In the tail end of a weekend series at Mullett Arena, Arizona State hockey (7-8-1, 3-4-1 NCHC) hosted Ohio State (6-8, 1-5 Big Ten) on Saturday night. Trailing the Buckeyes for the second straight night, the Sun Devils stormed back to win in overtime again, 4-3.
Sparky’s two overtime heroes were senior forward Cruz Lucius and sophomore forward Cullen Potter. Lucius lit the lamp in Game 1 on a 2-on-0 rush, while Potter scored the game-winner from the left-wing faceoff circle in Game 2.
“When I mixed up the lines … Potsy (Potter) just drove the play,” Arizona State coach Greg Powers said. “He was possessed. He just felt like he wasn’t going to let us lose the game.”
Saturday night’s victory saw the Sun Devils score four unanswered goals. Buckeye graduate student forward Adam Eisele’s power-play tally roughly six minutes into the third period put his side up 3-0. Thirty seconds later, the Maroon and Gold responded.
“Honestly, I think we just had a lot of confidence in ourselves,” Potter said on the momentum swing after freshman forward Jack Beck scored his fifth goal of the season — ASU’s first of the night. “I felt like ever since we scored that first goal, we were going to come back and definitely be in the game and win it.”
Three minutes later, Potter set up sophomore defenseman Joel Kjellberg for his first collegiate goal. It cut OSU’s lead down to one with 11:56 left in regulation.
“I think it’s really just the whole team, we’re coming together,” Potter said about scoring goals in four of his last five games. “It’s always good to get one under your belt, and it’s just the confidence that keeps rolling from there.”
The tide had turned at Mullett Arena: The Sun Devils were buzzing with chances coming left and right. Freshman forward Sam Alfano netted his third goal of the year from the slot, equalizing the score at three apiece. The three-goal scoring spree happened in just under seven minutes.
Moments later, Sparky rewarded its fan base with a fourth puck crossing the goal line. However, Lucius’s go-ahead goal was called back for a high stick earlier in Arizona State’s offensive-zone possession.
“That last 15 minutes, if that’s not relentless hockey, I don’t know what is,” Powers said. “First to pucks, winning battles, winning races, driving to the net, getting pucks to the net. It’s just everything we want to be, and I want to thank our fans because they didn’t leave.”
ASU senior goaltender Connor Hasley made 58 saves in the series, picking up victory No. 6 in net this year. After backstopping the Sun Devils to wins over then-No. 3 Denver and then-No. 6 North Dakota, the North Tonawanda, New York, native looks to continue to prove his case as the team’s lead netminder.
The Sun Devils are off next week before heading to Minnesota Duluth for a two-game series on Dec. 12 and 13 at Amsoil Arena.
Powers doubled down on his appreciation for this team and the need to play better.
“I’m as proud of this of this group as I’ve been out of any because a lot of people started counting us out,” Powers said. “That’s not lost on us. But the belief in our room is still there, and we’re right where we need to be after a big sweep.
“There’s no excuse. We have to find a way to play like we did in those last 15 minutes moving forward for the rest season. If we do, we’re going to play postseason hockey and probably go pretty deep because this team is really good when it wants to be.”
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