Chris Osgood and Dominik Hašek, Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo, Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halák —all are iconic goalie tandems in the hockey history book. ASU senior Luke Pavicich and junior Gibson Homer are adding their names to the list.
ASU has come into the season with a different approach between the pipes as Pavicich and Homer split games. The duo has been the backbone of the Sun Devils' defense as they currently hold a 17-11-2 record and sit at 12th in the latest USCHO poll.
"They've both won big games and it's nice to have two," said head coach Greg Powers. "When you go into a league like this the first year, we felt like we needed two guys that we could rely on and they've both been great."
Goalies of seasons present
So far this season, Pavicich has started 18 games and boasts an 11-7-0 record with a 2.37 goals against average (GAA) and a .912 save percentage. Homer has started 13 games with a 6-4-2 record, a 2.64 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
Pavicich has been the Sun Devils' 1A in goal. The transfer from UMass Lowell has turned around his collegiate career, improving from a 3.61 GAA and a .885 save percentage to his respectable stats at ASU. Pavicich believes part of his success is thanks to the confidence boost of being backed by Homer.
"It's great because no matter who's playing, you want to win," Pavicich said. "That's been my mindset as well ... Our coach talks about wanting to be in Saint Louis."
Behind 1A Pavicich sits 1B Homer. The third season Sun Devil veteran started the season strong, landed on the Mike Richter Award Watch List, and is 4-1-1 since being named to the watchlist.
Recently, Homer has been debuting in the second game of the team's weekend series. He was in the net for the majority of the 6-5 win against No. 6 Denver before being pulled and was in goal for the Sun Devils' most recent win against Minnesota Duluth in a shootout.
Senior forward Ty Jackson has seen plenty of different goalies in net as a transfer from Northeastern and a former USHL player and recognizes the unique situation in goal at ASU.
"I haven't been on many teams where we've had two goalies like this," Jackson said. "So to have them, whether Gibby's in or Pav's in, we're really confident as a team that they're going to make the stops we need them to make and we just need to do our job."
Goalies of seasons past
2023-24
Last season saw starter TJ Semptimphelter play 26 games while backup Homer played 14.
Semptimphelter posted a 16-5-4 record with a 2.52 GAA and a .908 save percentage. Meanwhile, Homer had a 8-3-2 record with a 2.04 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
This season has seen better play from Homer and the team's 1A and 1B setup after using a one-two rotation last season. The share of starts is more even this season as the Sun Devils swap out goalies nightly.
2022-23
The 2022-23 season was drastically different from the team's current goalie theory. That season, Semptimphelther started 36 of 42 games while Ben Kraws played six.
Semptimphelter had a 15-21-0 record with a 2.84 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Kraws posted a 3-0-0 record with a 2.19 GAA and a .926 save percentage.
Semptimphelter making most starts is incredibly different from what Pavicich and Homer are doing. This season's shakeup has brought more success than the team's previous lopsided goalie tandem.
2019-20
The 2019-20 season was the last in which ASU made the NCAA tournament. Evan DeBrouwer started 34 games while his backup, Max Prawdzik, played nine.
DeBrouwer posted a 19-11-3 record with a 2.52 GAA and a .919 save percentage, while Prawdzik posted a 3-0-0 record with a 3.41 GAA and a .880 save percentage.
It is fair to say the Sun Devils goaltending didn't get the team to its first NCAA tournament. Now, ASU has a chance to make it back to the tournament, and the team's ability to use two goaltenders has its chances at returning to the tournament that much stronger.
"It's every single night, just easy to trust them," said graduate defenseman Noah Beck. "It's easy to play for them and we want them to do so well. So it doesn't matter who is in net, we're playing just as hard to get them their win."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
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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.
