The University of Denver hockey team had a thrilling weekend series against the No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils in the new Mullett Arena. Two very hard-fought resilient games from both teams highlighted the series split.
The Crimson and Gold came out strong on Friday night with high energy, but they would succumb to a powerplay goal by ASU via a net-front scramble goal.
In a relatively quiet first period in terms of offense, the Crimson and Gold would get on the board with a shorthanded goal from junior forward Carter King late in the first frame.
The second period of play would pick up drastically for both teams a total of four goals were scored in the middle period. The first was a point shot from freshman defenseman Zeev Buim, who fired a five-hole shot on ASU’s goaltender TJ Semtimphelter early in the period.
A common theme of the game was the quick answer goals from the Sun Devils who would pick up their play after getting scored against. This theme led to the second goal of the period being scored by ASU a little over a minute after DU scored a multitude of times.
DU would take a cross-checking penalty late in the second period, but the highly aggressive penalty kill would get the job done with another short-handed goal. King buried his second of the night after he capitalized on a defensive zone turnover by ASU.
“The speed of the forward group and down-ice pressure to create turnovers is a good way to build confidence on the PK,” said Head Coach David Carle during the post-game press conference.
ASU continued with the quick bounceback re-tying the game for the second time on a powerplay goal late in the middle frame.
The third period was an electric factory with another four goals being scored. For DU, freshman forward Mikko Matikka would score two big goals in the third, The first was a power-play goal from a cross-checking penalty that carried over from the last minute of the second period. Matikka buried a loose puck that was shot from the point to give DU the lead again, 4-3.
Carle liked the production he saw from his depth forwards in Friday’s night contest.
“From the strong top line, it allowed us to fiddle with the bottom nine and we were able to find some good chemistry within our middle six with the Thompson line and King line. I liked both those lines tonight,” he said.
A little over a minute later, ASU would answer again, scoring on a loose puck.
At the ten-and-a-half mark of the final period, Matikka would score again on another loose puck. A fantastic pinch play by freshman defenseman Garrett Brown to keep the puck in the offensive zone would allow Matikka to give the lead back to Denver.
For the fourth time of the night, ASU answered three minutes later with a goal scored by Dylan Jackson, who completed the hat trick with the equalizer. Jackson buried a shot that beat freshman goalie Freddie Halyk through the blocker, erupting the Mullet Arena crowd again.
Overtime was just as electric as the other three periods as a multitude of chances were exchanged.
ASU would end the game on a three-on-two situation, sending fans into a frenzy.
Saturday’s game was a big test for the Crimson and Gold as well against the Sun Devils, who could get the upper hand on the final game of this weekend’s series in the desert.
The first period was all ASU. A faster, cleaner ASU team came out blazing against Denver in the first frame.
Denver would take a holding penalty at the 14:15 mark of the first period and late on the powerplay, and ASU took advantage to score the first goal of the game. A deflection goal off of a Denver defenseman’s skate left Denver with an unlucky deficit early in the game.
The ASU power-play goal got Mullett into the game early, and, 51 seconds later, ASU tallied another goal from a rebound that bounced off of Halyk’s left pad. The ASU right defenseman was able to sneak down toward the right dot to pound home the second goal for the Sun Devils.
ASU’s offensive surge would continue in the second period with an ASU goal scored five minutes into the period after a breakaway goal that beat Halyk clean through the five-hole.
ASU’s offense wouldn’t continue for long as senior forward and captain McKade Webster would score a big goal for Denver at the 13-minute mark of the period.
DU answered with a goal on a delayed penalty from Matikka who scored his third of the weekend. Junior forward Jack Devine got in on the offense with a goal to tie the game at 3-3.
The Crimson and Gold received a powerplay, which resulted in a goal from Devine who would score two straight goals on the night extending his collection of goals over the season to ten.
The third and final frame would bring more offense with five goals being scored in the third. The first came from sophomore forward Jared Wright on a nice deflection toward the net off the rush to give Denver a two-goal lead early in the third.
ASU would answer back with a powerplay goal of their own from the Colorado native Matthew Kopperud who brought ASU back within one after a one-timer from the right faceoff dot.
DU would seal the game with two empty net goals late in the game, from King and sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz. To put the icing on the cake, DU would score their eighth goal of the night on a rush shot from freshman forward Sam Harris.
After the high offensive playoff-like atmosphere series, Denver hockey will return home to play NCHC opponent Omaha on Nov. 17-18 at Magness Arena. Both games are available to stream on NCHC.TV or available to listen to on the radio at 104.3 HD3.
