With less than a week to go until its opener on the road against Notre Dame, ASU hockey played a Maroon and Gold scrimmage at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe on Saturday.
The game ended with a third-period comeback and a game-winning goal in overtime by freshman defenseman Jakob Stridsberg that gave the Maroon squad a 4-3 victory.
“We had a long shift right there, and I had a great pass by (freshman forward Brett) Gruber,” Stridsberg said. "It just felt really good.”
Stridsberg is new to the Sun Devils after being recruited from the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL. He’s a native of Jonkoping, Sweden.
“We’ve been practicing a couple weeks now, and I think we played good,” he said. “It’s always hard to play with new guys, but I think we did a pretty good job.”
Maroon had been down 3-1 before scoring four unanswered goals in the third period and overtime. All were at even strength, including the OT game-winner while the teams played 3-on-3.
Though the third period and overtime saw plenty of scoring, the first period went scoreless. Then, just 15 seconds into the second period, Gold got on the board first with a goal from last year’s scoring leader, sophomore forward Jordan Masters.
Midway through that second frame, Maroon tied the game on a goal from senior forward Ryan Belonger, just as Gold had finished killing a penalty.
“(There were) a lot of little things, small details that we’re going to have to fix, but it was definitely good,” Belonger said of the game as a whole. “We had a really good pace out there and I think our condition was right where it needs to be.”
Meanwhile, all three Sun Devil goalies – freshman Joey Daccord, sophomore Ryland Pashovitz and senior Robert Levin – saw equal playing time on a rotational basis throughout the scrimmage. ASU head coach Greg Powers commended Daccord on his performance, but wouldn’t explicitly name a starter for Saturday’s season opener.
“We have a tough decision,” he said. “Obviously tonight, Joey was the best goalie of the three, but consistently throughout the month, they’ve all been really good. So we have a tough decision to make, but again, it’s one that we relish in, because it’s a position you need depth at.”
Nonetheless, Powers noted strong performances by his goaltenders in practices prior to Saturday, which he said have been mostly in scrimmage format.
“I thought they both probably struggled a little bit (tonight),” Powers said. “With Rob (Levin), that’s probably the first time over the last month he’s struggled in any way. He’s been really good. And Pash has had a last two weeks of practice that have gone really well. He didn’t have the best night, but that’s okay. We had one guy that was really good, and at the end of the day, that’s all you need.”
The Sun Devils embark on their first all-Division I season on Friday when they face Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Related Links:
ASU hockey's Desert Hockey Classic moves to Prescott
ASU hockey announces 2016-17 home opponents
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
