After an unsuccessful road trip to Kalamazoo, losing 6-2 and 7-2 to Western Michigan, the Arizona State Sun Devils (6-13-1) found themselves in trouble, just one point ahead of last-place Omaha.
Arizona State got the chance to create some much-needed breathing room with a weekend series against the Omaha Mavericks (6-14-0) namely, the Sun Devils needed to avoid last place to make the NCHC Tournament.
But it didn’t happen.
The Devils struck first, on a 3-on-2 rush; senior Bennett Schimek found fellow senior Cruz Lucius, who fired a wrister past Omaha goalkeeper Simon Latkoczy, for Lucius’s thirteenth goal of the year giving the Devils a 1-0 lead.
The lead lasted 59 seconds, as Maverick’s captain Griffin Luedtke fired a shot from the blue line that was tipped in by freshman winger Marcus Nguyen to tie the game at one.
Shortly after the goal, Omaha got their first power play opportunity when ASU senior Tucker Ness went off for interference.
On the power play, Omaha sophomore Brett Hyland was able to find some open ice in front of the net and fool senior goalie Connor Hasley with a forehand-backhand finish, giving Omaha a 2-1 lead.
ASU’s power play got their first opportunity with 1:02 left in the first period, due to Hyland picking up a two-minute minor for interference.
Omaha’s kill held strong for the remaining time in the period keeping the lead 2-1 heading into first intermission.
ASU started the second period with 58 seconds left on the power play.
But the Devil’s power play didn’t register a shot on goal, and Omaha’s penalty kill kept it 2-1.
Six minutes into the second period, Lucius took a two-minute minor for slashing, giving the Mavericks their second power play.
Despite four shots on goal during the power play, Hasley and the Sun Devils penalty kill were able to keep it 2-1 Mavericks.
Three minutes after the kill, ASU’s power play unit got their second shot, after Omaha senior Jacob Guévin went to the box for interference.
ASU’s power play registered just one shot on goal, and the score stayed 2-1.
ASU got one more power play opportunity before the end of the period, but once again didn’t register a shot during the power play, and Omaha carried their 2-1 lead into second intermission. With just 37 seconds into the third, ASU sophomore Sam Court took a tripping penalty, giving the Mavericks their third power play of the night.
Some beautiful passing from the Mavericks led to a wide-open freshman Jérémy Loranger in the slot for a wrister into the back of the net to make it 3-1 Mavericks.
Six minutes later Omaha sophomore Trevor Wong found a wide-open Nguyen for a breakaway; Nguyen finished the breakaway between Hasley’s legs making it 4-1.
The Sun Devils got one back, as the puck went behind the net, and Latkoczy went to retrieve it.
Out of nowhere Lucius stole the puck and wrapped around the net for his second goal of the night and his fortieth point of the year, making it 4-2 Mavericks.
ASU pulled their goalie with 1:45 left, but nothing resulted from it, leading to ASU’s sixth straight loss.
With the loss to Omaha, Arizona State has officially entered last place in the NCHC with three games left in the regular season.
Postgame, head coach Greg Powers expressed his frustration being in last place.
“It’s embarrassing,” Powers said. “Hopefully our guys are embarrassed about it. It’s the same messaging, it’s the same everything. A year ago, at this point we were still fighting to win the damn thing.”
ASU will get another try at Omaha Saturday to try and take back eighth place and a spot in the conference tournament.
