(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
Brinson Pasichnuk, Louie Rowe and Jakob Stridsberg led the Sun Devils to victory in a eight-point game between the three.
In a back-and-forth game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the UMass-Amherst Minutemen, the defensive pairing and Rowe were able to break the ice to get the Devils to open up the scoring.
Stridsberg scored on a breakaway just over halfway through the first period with Pasichnuk and Rowe donning the assists. The trio followed up again in the second period, this time with Rowe getting the goal.
The captains’ line, composed of Rowe, Anthony Croston and Dylan Hollman, proved why they earned their letters. With Rowe racking up four points and two for each Croston and Hollman, the line led the freshmen Sun Devils in showing them the ropes of NCAA style.
“I felt they handled it great,” Rowe said about the newcomers. “I thought our speed was great, the decision making was fast. I think they pushed the pace, and I think those guys are fitting into the program perfectly.”
A key component for tonight involved the shut down for UMass’ strongest players. With two NHL draft picks, Arizona State knew that to ensure a win, they needed to put pressure on Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro.
The Sun Devils, for the better part of the game, kept the puck in UMass’ zone. By focusing on special teams during practice, the team was able to take more initiative of the puck on power plays, which gave the Devils one goal, and run the clock on power kills.
“We’ve put a lot of work into it this week,” ASU coach Greg Powers said.
Both teams had an evenly played game with ASU earning one more power play over UMass, though Powers stated that the Devils still found areas the team needed to improve on before tomorrows game.
“We could be way better,” Powers said. “We could manage the puck much better and we’re going to look at that in film and we will look better than we did tonight.”
ASU defeated UMass 5-3. The teams’ next game is tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena.
