In their long awaited return to Oceanside Arena, ASU hockey battled back and forth for the win against the University of Alberta Golden Bears, eventually it would take extra time to decide and the Sun Devils would prevail 5-4 in a shootout with the game officially ending in a tie.
Junior goaltender Robert Levin got the nod for his second consecutive start, looking to stifle a Golden Bears squad that had everything working for them offensively over the previous two games, scoring 14 goals.
"Rob was really good at Clarkson, he has been phenomenal at practice for three weeks now since he has been up and going," head coach Greg Powers said. "He's playing like himself."
The first goal didn't take long to arrive, however, as Kruise Reddick poked in a rebound to give Alberta an early 1-0 advantage. Multiple stoppages delayed play for the following five minutes as the net behind Levin continued to wiggle loose, ultimately resulting in a disallowed goal that would've put the Golden Bears up 2-0 early.
The Sun Devils got even nearly 11 minutes later, scoring their first of the game as freshman forward Matt Kennedy tipped a long shot from starting sophomore defenseman Edward McGovern passed Alberta goaltender Luke Siemens, it was just the fifth shot thrown his direction. Freshman defenseman Joey Raats assisted on the goal and the game went to intermission tied 1-1.
The second period of play looked awfully familiar to the first. Freshman forward Ryan Stevens made his way to the penalty box just 1:14 into the frame to serve a minor hooking penalty, and it took the Golden Bears only 37 seconds to capitalize, pushing a power play goal passed Levin's outstretched pad. Stephane Legault was credited with the goal assisted by starting defenseman Thomas Carr.
This time the Devils responded quickly as graduate forward Liam Norris threaded a beautiful pass from behind the net to junior forward Ryan Ostertag who pounded it inside the post to tie the game at 2-2.
"I think our line was really clicking," Ostertag said following the game. "I really like playing with Liam and (Belonger) and it worked out nicely."
Both teams would successfully kill a penalty, and the following 13 minutes were free of goals, although both teams missed on juicy rebound chances in front of each net. Absent of any visible reason, the Golden Bears swapped out Siemens at goalie for Marc-Olivier Daigle, who made his debut for the Bears entering the game with 9:28 to play.
ASU jumped on the fresh goaltender quickly as Ostertag was fed another beautiful pass, this time from junior forward Ryan Belonger, leading to a breakaway and a highlight-reel snipe from Ostertag, his second of the game, knocking the water bottle off the top of Alberta's net.
The Golden Bears still out-shot the Devils for the second consecutive period, this time 10-7, bringing the shot total to 25-17 to end the second period.
The wild ride in Tempe was far from over, however, as Alberta got the equalizer and then the lead midway through the final frame. Things were looking bleak for the Sun Devils, trailing 4-3 as goaltender Robert Levin vacated the net with just over one minute remaining.
ASU earned an offensive faceoff after the net was dislodged, then Belonger got his second point of the night and nearly lifted the roof off the building, slapping the puck to the back of the net with seconds to spare. The buzzer sounded and regulation was not enough to separate the two teams.
"Me and along with everyone else that was on the ice was heading to the front of the net, I knew there wasn't much time left," Belonger said. "Luckily it bounced off his shin pad and wound up on my tape and I just buried it."
After a scoreless overtime that featured a 4-on-3 opportunity for the Sun Devils following an Alberta penalty, the two tired teams remained tied 4-4. Although the game would officially go down as a tie, the teams prepared for an exhibition shootout to claim bragging rights after a hard fought game.
Levin sent a shot wide on his end, and then Jordan Masters went bar-down, beating Daigle and giving ASU the edge to start the shootout. Levin would spread his pads and hold firm in round two, and freshman Charlie Zuccarini sniped the game-winner to send fans home happy.
"Shootouts are weird," Powers said. "When you lose them, and you know you just tied ... it's somber, you have the feeling of a loss. When you win them, it's elation."
The Sun Devils drop the puck against the Golden Bears for the second game of the series Saturday, Dec 5 at Oceanside Arena at 7:30pm.
Reach the reporter at csafran@asu.edu and follow @ChrisSafran on Twitter.
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