History in Mullett! Hockey Earns First NCHC Win in Program History

TEMPE – The Arizona State ice hockey Team (4-7-1, 1-3-0) made history on Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over Omaha (3-7-0, 1-3-0) to pick up ASU's first NCHC win in program history. Scottsdale native David Hymovitch cemented the Sun Devil victory with his first career goal at Mullett Arena.

ASU showed a resilient effort to rally behind a season high 44 shots in the winning effort despite missing key players including Dylan Jackson, Cruz Lucius and Charlie Schoen. This was the third-straight game that the Sun Devils posted 40-plus shots on goal. 

ASU paced the game in shots from the jump, outshooting Omaha in each period and in the game 44-22. In the opening frame, the Sun Devils stifled the Mavericks to a mere four shots on ASU netminder Luke Pavicich.  

With Hymovitch's goal on Saturday night, he joins program alumni Josh Doan and Demetrios Koumontzis as the only Arizona-born Sun Devils to score a goal at Mullett Arena. After going his entire freshman year without a goal, Hymovitch has scored two in the last three games. 

Goaltender Luke Pavicich stood tall making 20 saves in the winning effort. The stops are the third-most saves in a game for Pavicich this season. 

GAME NOTABLES

• ASU's victory was the first ever NCHC win for the program and the first NCHC win at Mullett Arena
• This is the third consecutive game the Sun Devil offense recorded 40+ shots on goal, with a season high 44 tonight.
• Graduate forward Artem Shlaine scored his first goal as a Sun Devil at 13:34 of the first period with assists by Kyle Smolen (4) and Ryan Alexander (1). Shlaine previously played two seasons at UCONN and two seasons at Northern Michigan before his time at ASU.
• Sophomore forwards Kyle Smolen and Ryan Alexander both picked up multi-point games. Smolen turned in his second multi-point game of the season with two assists and his sixth career game in which he recorded two-plus points. Alexander notched his first multi-point game of the season and sixth of his career. It was the third time in his career that the junior scored a goal and notched an assist in the same game.
• Sophomore Anthony Dowd is now on a two-game point streak with his assist tonight. Saturday night's game was the third time in Dowd's career that he recorded points in back-to-back games. His career high is a three-game point streak in November 2023.
• Graduate student Ty Jackson extended his point streak to a career-high four consecutive games by picking up an assist on David Hymovitch's third period goal. His previous high was three straight games in November of 2023
• ASU now has 488 shot attempts on the season, which outpaces opponents by 128, bringing the total to 488-360 in favor of ASU.
• The Sun Devils eclipsed 87 shots in the two game series against Omaha which is good for the season high. The previous high was 78 in the series against Northern Michigan.

PERIOD BREAKDOWN
  
Period 1
The Sun Devils were tested early on the penalty kill as Noah Beck picked up a crosscheck at the 2:51 mark. ASU successfully killed off the penalty, allowing only one shot on goal from Omaha. Shortly after the penalty kill, the Sun Devils got their first power play due to an Omaha crosscheck. ASU failed to convert on its opening power play chance. The Sun Devils created a slew of opportunities near the crease, resulting in the first goal of the game scored by Artem Shlaine at 13:34 to give ASU the 1-0 lead. Kyle Smolen and Ryan Alexander picked up the assists on Shlaine's first goal in the maroon and gold. The Sun Devil penalty kill was tested yet again after a hooking call on Ty Jackson at 18:48. The unit held strong and took the Omaha power play into the 2nd period. ASU outshot Omaha 14-4, securing a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. 

Period 2
Omaha opened the period with 48 seconds of power play time on the board carrying over from Ty Jackson's hooking penalty. A stellar effort from the Sun Devil kill denied the Mavericks for the second time. Omaha later tied things up at 3:49 as Sam Stange snuck one by goaltender Luke Pavicich, knotting things up at 1-1. ASU quickly struck back as Ryan Alexander cleaned up a rebound on a point shot from Anthony Dowd, putting the Devils up, 2-1. Alexander picked up his second point of the night (1G, 1A) with assists coming from Anthony Dowd (4) and Kyle Smolen (5). Smolen's assist was also his second point of the night (2A). The Sun Devils outshot the Mavericks in the period 16 to 11 bringing the game total to 30-15 heading into the third period with a 2-1 advantage.
 
Period 3
ASU started the third period red hot as Scottsdale native David Hymovitch tucked home his second goal of the season giving the Sun Devils a 3-1 advantage at 1:18. Ryan Kirwan and Ty Jackson were credited with the helpers for ASU. Omaha later began to apply pressure on ASU and broke through with a goal from Marcus Broberg at 12:22 to push the score to 3-2. The two sides went back and forth as Omaha pulled their goaltender at the 18:17 mark for the last ditch effort for the equalizer. The Mavericks last-minute flurry was staved off by netminder Luke Pavicich to keep the score at 3-2 as the final horn sounded, giving the Sun Devils their first NCHC win. 

QUOTES 
Head Coach Greg Powers 
On the defense contributing to the win tonight: 
"We doubled up in shots and we're very structurally sound right now, probably more structurally sound than our program has ever been at this level. So that's a recipe for success. Now we just gotta keep going." 

On David Hymovitch's performance: 
"He's proven to be very incredibly valuable. His IQ is off the charts. He's shorthanded, he knows what he's gonna do with the puck before he gets it. He's really good with it off the wall in our defensive zone, and right now, he's  a really reliable guy that is incredibly useless because he's proven he can play up and down the lineup with all the injuries that we have. He has been a huge key to us." 

On capitalizing on the shot opportunities: 
"It's gonna start going in. We get a lot of good looks, we have a lot of good players, a lot of good shooters. We have 2-3 guys out tonight that are really pure goal scores, Cruz Lucius, Dylan Jackson and Charlie Schoen. We're getting healthier and building back brick by brick and you can feel it. I think we'll probably get at least one guy back for Denver, so that's good."

Sophomore forward David Hymovitch
On his first goal at Mullett: 
"It was incredible. Kirwan came down the wing, he has one of the best shots in the country, and he put it on the pads, then towards the net and that was the goal."

On facing Denver next week:
"We know who they are, defending national champs. We know it's not gonna be easy to play. If we play how we did tonight, we like our chances to get what we want."

Alternate captain and senior defenseman Ty Murchison
On getting the win at home:
"It's great to get a win back at home. We've been on the road for a while. Any win is a good win, especially on home ice, Saturday night in Arizona. It's a good time to be alive. The fans have been amazing for us all." 

On the feeling in the locker room: 
"It's massive. I feel like we've been there the last couple of games and things just haven't gone our way, but the guys have stuck to it. There's been a lot of positivity in the locker room, led by this guy (Hymovitch) and we were very confident going in tonight and it's good to get that first win at home."