No way around it, the phrase "no-win situation" has haunted the UAA hockey team for far too long.
Coming off an eight-win season, one void of offensive firepower, the Seawolves welcomed a team playing its first NCAA game Friday night. If they fell flat, it would create more stress than one game should muster.
Thankfully, junior Brad Duwe of Soldotna lifted the puck and his team at precisely the right moment.
Duwe's second goal of the game at 3 minutes 16 seconds of overtime catapulted UAA to a 3-2 win over Arizona State in the opening round of the Kendall Hockey Classic at remodeled Sullivan Arena.
Sophomore Matt Anholt made the slickest of passes from behind Arizona State goaltender Robert Levin's net to set up Duwe from just above the goal line, low right. Duwe's bottle knocker sent the announced crowd of 2,427 home happy.
"We've tried to build an identity," third-year UAA coach Matt Thomas said. "At times tonight, we're really worked inside of it. But at the end, I'm really proud of the way we pushed back.
"This was a typical early-season hockey game, a lot of back and forth. Probably the only real fancy play of the night came on the game-winner."
UAA (1-0-0) will attempt to stretch its Kendall Classic unbeaten streak to 11 games when it entertains 17th-ranked St. Cloud State at 7:07 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies dispatched UAF 3-0 in the tournament's first game.
The contrast between UAA and ASU proved more than interesting.
The Seawolves went 8-22-4 last season and failed to score more than two goals in 21 of those games. The Sun Devils have long been a college club-team powerhouse, winning a national club championship two seasons ago. The ASU roster featured a number of NCAA transfers and players with United States Hockey League experience.
"You can say (ASU) is young and inexperienced, but we're also young and inexperienced," Thomas said. "The players that make up that program now, many of them had been playing in it and were used to winning.
"A lot of us have lost. Lost a lot. But in the end, both teams took turns throwing punches and made for a decent hockey game."
Enjoying their second power play in less than three minutes of game time, the Seawolves struck first at 12:46 of the first period. Duwe gathered the puck near the left face-off dot and unleashed a shot that hit traffic in front of Levin (37 saves). As the puck slid away from the mass of humanity toward the left post, Mitchell muscled it past the goal line.
The teams continued to trade power-play opportunities in second period. Eventually, the Sun Devils made program history with their first NCAA goal.
With UAA's Alex Jackstadt off for interference and goalie Olivier Mantha (21 saves) doing his part to keep the Sun Devils off the board, ASU freshman winger Jack Rowe snapped a second-chance puck past Mantha at 16:46.
Arizona State grabbed a brief third-period lead at 5:01 when Liam Norris scored. UAA freshman defenseman Wyatt Ege knotted the score at 3-3 with his first collegiate goal at 8:43.
Arizona State 0 1 1 0 — 2
UAA 1 0 1 1 — 3
First Period – 1, UAA, Mitchell 1 (MacTavish, Duwe), 12:46 (pp). Penalties – Anholt, UAA (holding), 6:20; Clifford, ASU (cross-checking), 9:14; Raats, ASU (tripping), 11:23; MacTavish, UAA (slashing), 12:59; Belonger, ASU (boarding), 19:10.
Second Period — 2, ASU, Rowe 1 (Belonger, Raats), 16:46 (pp). Penalties – Clifford, ASU (hooking), 3:26; Peterson, ASU (holding), 13:48; Jackstadt, UAA (interference), 15:58.
Third Period – 3, ASU, Norris 1 (Rivard, Masters), 5:01; 4, UAA, Ege 1 (Van Allen), 8:43. Penalties – Clifford, ASU (kneeing), 5:07; Masters, ASU (holding the stick), 7:07; Tatchell, UAA (tripping), 7:38; Norris, ASU (interference), 16:42.
Overtime – 5, UAA, Duwe 2 (Anholt, Hubbs), 3:16. Penalties – Masters, ASU (roughing), :41; Brown, UAA (high-sticking), :41.
Shots on goal – ASU 3-14-4-2—23. UAA 10-14-13-3—40.
Power-play Opportunities – ASU 1 of 4. UAA 1 of 8.
Goalies – ASU, Levin, 0-1-0 (40 shots-37 saves). UAA, Mantha, 1-0-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
A – 2,427 (6,251). T – 2:29.
Referees – Kevin Langseth, Josh Lupinek. Assistant referees – Paul Tunison, Chad Colliander.