The No.18 Arizona State Sun Devils (19-6-6) managed to pull off a gutsy 2-0 win in a tough battle against the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks (12-11-2) on Friday night, despite being outshot 37-19.
“They just play hard, they’re well coached, they are always above pucks, they trap hard, and their gaps are good,” head coach Greg Powers said. “They are not fun or easy to play against at all.”
It was another slow start for the Sun Devils consisting of careless efforts with the puck in their own end and questionable puck management that gave the Nanooks a few quality looks early on in the first period. Sophomore goaltender Gibson Homer was able to shut the door allowing his team the opportunity to find their legs.
“He was awesome, he was sharp […] Gibby made some huge saves when he had to and he was just in control of the game […] It just felt like with how square he was that they weren’t going to get one by him,” Powers said.
At 14:31 in the first period, the Sun Devils finally managed to register their first shot on goal, and from that point on they took control for the rest of the period. The Nanooks couldn’t set up in the offensive zone at all and spent the rest of the period in their own end.
Right off the draw with 9:31 left in the first period sophomore forward Charlie Schoen ripped one high blocker side past the Nanooks senior goaltender Pierce Charleson to open the scoring. Schoen collected his fifth goal of the year.
The Sun Devils came out with the same type of lackadaisical energy to start the second period and the Nanooks took advantage of that showcasing their first decent amount of offensive zone pressure. Less than two minutes in Nanooks graduate forward Jonny Sorenson rang one of the post.
Midway through the second period, the Sun Devils had their first opportunity on the man advantage and they made sure to make it count just like they have done all season.
Senior forward Lukas Sillinger showed great patience around the perimeter before dishing a perfect pass right into the slot for senior forward Ty Jackson to bury home. Jackson, in his first game back since Dec.1 found himself with his second point of the night and fourth goal of the season to give the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead.
“Obviously you always want to contribute whenever you can so being out that long can be a bit difficult and you’re usually a bit worried when you come back […] you want to fit in, you want to be back where you were before so yea it felt good for sure,” said Jackson.
Not too long after ASU took a 2-0 lead, freshman forward Kyle Smolen was assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for contact to the head.
The Nanooks had countless quality chances on their power play but could not solve Homer, who stopped all 10 shots and finished the night with 37 saves and his first career NCAA shutout.
“It was actually my first shutout in like three years so it’s definitely good to get that one off the back and I’m just glad we stayed out of the box more than last game,” said Homer.
Alaska Fairbanks came out with another dominating start in the third period, throwing everything they could at Homer. ASU spent virtually no time in the offensive zone, unable to try to extend their lead. With five minutes left to play in the third the Sun Devils only managed to muster up one shot on goal.
The Nanooks pulled their goalie with 2:10 left to go in a last-ditch effort to try and make something out of this game but Homer and the Sun Devils pulled through.
“They were good tonight they played hard they played well, the game obviously could have gone either way. They were the better team in the back half of the game starting with that five-minute power play and yet our guys found a way to get it done,” Powers said.
This was the first game out of four straight against the Nanooks. The Sun Devils are right back at it again Saturday night for game two; puck drop is set for 5 p.m. MST at the Mullett.
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