In only their second year of competition and playing host to the Division III club ice hockey national tournament, the ASU Ice Devils clinched third place Saturday with a 4-1 win over the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The tournament ran from Thursday to Saturday at the Alltel Ice Den in Scottsdale and featured teams from across the nation.
ASU started the tournament as the No. 2 seed and proved early on that the ranking was well deserved. A 10-0 stomping of Robert Morris University and a hard-hitting 6-1 win over Jackson Community College put ASU in the semifinals.
The Ice Devils entered the tournament expecting to have a shot at the championship game said head coach Ed Lisogar. Lisogar said the team's record, 48-11-1 in its first two seasons, proves the maturity of the young squad.
With a trip to the finals on the line Friday afternoon, the Ice Devils played their worst game of the tournament at the wrong time. ASU's opponent was top-ranked Calvin College, which led the American Collegiate Hockey Association with a nearly perfect record of 25-1.
The Knights jumped ahead early and held off an ASU rally to win the game 5-2. Calvin College went on to top Georgia and captured the Division III National Championship.
ASU's weekend wasn't over after the loss though. The team was still in contention for a medal and Lisogar commended his players for not letting the disappointing semi-final loss disrupt a shot at some hardware.
"The guys displayed a tremendous amount of heart after [Friday's] loss," he said.
Forward Travis Veit made sure the intensity level on the ASU bench stayed where it should have been for a medal game. He led his team to the win over IUP with two goals, two assists and a handful of jarring hits.
"I'm never not hyped-up," said the 22-year-old Minnesota native who feels it's his job to get his teammates excited during the game.
Special teams played a large role in ASU's win over IUP as the first three goals of the game were scored on the power play.
IUP struck first off a rebound in the second period but ASU answered with a slap shot from the point only three minutes later. Veit weaved a wrister through traffic to give ASU the lead with just under five minutes to go in the period.
Another ASU goal, just after an Ice Devil penalty that ended halfway through the third period, started the countdown for a medal.
Veit finished off the game with an empty-net goal to start the celebration. Players mobbed their goalie after the game and then went to the locker room after acknowledging their fans.
"To finish third in front of our fans is something special," Lisogar said.
Reach the reporter at cameron.eickmeyer@asu.edu.
