After ASU hockey took a bludgeoning both in goals and penalty minutes in their 9-2 loss Friday, the rematch on Saturday with the Fighting Irish was far less lopsided.
The Sun Devils fell 4-2 in an oft-tied contest.
“First and foremost, I'm so proud of our guys,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “They played arguably one of the top five teams in the country toe-to-toe and it could have easily gone our way. We feel that was a game we played well enough to win and should have won.”
The Irish (2-0) and Sun Devils (0-2) were knotted for 34 minutes and 59 seconds of a 60-minute game, a trend that began when Notre Dame junior forward Connor Hurley scored 1:02 into the match and ASU freshman defenseman Jakob Stridsberg responded with a goal just 18 seconds later.
The score remained 1-1 through the first period.
In the second, Notre Dame junior forward Anders Bjork scored a power play goal just 48 seconds in, his third tally of the season to put the Irish up 2-1. Less than six minutes later, freshman forward Tyler Busch put one home to tie the game once again for the Sun Devils.
Late in the second period, ASU junior forward Wade Murphy took a shot from the faceoff that was ruled a goal, but the call was overturned. The game remained knotted at two apiece.
“The goal they called off on us should have never been called off -- it was a hockey play off a draw," Powers said.
Through two, Notre Dame led in shots 22 to 20 and faceoffs 25 to 21. The score was 2-2.
The third period was less productive for the Sun Devils, as they were outshot 15-5 and penalized five times. Notre Dame’s Bjork scored his second goal of the game – and fourth of the season – to give the Irish a lead they’d never relinquish.
An empty net goal by sophomore forward Dylan Malmquist put the Irish up 4-2 for the remainder of the game.
Malmquist buries the open net. 4-2 Notre Dame with 1 minute exactly on the clock.
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) October 9, 2016
ASU was called for 43 penalties for 148 minutes this weekend.
“I'm just baffled by the officiating all weekend, I really am,” Powers said. “I never blame officials and I never have, and never thought I would. But it's hard not to when we get a blatant goal called off and get a penalty called in the process. So we go from a lead to then down a man.”
ASU senior goaltender Robert Levin made 33 saves on the night, flashing the leather at times to make point-blank stops. Still, he gets the loss after freshman netminder Joey Daccord did the same on Friday.
“I told our guys we feel we won that game and right now in the first year of our program,” Powers said. “It's not about the tick in the 'L' column or the tick in the 'W' column. That's a benchmark effort this program can build off of. We just proved we can play with anybody no problem.”
The Sun Devils’ next game is their home opener against Air Force at Gila River Arena on Oct. 14. They’ll play Air Force again at that same location on Sunday the 16th at 2:30.
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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