Arizona State shows resilience in 4-3 overtime win over Ohio State – Hockey Writers – NCAA
Arizona State enters the third quarter Saturday night hoping to rekindle the comeback from 24 hours ago.
Ohio State trailed 3-0 and fans flocked to the exits in what looked like a victory for the Buckeyes. But somehow, head coach Greg Bowles’ team won 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 29 at Mallett Arena and completed a 3-0 comeback.
“How impressive is it to be down three points with 14 minutes left? That says a lot,” Bowles said. Just so proud of this group. It’s the epitome of resilience and that’s what we want. “
The win capped a miserable November for Arizona State — arguably the toughest stretch of the season. The Sun Devils have now won five straight series and finish the month with a 4-4-1 record, including heavyweights North Dakota State, Miami (Ohio), Denver and now Ohio State.
RELATED: Arizona State beats Ohio State 3-2 in overtime
“It’s just one game at a time, but I don’t know how you can’t get a better inner belief after a comeback like that against a really good team,” Bowles said. We’re building a really cool project here. “
With the win, ASU improves to 7-8-1 on the year. A calmer December awaits us, with just four games on the schedule.
Sun Devils come back in third quarter to beat Ohio State
After a scoreless first quarter, Ohio State freshman Jake Carabella started the Buckeyes’ offense in the second quarter.
The second period was also a shootout, but only the Buckeyes were able to score on the power play, with senior Adam Eisele scoring.
The Sun Devils trailed 2-0 entering the third period and fell 3-0 after Eselei scored his second goal early in the third period.
Despite falling behind, the Sun Devils managed to come back and erase the Buckeyes’ lead. In the final frame, freshman Jake Baker, sophomore Joel Kjellberg, freshman Samuel Alfano and sophomore Karen Porter scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
“I think we have a lot of confidence in ourselves,” Porter said. “I felt like since we scored the first goal we were going to come back and definitely compete and hopefully win the game.”
Porter finished the night with a goal and an assist and helped tie the game in overtime when ASU called timeout.
“Just because of my speed, I think people are going to try to stay on me when I’m trying to finish,” Porter said. “We knew that, and I knew I could beat anybody on the ice, so we just gave Shame (Bennett Shimek) spot-up passes and I beat my guys on the ice. It turned out just like we thought it would.”
After going unavailable at Michigan State, Bowles recruited Porter to Arizona State, and now he’s reaping the benefits.
“He’s matured right before our eyes beyond my wildest imagination,” Bowles said. I’m really happy for him and I’m really proud of him because he got a lot of criticism for not scoring. I think he’s going to make Calgary look really smart. “
With the sweep in hand, the Sun Devils enter their bye week following this weekend’s series against the Buckeyes, but after that, they’ll hit the road to face No. 6 Minnesota Duluth.
“We always say Saturday is the Sun Devils’ home game and you’ve got to win Saturday,” Bowles said. “Tonight, our guys earned the win on Saturday.”
