November 5, 2021
Tempe, Arizona
The University of Utah Men’s Division 1 team traveled to Oceanside Ice Arena for a 2-game set with the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe, Arizina. Game 1 did not go the Utes’ way, as they fell 6-3.
For Utah, goaltender Patrick O’Donnell made his first career ACHA Division 1 start. Early on, he looked good as ASU came out of the gates with all of the momentum firing plenty of shots. O’Donnell saw 6 shots within the first 3 minutes of the game, stopping them all.
Clayton Lackey of the Sun Devils was able to get a quick open wrist shot on O’Donnell, burying it blocker side for a 1-0 lead over the Utes. Utah responded 11 seconds later as ASU’s Joseph McGrath was called for a high sticking penalty. The Utes had 2 good looks on their special teams set up, but ASU goaltender Dawsin Rodin made some big saves for the Sun Devils to keep them ahead.
Five minutes later, the Utes commited a penalty of their own, as Steven Pawlow was rung up for a holding penalty. O’Donnell looked sharp on this PK, and made some big saves right on the doorstep. Utah killed the penalty, as the Sun Devils were then outshooting the Utes 8-1.
Just after the penalty expired, O’Donnell made a huge glove save in the splits to deny ASU a goal. Shortly thereafter, Karsen Wight for the Utes was called for goaltender interference. O’Donnell made a couple of big stops early on the PK, but ASU’s Brendan Studioso broke through to make the game 2-0.
With 3:43 to go in the 1st, Damon Porter from ASU scored on a low glove side wrister, making it 3-0 before the first came to an end.
After coming out flat, the Utes turned on the jets in the second period, coming all the way back to tie the game by the end of the period. The puck movement and pressure were both on full display in the second, as almost all passes were tape to tape.
After spending a bulk of the first 5 minutes in the ASU end, Wyatt Light out-skated the ASU defense on the counterattack and tucked the puck five hole on Rodin to put Utah on the board.
Utah was already climbing back in the shot department, then only trailing by four shots. Twenty-nine seconds after the Light goal, Utah playmaker Che Landikusic blasted a blocker side wrist shot just off the draw, bringing Utah to within 1.
Unfortunately for the Utes, O’Donnell went down with an injury at 13:22 in the second period. This forced Andrew Kelly into the game, who hasn’t been playing much due to a hip issue. Kelly made some big saves to keep the momentum rolling for the Utes.
With about 7:30 to go in the second, a huge empty net stop for the Utah defense in the crease kept the game within reach.
On a delayed boarding penalty against ASU, captain Alex King rushed down the ice after a few nice passes and flicked a quick wrister glove side on Rodin. This tied the game for the Utes with 6 minutes to go. Utah ended the second with all of the momentum, taking the shot lead 30-28.
“Somebody was tripped in our zone and I knew our goalie was heading off. We broke it out and Benji hit me on the far side. As I was going down 2 on 1 with Musick, I saw the D kind of cheat over for the pass and so I just ripped it and it ended up going in, “King said about his game tying goal.
Alternate captain Steven Pawlow liked what he saw from his squad in the second period saying “I saw a lot of heart in the second period. I think that’s a thing we need to focus on. Obviously going down 3-0 isn’t ideal, but the way we battled back and scored 3 answered is a high point. We need to figure out how to stay even keeled.”
The first 5 minutes of the third were fairly evenly matched, as both squads had a couple of scoring chances. The Utes continued to play clean hockey, as their puck movement looked good.
After offsetting penalties forced both teams to skate 4 a side, ASU struck the go-ahead goal. Zach Kowalchuk of the Sun Devils let a high slot wrister go, netting it top shelf grabbing some momentum for the Sun Devils.
“When they got that fourth goal it kind of deflated us a bit. We took the back seat and let them control the game. [The fourth goal] was a big momentum shift in their favor” alternate captain Dylan Dix said about the Sun Devils first goal in the third period.
Just 2 minutes later, ASU cleaned up a lose rebound in front of a clogged-up slot of bodies, taking a 2-goal lead.
As the Sun Devils continued to ride on their third period momentum, Clayton Lackey scored his second of the night on nice tic-tac-toe display of passing, making the score 6-3 ASU.
The Sun Devils took game 1 of the series, despite the Utes outshooting 41-35.
The big storyline from tonight’s contest were the heroics of goaltenders Patrick Odonnell and Andrew Kelly. Alex King and Stephen Pawlow expressed their praise for both goalies.
“That’s incredible. I mean goalie is the hardest position to play in hockey and the fact that Kelly didn’t practice or even touch the ice for a while and come in and play like that… and O’Donnell seeing shots from D2 and jumping to D1 without any game experience, they both played phenomenal. We couldn’t have asked anything more from them” Pawlow said.
“I thought they stepped up huge for us. Both those guys had less than a weeks notice” King said, demonstrating how remarkable both goaltenders performed on the road tonight under the circumstances.
Andrew Kelly himself had quite a bit to tell after seeing action for the first time in 6 months.
“Wasn’t expecting to play… at all. Haven’t played in 6 months. I was excited to get back in. I just wanted to help the boys out. I thought I was going to be a bit more rusty than I was, like I was still skating okay and my edges were fine, it’s just that I haven’t worn my gear in so long so it was all dried up and hard.”
The general consensus coming from the Utah locker room was that the final score did not reflect the effort put forth in game 1. The importance of game 2 was also stressed by the Utah leadership trio.
“That game came down to a 5-6 minute stretch where we weren’t on top of our game,” Dix said when asked about what went wrong tonight.
“I know we were better than we were tonight. We have to come out looking for revenge. We have to everything in our power to prepare. We don’t have to fly tomorrow. We’re here to just play hockey,” King said.
Pawlow added “Gotta be a win. We have to get 3 points. Obviously they’re ranked 24 and we’re ranked 15 and if you look ahead at our schedule we’re not playing any top 20 teams next semester so we have to get this win and we have to do so in convincing fashion.”
Game 2 is today, November 6, at 9 PM mountain time in Tempe, Arizona.
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