If their 3-1 loss to Arizona State on Saturday ends up costing them a chance to play in the tournament, the Arizona Icecats could easily blame it on a goal called back.
The No. 16 Icecats (11-10-2) had to settle for a weekend split against the Sun Devils (12-12-3) after Saturday's 3-1 loss in Glendale Arena. The UA appeared to go up 1-0 at the 14:54 mark in the first period when sophomore forward and captain Cole Dunlop hit a shot off the back of the net. But after the puck bounced back out of the net, the on-ice official disallowed it.
"It was in the net - in the back of the net - and came out, and all three blind mice didn't see it, so we technically should have come out of the first period leading 2-0," Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski said.
Arizona's only goal came at 7:57 in the first period when junior forward and captain Shaun Brooks scored off an assist from junior forward Don Holtz. With what could have been a 2-0 lead early, the Icecats could have broken ASU's back after Friday night's 6-3 win, when the UA, after trailing 3-2 in the third period, scored four unanswered goals.
Brooks said that the disallowed goal did go in.
"I passed it over to Dunlop in the beginning of the game - I was right there - and he put it through both legs, over the line, and we started to celebrate, and they obviously pulled it out," Brooks said. "That would have given us a lot of momentum. We scored two shifts later, so that really hurt us."
Despite the call, Golembiewski was OK with the officiating on Saturday, when on one occasion after the UA had an extra man for almost a minute, the officials almost missed it.
"The refereeing (Friday) night was pathetic. (Saturday) night, we had 23 (penalty) minutes called on us to their 10; 10 penalties on us to five for those guys," Golembiewski said. "This refereeing (Saturday) was pretty good all-in-all. They missed some offsides (and) the disallowed goal was huge. That was just terrible."
The Sun Devils would later tie the score in the second period, and two Sun Devil goals 15 seconds apart in the third finished the Icecats.
"The manner in which they scored the second goal, the go-ahead goal, was going totally away from the open net and hit off a leg on the way in," Golembiewski said. "Those are ones that take the air out of you, that punch the gut."
On Friday, the Sun Devils led 3-2 - their final goal coming with 2.6 seconds left in the second period - before Arizona buried ASU.
"We knew these were must-win games," Golembiewski said.
"We really came in knowing we had to win both, wanted to win both and I think we outplayed them this weekend for the most part," Brooks said.
On Friday, Holtz scored the first goal while Brooks tallied the second. Freshman forward Dave Cwik tied the game at 3 and Dunlop scored the game-winner.
The Icecats must now hope that they still jump into the top 13 of the national American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings to make the national tournament.
"The season isn't over. We've got 120 minutes before the rankings come out," Golembiewski said. "We could have swept this series. It's been a 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' year."
Golembiewski thinks the Icecats will be served well by the way they won the Friday game.
"We beat Arizona State three times out of six, with one tie. That's ludicrous to have them 12th and us 16th," he said. "That just shows you the politics and the baloney that's the ACHA."
This weekend, the Icecats travel to Oklahoma to face the Division II Sooners (19-4-1), who are ranked No. 7 in their region. Arizona's last home series starts Feb. 20 versus ASU.