TEMPE – Sun Devil Hockey dropped the series finale against No. 4 North Dakota Saturday night at Mullett Arena, losing 5-3.
Sophomore defenseman and North Dakota native Brasen Boser opened the scoring for the Sun Devils, netting his first goal of the season at 7:21 of the first period. Freshman forward Sam Alfano added to the lead on a power play goal to make it 2-0 Arizona State just two minutes later.
No. 4 North Dakota (20-6-0, 12-4-0 NCHC) struck back with a power play goal of its own to end the first period, but ASU (12-13-1, 5-8-1 NCHC) landed the first blow of the second period as sophomore forward Logan Morrell found the back of the net on the power play to make it 3-1.
After 14-plus minutes without a goal in the second period, the Fighting Hawks made it 3-2 with a goal coming at the 19:38 mark of the period. The late goal wound up being the first of four unanswered goals for the Fighting Hawks, putting the Sun Devils in a deficit they couldn’t overcome in the 5-3 final.
ASU will head back on the road to begin a weekend series at Colorado College, starting Friday, Jan. 30, with puck drop slated for 7 p.m. MST. Game coverage can be found at NCHC.tv, with Alex Coil and Tyler Paley on the call on Fox Sports 910AM.
Period-by-period breakdown
First period
- Boser netted his first goal of the season and the game’s first goal with Schimek and Lucius assisting on the slapshot.
- Shortly after Boser’s goal, Alfano snuck one past NoDak’s goaltender, Jan Špunar, to give the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead.
- The Fighting Hawks netted a goal on the man-advantage to cut the Sun Devils’ lead in half with 6:48 remaining in the opening frame. ASU would maintain its one-goal lead heading into the intermission.
Second period
- The Maroon and Gold made the most of an early power play, as Logan Morrell slotted ASU’s third goal of the game at the 5:28 mark.
- North Dakota scored a goal with less than 30 seconds left in the second period to come within one goal.
Third period
- The final frame opened with a Fighting Hawks offensive push to tie up the game at three.
- North Dakota broke the tie at the 9:31 mark with a go-ahead goal on a wrist shot
- The Fighting Hawks then put things out of reach with a power play goal coming at 17:06 of the third period.
Game notables
- Defenseman Brasen Boser buried his first goal of the season and first goal in 30 games, with the last coming on Feb. 1, 2025, at Miami (W, 4-1).
- Cruz Lucius recorded two assists for the eighth time this season, pushing his season total to 23, which is tied for third in the NCHC with Schimek.
- Schimek and Lucius’ 23rd assists of the season now tie them with Brinson Pasichnuk for the eighth-most single-season assists in program history.
- Schimek is now the ninth Sun Devil in program history to eclipse 70 career points (25G, 45A).
- Additionally, Schimek has now reached 45 assists as a Sun Devil, tying Ty Jackson for the eighth-most assists in program history.
- Kyle Smolen tallied his 60th career point with a primary assist on Morrell’s goal. All 60 of Smolen’s points are as a Sun Devil.
- Freshman goaltender Samuel Urban set a career high with 40 saves. It’s the fourth time an ASU goaltender has tallied 40+ saves this season.
- ASU’s special teams managed to kill off five of the seven North Dakota power plays and scored two goals while on the man-advantage.
Quotables
Arizona State Head Coach Greg Powers
On Samuel Urban’s performance in the net
“Urbs (Samuel Urban) was good. He was really good, especially in the first two periods. I want to see our goalies lock it down a little bit more in the third period both nights, but none of those goals were his fault.”
On the crowd’s presence all weekend:
“The crowd was incredible. The students were incredible. We gave them two really exciting periods, both nights, and in the third, both nights got away from us. It felt a lot like Penn State. And it's really just unfortunate. You could say those are the four biggest home games of the year. We didn't get a win in any of them to date, and we had the lead in three of the four going into the third. If you had told me at the start of the year, I would have never believed it. But it is what it is, we got to learn from it and push forward.”
On Brasen Boser’s goal and the absence of injured players
“It was awesome. We’re starting to get some production from the back, which is huge, and we’re going to need it with the guys we have up front. And you could feel (Cullen) Potter’s absence today, just the speed that we’re missing and the ability to drive plays, and that’s usually 22 to 24 minutes that we’re reliant on, with that kind of dynamic player. So they’re gonna have to adjust, and guys are gonna have to continue to step up.”
Arizona State Forward Bennett Schimek
On Samuel Urban’s performance
“He was awesome. He was a stud all night, made some huge saves, kept us in the game, and we let him down.”
On Mullett Arena’s atmosphere
“It was an awesome environment. Obviously, the North Dakota fans travel well, but I thought our fans did a great job showing out. They’re very loud. Occasionally, those Sioux fans tried to make an impact, and our fans went right back at them and got even louder, so it was awesome to see that.”
Arizona State Forward Cruz Lucius
On the biggest takeaways from this series
“It’s just that we gotta learn how to hold the lead, that starts with the older guys and down, that can’t happen, especially because we know they’re a good team. They’re heavy and quick. A few unforced errors too at the start of the 3rd, just buying in. We didn’t do that.”