In the midst of a schedule that includes some of the top teams in the country, Sun Devil Hockey had a change of pace Friday.
The ASU team (8-17-2) played University of Southern New Hampshire (11-9-0) at home and capitalized on the rare DII opponent, downing the Penmen 11-0.
Things got physical near the end of the game, which upset many ASU players. One hit cost graduate forward Robbie Baillargeon the game's final minutes. Baillargeon appeared to hurt his shoulder and did not return to the game.
Sun Devil head coach Greg Powers said he thinks Baillargeon will be fine.
After the game, the teams did not shake hands and Powers had a word with Southern New Hampshire head coach Ken Hutchins.
“Oh, we were just talking about, actually, their goalies,” Powers said. “So, meaningless chatter.”
ASU and Southern New Hampshire are squaring off. Story coming later on @statepresssport. pic.twitter.com/jMDAW7yfrR
— Matt J. Layman (@mattjlayman) January 21, 2017
ASU scored as early as sophomore forward Anthony Croston made it 1-0, unassisted, just 51 seconds into the contest. The Sun Devils were up 3-0 by the 2:04 mark.
Croston would go on to score a hat trick in the first period alone and add an assist to his point total before the night’s end – he now has six goals this season.
“It felt good,” he said, quickly directing his focus toward the game’s physical ending.
“We came out hard right off the bat,” he said. “We kind of got under their skin. With teams like that, there’s not much you can do. If they start slashing, you’ve got to play the game.”
The alternate captain also added that players on the Sun Devil bench were getting frustrated with the Penmen.
“At first it was like, ‘What are these guys doing here?’,” Croston said. “But then we realized guys were throwing slashes and hits all over, so we were getting pissed off. It kind of got chippy at the end.”
By the time the first period ended, the Sun Devils had tied their season record for most goals in a game.
After 20 minutes of play, ASU led 8-0.
The Sun Devils would tack on three more goals in the second and none in the third. With Croston’s hat trick and two goals from sophomore forward Louie Rowe, eight goal-scorers shared ASU’s 11 tallies: Croston, Rowe, Joe Lappin, Brett Gruber, Tyler Busch, Jakob Stridsberg, Wade Murphy, Dylan Hollman and Ryan Belonger.
Belonger’s goal was his first of the season. The senior winger played in just his sixth game Friday after missing significant time for a personal matter.
“It was good to see him get a goal,” Powers said. “I’m happy that he got one. Hopefully he gets a couple more before he’s done.”
Senior Rob Levin got the start in goal and went the distance for the Sun Devils, earning the program’s first official NCAA shutout.
“There’s not a kid that I’d rather have that on his belt than Rob Levin,” Powers said. “He deserves to have that. I’m glad he got it.”
Powers didn’t comment who would start in net for the Sun Devils on Saturday, but Croston set one expectation when asked of his predictions for game two:
“Beat ‘em by more.”
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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