Goalie Jared Whale makes 40 saves for the Seawolves in his NCAA debut. Photo by Skip Hickey.
The Seawolves were unable to defeat Arizona State University in their back-to-back series on Nov. 11 and 12 in Tempe, Arizona. The team lost 5-2 the first night and 3-0 the second night.
In the first game of the series, the Seawolves quickly fell behind. The Sun Devils scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart in the first period.
Nine minutes into the second period, Jamie Collins skated around the backside of the goal and fired a shot past ASU's goalie. This wrap-around goal was Collins' third of the season. Ben Almquist recorded his fifth assist of the season on the goal.
The Sun Devils extended their lead with three goals throughout the second period. Brett Bamber tried to get UAA back into the game by scoring his second goal of the season 11 minutes into the third period. However, the Seawolves couldn't fire any more shots into the net and lost the game 5-2.
The Seawolves finished 0-for-3 on the power play and held ASU 0-for-4 in the power play, including a five-minute major power play in the second period. ASU out-shot UAA 42-34. UAA goalie Nolan Kent finished the game with 37 saves.
"For the most part, I felt we played a solid game," said coach Matt Shasby. "I thought we expended a lot of energy killing the five-minute penalty and then getting the game back to 2-1, which led to their quick three goal breaking the game open."
The Seawolves returned to the ice the next day to face off against the Sun Devils again. UAA goalie Jared Whale made an impressive 40 saves in his NCAA debut, but the Seawolves couldn't get past ASU's defense and lost the second game of the series 3-0.
The Seawolves and Sun Devils battled for over 37 scoreless minutes before ASU scored on the powerplay late into the second period. ASU pushed their lead to 2-0 seven minutes in the third period.
Desperate for a goal, the Seawolves pulled Whale from the net for an extra offensive player with three minutes remaining in the game. However, ASU was able to skate past UAA's defense to score an empty goal with a minute left in the game and win the game 3-0.
"I thought Jared gave us a chance tonight," said Shasby. "I'm very impressed with his first NCAA game. We just couldn't fully execute to put a puck in the back of the net."
The Seawolves will take on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on UNLV's home rink for the second time this season on Nov. 16. In their previous games, UAA won 8-0 and 2-1. Visit GoSeawolves.com for live links and stats.
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