Icecats left frozen by ASU

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior center Ben Ruston (19) scored a goal in both games this weekend against ASU and was the player of the game both nights. However, it wasn't enough as the Icecats lost 5-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday. Ruston called the intensity of the Icecats offense "non-existent."

After years of getting clobbered by the Arizona Icecats, the Arizona State Ice Devils turned things around and swept the Icecats in Tucson for the first time in the history of the series.

ASU won 5-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday at the Tucson Convention Center, improving to 9-5 on the season and justifying its No. 7 ranking.

The Icecats fell to 7-6 and will likely drop out of the top eight teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association poll. That means that, for the first time in team history, the Icecats may not go to the postseason tournament.

"The difference in this series was goaltending," Icecat head coach Leo Golembiewski said. "Their goaltender is outstanding."

Ice Devil goalie Greg Powers turned away 33 of 35 shots against him on Saturday, standing firm against a persistent Icecat attack in the second period.

The game began with ASU getting on the board only 1 minute, 45 seconds into the first period on a goal by senior Shawn Reid. Reid poked the shot in past Icecat sophomore goalie Mike Tesi, who was back in the net after freshman Jordan Bolton gave up nine goals to the Ice Devils on Nov. 29 in Phoenix.

Penalties then abounded for both teams as the Icecats' frustration began to boil over.

Things seemed to calm down after Icecat senior co-captain Ben Ruston took a pass from freshman right-wing Marc Harris and rifled a shot past Powers to tie the game at one.

That was about as good as it got.

"Non-existent," Ruston said of his team's offensive intensity. "I always try and keep it positive, but right now there's a lot of things that need to be improved on."

A violent fight erupted 30 seconds later, filling the penalty boxes to the limit with four Ice Devils and three Icecats.

A wrap-around goal at 16:44 into the first gave ASU a 2-1 lead, a lead it would never relinquish.

"Our defense was an aberration," Golembiewski said. "Everyone was inconsistent."

While the Icecat defense did its vanishing act, Tesi got pounded, and the Ice Devils jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead early in the second period.

Icecat senior defenseman Chad Dyjak stuffed a shot into the ASU goal midway through the period, but it would be all the scoring the Icecats could manage.

Powers kept Arizona out of the net despite several strong attempts by the Icecat offense to break past him.

"You've got an experienced war horse like Ben Ruston, who was player of the game both nights, and no one else there with him," Golembiewski said.

Ruston scored a goal in Friday's loss, which saw the Ice Devils break open a 2-2 tie in the second period with three unanswered goals. ASU held the Icecats scoreless in the third period, much as they did on Saturday.

Golembiewski cited the Icecats' lack of experienced players as being part of the reason for the defeat. Arizona has two seniors, ASU has six.

"We're asking them to go out there and play like three-year veterans," said Ruston of his freshman line-mates. "All I can do now is go out and play 100 percent and lead as best I can."

The Icecats will try to regroup over the holidays as their schedule does not get any easier.

fifth-ranked Michigan-Dearborn comes to town on Jan. 3 and 4, followed by No. 3 Eastern Michigan on Jan. 9 and 10.