In the first of its final two games at home this season, ASU hockey downed Simon Fraser University by a wide margin of 8-1.
The game was technically an exhibition match, as SFU plays in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL), not the NCAA. Still, Simon Fraser (15-4-0-2), of Vancouver, entered the game with an impressive record and a red-hot goaltender in Lyndon Stanwood, but took the loss.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to show up the same way,” said head coach Greg Powers. “Our guys, all week, we talked about finding our identity. I think we found it. It doesn’t matter who you play, our identity is who we are.”
Though the stats in the game don’t count towards ASU’s NCAA numbers, freshman defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk nonetheless tallied a hat trick.
Brinson Pasichnuk has his third of the night. @SunDevilHockey now leads 8-0 in the third period on the heels of Pasichnuk's hat trick. pic.twitter.com/8BxvniKTtj
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) February 11, 2017
“Felt pretty good, it hasn’t happened this year yet. When it happened tonight, I was pretty excited," Pasichnuk said. "Even though (these last games) aren’t counting towards our stats, we’ve still got to come out and play as hard as we can.”
The Sun Devils outshot SFU 42-20, while senior Robert Levin was in the net and made 19 stops. Powers said earlier in the week that Levin would play both of the games for this senior weekend.
The shutout is over. Levin is playing well, but SFU gets on the board in the third. 8-1 ASU now.
— Matt J. Layman (@mattjlayman) February 11, 2017
“(He was) great. Rob was awesome. He was poised and had to do what he had to do back there. Those are tough games to play in where you don’t see a lot of action and then you might get a grade-A out of nowhere. But he was sharp.
“He’ll go again tomorrow on senior night and hopefully end his career the same way we played tonight.”
Levin played well, but Simon Fraser never had more than 10 shots in a period. They also went 0-for-3 on the power play and allowed ASU to get two power play goals in four chances.
Pasichnuk said now that he’s able to reflect on an almost complete season, he thinks the team has progressed mightily – and it’s shown in recent box scores.
“Huge. It’s been mind-blowing, honestly. Starting the year 1-and-9, then coming in after Christmas and beating the ranked teams we have, it’s been really incredible. It’s a great thing to build off of for next year and we’re all really excited about it."
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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