Arizona State Pulls Out Late Victory Over Wildcats
Story, photo courtesy of NMU Sports Information. (NMU photo) MARQUETTE, Mich. - The NMU hockey team welcomed the Arizona State Sun Devils to the Berry Event Center for the first time in program history, and the visitors brokw a 1-1 tie late and added and empty-net goal to beat the 'Cats, 3-1. A tightly-checked back-and-forth game, the teams skated 1-1 until three minutes remained in the third when the Sun Devils eventually broke the tie. When asked about his overall thoughts on the game, head coach Dave Shyiak said that he gives his group a lot of credit for how they performed tonight. "I talked to our group and I don't want them to sag their heads. [Arizona State] is a good skating team, they were starving to get a win, and they've got 10 or 11 seniors that have played a lot of college games. But when push came to shove, our guys showed urgency; we had to kill that five-minute major, which is tough to do against a skilled team, and it was 1-1 in our building… we were right there, I thought the game was there to be won tonight, and I liked a lot of what we did tonight." Anthony Cliche scored his second goal in as many games from the blue line, tying the game at that point, with assists from Tynan Ewart and Danny Ciccarello. With that assist, Danny picked up his first career Wildcat point. Ryan Ouellette was spectacular once again between the pipes, making multiple cross-crease saves and even sprawling back to pull the puck from the goal line to keep the 'Cats in the game. Ouellette made 37 saves for a .949 SV% on the evening. The 'Cats continued to be terrific on the penalty kill, going 2/2 on the night which included killing an entire five-minute major in the middle frame. The 'Cats were only awarded one power play opportunity on the night. |