In both contests against the Pioneers, he made a combined 85 saves over the weekend.
ASU was perfect when down a man, killing off all four Denver power-play opportunities. This marks the eighth game this season in which ASU has been perfect on the penalty kill.
The Sun Devils will head to another bye week before returning to action and NCHC play against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth on Nov. 20-21 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minnesota.
Period-by-period breakdown
Period one
Both teams were scoreless through the game’s first frame as Denver went 0-for-1 on the power play before ASU was unable to score on a 17-second man-advantage.
Period two
The Sun Devils were perfect on the penalty kill in the second period, killing off both Pioneer power plays. The score remained 0-0 through two periods of play.
Period three
There were no goals scored in regulation and the game required overtime.
Overtime
The Pioneers ended the game in extra time with the only goal of the contest.
Quotes
Head Coach Dave Hakstol
On the performance overall
“The result in OT (overtime) is us hitting the bar, and them getting one off of our stick that goes in the net. You're based off of wins and losses, right? We're really disappointed in not getting the win in OT and the extra point out of it. But we addressed a lot of things from two days ago that our players did a really nice job carrying out onto the ice, and our compete level was good. Our execution was better. Still not at the level that we want to be at. The bottom line is, I feel like our group should be proud of the effort that they gave in this building, in front of our fans. That's a big step towards the level that we want to play at in this building.”
On sophomore goaltender Samuel Urban
"Sam (Urban) was good again. The first two periods, we didn't give up a ton, but we got off of some of the outnumbered rushes, he's looking at some difficult saves, he answered that bell. Penalty kill. Your goaltender has to be good. He did that. Third period, a little bit more traffic, a little more action around him. Did a great job getting us into overtime. So a really good performance by “Urbs” tonight.”
On how he plans to attack the bye-week
“There's some areas that certainly I want to focus on that we want to continue growing. I believe we can still make a significant step in terms of our conditioning, and 60-minute hockey, back-to-back nights. You have to be in such good condition to compete at the level that you need to in this league. I thought today our game was pretty high level. Our conditioning and our readiness can never be at a high enough level. And I think we've got a step yet to make there. I think we've made some nice strides over the last couple of weeks. But that's one thing we'll do over the week. But certainly, we'll keep building some of the structure of our game as well, and not just structure, just the speed that we're able to do it with. Like you saw, our D-zone tonight was much better, and it's because we were thinking less. We're just seeing it, reading it, and when you do that, you can start sprinting to check. You can start playing a little bit quicker. We’ll use the bye week to try to do that in every area.”
On the competitiveness of the NCHC
"That's one thing that's continued to grow. The heaviness of this league, the competitiveness physically, and its physicality has changed over the years. Now it's at such a high pace and it's in such tight spaces, and it is like every shift; it's just there. It's on you. So, beyond the National Hockey League, this league is as tough as it gets. As you look at the National Hockey League, American Hockey League. It is so hard, shift in and shift out, and that's what I see in this league. The skill level is there to go with it. When you look at the top end guys in this league, you know that skill level is there along with the physical challenge that it presents every night.”
Junior forward Logan Morrell
On the game overall
“I thought we played a pretty full game. Definitely a lot better than Friday. We just couldn’t bury it at the end of the day, but I thought overall our game was solid.”
On the message throughout the game as neither team could score
"It was just keep doing what we're gonna do. Kind of just get pucks to the net. We got to get more bodies in front of the net. I think that'll be a big focus for us this week to take away the goalie's eyes.”
On (goaltender) Samuel Urban’s performance
"He's definitely our best player. He played unbelievable the last two nights. He competes, he works hard, he does everything right, and he's a great teammate. You can ask anyone. He's probably our hardest worker. I just feel like every day with him, it's something where he's getting better. He's focusing on a new detail and it shows in games.”
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