No. 12 ASU hockey stunned No. 3 Western Michigan 5-3 in a packed, electric Mullet Arena Friday night.
The closely fought matchup was a potential must-win scenario for the Sun Devils if they want to make the NCAA tournament, something they haven’t done since the 2019-20 season.
Their strength was beating Western Michigan at their own game, defense and goaltending. Senior goaltender Luke Pavicich earned a star as he finished the night with 39 saves on 42 shots.
"Luke was phenomenal, steady," head coach Greg Powers said. "He made big saves. He made the saves he was supposed to. He was probably our best player tonight."
READ MORE: ASU hockey winning more games with strong goalie tandem
Western Michigan goaltender Cameron Rowe came into the night with 1.88 goals against average. The Sun Devils exceeded that average in the first period alone.
The Sun Devils defense and forechecking were high caliber, and ASU finished the night with 33 blocked shots, something Pavicich said he appreciated.
"I was thanking them, hugging every single one of them, or trying to get to all of them when I went back in the locker room," Pavicich said. "But I hope people see that too. Like you just said, those blocks are big time."
The Sun Devils also capitalized off weak play from Western Michigan. In the first period, graduate forward Lukas Silinger picked a Bronco defenseman’s pocket and set up a graduate forward Ty Jackson goal. One minute and 11 seconds later, senior forward Ryan Kirwan scored on a shot from the side of the net, which is normally a routine save.
After a weak first period, Western Michigan’s speed and size began to show why they were the third-ranked team in the country after overwhelming the Sun Devils. The Broncos jumped back to tie the game after goals from Samuel Sjolund and Alex Bump.
The momentum shifted back to the Sun Devils when the physicality of the fourth line showed. Powers decided to play the bigger junior defenseman Tucker Ness over the more skillful junior forward Charlie Schoen.
"I just want to be heavy. I want to be heavy," Powers said. "We got a lot of a lot of light skill guys up there, and right now we don't need, we got plenty of skill to win games. And the decision tonight to get heavy was the right decision."
Western Michigan tied it early in the third period but the Sun Devils were solid from there. Jackson scored the go-ahead goal off a tip from a freshman defenseman Joel Kjellberg's shot. Sophomore forward Kyle Smolen sealed the game with an empty net goal.
The Sun Devils will return to Mullett Arena to face off against Western Michigan again on Saturday in a crucial game with postseason implications.
"Our fans have been incredible all year," Powers said. "And we owe our fans an even better effort tomorrow. We owe our fans another win."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Ramirez
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Niall is a junior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN and Blaze Radio.
