The ASU hockey team improved to 4-3 this season after it defeated the No. 9 Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-2) 5-3 at Oceanside Ice Arena Friday night.
Coming off a sweep of Air Force and then a bye week, the Sun Devils showed no signs of taking their foot off the gas against last season's NCAA tournament opponent.
“It was a great effort,” head coach Greg Powers said. “I thought we were really good, both teams were good. Any time you can beat a top 10 team, you don’t have anything to complain about. It was a really good win for our program.”
The Bobcats opened the scoring just 3:18 into the game with forward Skyler Brind’Amour putting a shot past sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer to give Quinnipiac an early lead.
However, a goal from ASU junior defenseman Jacob Wilson just 2:01 later tied the game.
"He’s one of our leaders," Powers said of Wilson. "He’s such a good player, such a good leader, such a good kid and we’re just happy to have him.”
Near the end of the first period, freshman forward Logan Jenuwine received a pass from fellow freshman Jacob Semik and scored a power-play goal to give ASU the lead.
“His first goal, that’s a goal-scorers goal,” Powers said. “College is a different game but he’s (Jenuwine) a gifted goal scorer. He’s going to be a prolific goal scorer for us and we knew that and we never lost faith in that.”
Jenuwine finished the game with two goals on three shots.
“Obviously it’s awesome to get the opportunity as a freshman to come in and do what I can to help the team win,” Jenuwine said. “At the same time, that was an amazing pass by Semik ... the end is easy. It’s the work that got it there that is the hard part.”
ASU continued its offensive success through the rest of the game. Midway through the middle period, sophomore defenseman Joshua Maniscalco unleashed a blistering one-timer that came off a fantastic pass from senior defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk to double the Sun Devils' lead.
Though the Sun Devils were able to build a small lead, Quinnipiac didn’t go away easily.
In the third period, Bobcats’ forward Ethan de Jong scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway and reduced the deficit to just one.
But shortly after, freshman defenseman Jack Judson gave ASU an insurance goal and recorded his first collegiate score on a shot from the slot.
“That’s what Juddy does,” Powers said. “The goal he had, that’s what he did in Juniors and (he) lived off that stuff.”
DeBrouwer, who was making his fifth consecutive start for the Sun Devils, saved 35 shots in the game.
“Evan was tremendous tonight,” Powers said. “He made some really big saves.”
The game featured a flurry of power-play opportunities for both teams, including a five-minute man-advantage for Quinnipiac after ASU sophomore forward Demetrios Koumontzis received a major penalty in the first period.
But, the defense held its ground, despite 38 Quinnipiac shots.
“They were amazing tonight, especially (during) that five-minute power play (Quinnipiac had),” DeBrouwer said of the defense and penalty-killing units. “At the end, it was just mayhem and a lot of pucks I couldn’t see (that) probably would’ve gone in if it weren’t for them laying their body on the line.”
The win helped bring a lot of confidence to the Sun Devils, especially after they were defeated by the Bobcats in a heartbreaking game last postseason.
“It felt great,” DeBrouwer said. “We really needed this one (especially) after what happened in last year’s tournament. It was such a team effort but we battled through it. It’s one of those ones that feels really good.”
ASU will face Quinnipiac again Saturday night, with a chance to sweep and pick up its fifth win of the season.
Reach the reporter at aklatsky@asu.edu and follow @averyklatsky on Twitter.
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