(Photo:Allyson Cummings/WCSN)
In a high-scoring affair, Michael Cummings’ hat trick stole the show, leading the Sun Devils to an 8-5 victory over Central Oklahoma.
ASU split the first two games of the opening weekend, falling 5-3 against Oklahoma and pummeling Central Oklahoma 7-2. Both the Bronchos and the Sun Devils were looking to start the second half 2-1 when they faced off Saturday night.
The first period featured a matchup of one of the best offenses in the ACHA against one of the best goaltenders in the ACHA. Central Oklahoma did what they do best, creating scoring opportunities and firing away at Robert Levin. Levin came up huge in a few tricky situations, but allowed Matt Prigge to score on a deflection and was screened during a Trevor Yee shot from the blue line.
The Sun Devils tied up the game 1-1 when they took advantage of a 4-on-3 situation. Jordan Young dished to Ed McGovern, who launched a missile to the top left shelf.
“[Jordan Young] gave me a sweet pass and I used a screen and found the back of the net,” McGovern said.
Later in the period, Bretton Patchett was under the impression that he had covered up Kyle Bowen’s try. However, the puck had squirted up into the air, where Michael Cummings was in position to score.
It was open season on the ice in the second period. The Sun Devils surged ahead early on. Tommy Cooney was plowed by Peter Kressner, but unfortunately for Kressner, the puck bounced directly to McGovern. McGovern quickly found Chris Burkemper for the assist. Cummings skipped the puck off of Patchett’s pad to take a 4-2 lead that vanished almost as quickly as it came.
The Bronchos scored a couple of goals off of rebounds thanks to Travis Wellman and Rylan Duley. Central Oklahoma took momentum into the locker room after the second period, as Brandon Formosa opened Levin up and slid the puck in for a short-handed score.
“It didn’t surprise me that that happened. That’s a team that never goes away. They are a good team. We didn’t waver and we swept them at home. We’ll take it,” said Powers.
The shootout carried into the third period, but the lead Central Oklahoma held did not. The Sun Devils dominated the final period. Within seconds, a couple of rebounds off of Patchett turned into a David Norris wrap-around goal, his second score in as many games as a Sun Devil. Cummings completed his hat trick by lazering the puck above the Bronchos’ goalie’s blocker.
“The net just seemed a little bit bigger tonight. Everything was just going in,” Cummings said.
Sean Murphy nailed the coffin shut by scoring twice within twenty seconds to put his team up by the final score of 8-5.
Especially after losing their first game of 2015, sweeping the second-ranked team in the nation is huge for Coach Powers and the Sun Devils. They hit the road and will play at St. Louis next week and will try to not look ahead to their showdown with highly ranked Stony Brook.
