No. 12 Arizona State had another game go down as a tie against Dartmouth, which could hurt the Sun Devils tournament hopes going forward. (Erin Hjerpe / Inferno Intel)
For the second straight night, No. 12 Arizona State (11-3-4) and Dartmouth (2-3-5) went to overtime. As was the case on Friday, neither team was able to find the back of the net during the extra period and Saturday’s game at Mullet Arena ended in a 1-1 tie.
Unlike the first game, where ASU needed a desperate comeback to earn a draw, the Sun Devils controlled most of the game and outshot the Big Green 36-to-21.
Dartmouth sophomore goalie Cooper Black made 35 saves, including four in overtime, to hold off the Sun Devils offense. ASU sophomore goalie Gibson Homer had 20 saves in his first start since Nov. 4 against Stonehill.
“I thought that their goalie was unbelievable,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. “I mean, he’s 6-8 and athletic. And he was tremendous. I thought we were the better team. I thought we carried the play. Our powerplay wasn’t quite sharp tonight that hurt us. But our kill was good. And Gibby was good. You know, I felt like they weren’t going to score. It was just one of those games. I thought we were really good defensively.”
The Sun Devils were 0-for-3 on the man advantage, while Dartmouth’s powerplay was 1-for-4.
After a scoreless first period, Sun Devils graduate forward Brian Chambers gave ASU a 1-0 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the second period.
With a defender draped around him, Chambers circled the left faceoff circle towards the net and fired the puck on goal from his backhand. Junior forward Jackson Niedermayer whacked at the rebound, and the puck trickled above the goal line. From behind the net, Chambers poked home the loose rebound with one hand on his stick as he fell to the ice.
“I just wanted to take the puck hard to the net,” Chambers said. “And I think I got a bit lucky. I think I fell behind the net and my stick was out from the net and the puck was sitting in the crease. I kind of just whacked it in so it was a good play by Needs and I was just lucky to be there to tap it in.”
Niedermayer and senior forward Benji Eckerle were credited with an assist.
Chambers had a team-high six shots in the game. His performance helped the Sun Devils overcome the loss of senior forwards Dylan and Ty Jackson, who are out with injuries. Dylan Jackson is expected to return by the end of the month, while Ty Jackson is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
“Obviously missing Ty and Dylan is a big miss, especially with scoring,” Chambers said. “They know how to put the puck in the back of the net. But yeah, we have depth this year. I think that’s something Greg was huge on I think, as you’ve seen the guy step up in the lineup, they’ve done a great job.”
Three minutes after ASU took the lead, Tim Lovell’s cross-checking minor gave Dartmouth its third man-advantage of the game.
“Timmy took a dumb penalty,” Powers said. “It was a dumb penalty by a senior that just can’t happen after the whistle and they capitalized and that was probably the only way we’re gonna get one up tonight.”
On the power play, Dartmouth sophomore forward Cooper Flinton tied the game 1-1 on a wrist shot from above the left faceoff circle with 6:25 remaining in the period. Sophomore forward Luke Haymes and freshman forward Nikita Nikora both had an assist.
With four minutes left in the period, Sun Devils senior forward Matthew Kopperud had a breakaway and nearly put ASU ahead. From his backhand, he slipped the puck through Black’s five-hole, but it sailed inches wide of the post.
The Sun Devils had their best opportunity to win the game on another breakaway attempt with 25 seconds left in the three-on-three overtime. ASU senior forward Lukas Sillinger recovered a deflected puck from his zone and skated it across the ice with a Dartmouth defender trailing him, but Black made the save.
In the shootout, Neidermayer netted the winning goal in the sixth round. The game still goes down as a tie, as shootout points only factor into conference standings.
After 18 games played, this was the ninth overtime game of the season for the Sun Devils. To make the NCAA Tournament, ASU needs to tally more regulation wins to remain in the top 16 of the PairWise rankings.
“We got to win, simple as that,” Eckerle said. “So, gotta take advantage of every opportunity when we play good teams, like let’s take advantage of those. We have to make sure we take care of business when we play teams that we should beat.”
Next weekend is a good opportunity to do just that. ASU travels to Pittsburgh to play Robert Morris (No. 63 PairWise) on Friday. The two-game series kicks off four consecutive road games that end in Lake Placid, New York, where the Sun Devils will play in the Adirondack Winter Invitational on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30.
The Sun Devils will face Clarkson (No. 28 in PairWise) in the first game of the tournament, and then play No. 11 UMass-Amherst or No. 18 Cornell in the championship or the consolation game.
“The NCAA tournaments for our guys are always fun,” Powers said, “because we don’t get to play in a conference one. But we’re focused on next week, we got to go into Robert Morris who just swept Niagara this weekend. They’re going to be feeling good about their game and go on the road and get a couple wins.”