Icecats beat ASU in opener

CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Forwards Don Holtz, right, and Shaun Brooks embrace Cole Dunlop, center, after a late second period goal during the UA Icecats' 4-2 win Monday night at the Tucson Convention Center.

The No. 10 Arizona Icecats started their season off on the right skate last night, holding on to beat No. 18 Arizona State 4-2 at the Tucson Convention Center Arena.

In the end, it was junior goaltender Bryan Aronchick who saved the day for the Icecats, and just about anything else the visiting Sun Devils shot at him.

Aronchick stopped 37 of 39 shots he faced en route to earning the season-opening win in net for Arizona.

When UA head coach Leo Golembiewski walked out to congratulate his goalie on the win, Aronchick, who battled back from a bout with food poisoning over the weekend, had just one thing to say to his coach.

"I said (to Golembiewski), 'Can I throw up now?'" he said.

"Aronchick has been sick as a dog," said Golembiewski. "We haven't seen him for two days, but he played outstanding in the nets."

Golembiewski was happy with the outcome, considering that ASU was playing its eighth game of the season, compared to the Icecats' first.

"Any time you can just give up two goals to a real strong Arizona State team, it's a plus," said Golembiewski.

The Icecats never trailed in the game, but were tested early and often by the Sun Devils.

After UA junior forward Don Holtz started the scoring with just over four minutes left in the first period, ASU forward Ray Corey knotted the game up by burying a rebound past Aronchick.

Holtz scored his second of the game off an assist by UA junior Mickey Meehan near the four-minute mark of the second period and sophomore Cole Dunlop added the eventual game-winner just two minutes and 20 seconds later to put the Icecats up 3-1 at the end of the second period.

ASU forward Weston Pongracz led the Sun Devil charge to get back in the game, cutting the UA lead to 3-2 with an early third-period goal.

ASU pulled goaltender Tim Pine while trailing 3-2 late in the third period. UA junior Shaun Brooks added an unassisted empty-net goal as time expired to round out the scoring.

"We were a little uncertain coming in. But now we have confidence coming into tomorrow," said Holtz, who also added an assist to his pair of goals.

Holtz said he and his teammates were tired after the game, but that it won't be an issue come faceoff at 7:30 tonight during the second game of the series with ASU.

"We'll feel it, but momentum will carry us through the week," Holtz said. "Everyone's just so excited right now to be back on the ice."

In regards to the high number of shots he faced in the game, Aronchick attributed it to the youth and inexperience of the defense in front of him.

"I'd like to see (the defense) take more time. They had more time to make passes and most of the time they were just slapping it up," Aronchick said. "Most of (ASU's) chances we were giving them chances, not them creating their own."

Golembiewski, in his 25th year heading the program, said the team still has some question marks, but that it just takes time to work through them.

"Probably the biggest unknown quantity we have is our defense," Golembiewski said.

"But I think that a month from now, and come second semester, we're going to be stronger and stronger."

Golembiewski added that he was impressed by the condition of the rink, considering it was used for the traveling "Disney on Ice" performance from Wednesday to Saturday of last week.

"The ice was a little on the soft side because they'd been laying water for about 12 hours," he said. "But to have this place turned around in time for a hockey game was just phenomenal."