(Tempe, AZ) Fighting for positioning in the PairWise rankings with a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament in March, No. 10/11 Arizona State Ice Hockey (16-5-5) fell to the brawn of No.17/18 Cornell (8-4-3), 4-1, Saturday night at Mullett Arena. Sophomore Gibson Homer made his fifth appearance of the season, saving all 22 shots he faced in 35 minutes of action and holding the Big Red scoreless.
“He was unbelievable to go in cold,” said head coach Greg Powers on Homer’s performance. “We gave up two, two-on-ones and a breakaway and Gibby made big saves on all of them, that got him into the game right away and he was great. It was great to see. He gave us a little bit of energy and a little bit of life.”
Homer leads ASU netminders in goals against average (1.67) and save percentage (.934). He boasts a 2-0-2 all-time record after entering Saturday’s game as relief for TJ Semptimphelter, who received the loss to the Big Red on his record.
GAME NOTABLES
Sophomore Gibson Homer recorded 22 saves, it’s the fifth time this season he’s recorded 20 or more saves in an appearance.
Matthew Kopperud scored his 11th power-play goal of the season, leading the nation in power-play goals. It’s the senior’s 35th power-play goal of his Sun Devil career.
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- Tim Lovell recorded his 23rd assist of the season, ranking him third in the nation. It’s the 55th of his collegiate career.
- Lovell’s assist tied ASU alum Brinson Pasichnuk’s single-
- season record for assists by a defenseman (23A) set in 2019-20.
- Charlie Schoen recorded his 10th assist of the season.
First Period
The physicality from the night before carried over at the start of the game with each side being dubbed a penalty in the first two minutes. The Sun Devils had quality scoring chances in the opening ten minutes over the Big Red, outshooting them 9-6. Despite this, Cornell, for the third straight time against the Sun Devils, found the back of the net first, taking the early lead at the 7:20 mark in the opening frame. Cornell extended its lead three minutes later, leading 2-0 after the opening 20.
Second Period
Cornell added a third goal to its tally 14 seconds into the middle frame. Despite multiple ASU scoring opportunities later in the period, Cornell’s netminder was resilient in keeping the game at 3-0 going into the final frame.
Third Period
The Sun Devils opened the period with 1:58 on the man-advantage but were unable to generate any action with play quickly returning to full strength. The Sun Devils took advantage of back-to-back penalties by the Big Red which created a 5-on-3 opportunity in which Matthew Kopperud buried ASU’s sole goal of the game with about 10 minutes in regulation. Cornell added an empty net goal to solidify the result with three minutes remaining.
UP NEXT
ASU continues its home stand at Mullett Arena as host to first-year program Augustana on Friday, Jan. 19 and Saturday, Jan. 20. Puck drop for both games is set for 7 p.m. MST.
“We just have to win Friday. That’s all we’re focused on and we’ve proven we can go on a long unbeaten stretch. We gotta go on a winning streak right and win a bunch of games,” said head coach Greg Powers on looking ahead. “We have a group full of kids that can do it and they know they can do it. They can get it done. This is really the first real piece of adversity over the course of a weekend that we faced all year, our body work speaks for itself. We’ve beaten some very, very good hockey teams, got 16 wins, and not many losses. This doesn’t define us.”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Zach Wargo
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