ASU Hockey: Sun Devils douse Southern New Hampshire in 11-0 win

During Arizona State’s two-game breather from NCAA Division I opponents, the Sun Devils (8-17-2) showed no leisure in their 11-0 beat down over Southern New Hampshire (11-9) of NCAA Division II.

The Maroon and Gold had previously defeated the Penmen 9-2 and 7-1 in October of last season and with this 11-0 win they showed a new type of dominance.

“It shows a lot of people how far we’ve come,” said coach Greg Powers. “You play at a pace and you have to adjust as a young program and a young team and you see when you can consistently play at that pace it doesn’t matter who you are playing and that’s what our guys have to learn.

“In my opinion, really good programs beat teams that you are supposed to beat consistently.”

The Sun Devils scored twice in the first 1:27 of the game and shortly after sophomore forward Joe Lappin’s goal 2:04 into the first period a loud shout of “No mercy!” was let out from a player on the ASU bench.

It was a merciless type of night for the Sun Devils as they scored five more goals in the first period and three more in the second period.

“[Powers] said keep scoring goals,” said sophomore forward Anthony Croston. “We stopped celebrating after a while because you’ve got to be respectful, but [Powers] said keep giving it to them.”

Nine different Sun Devils scored in Friday night’s blowout win, but most notably was the Phoenix native Croston’s hat trick that he produces just over 11 minutes into the first period.

“He’s a kid that just every game every night he plays the right way. He does every thing with playing 200 feet in mind and tonight he got rewarded. It was good to see,” Powers said.

But through all 11 goals scored and 60 shots from ASU’s offense, Powers still gladly appreciated his senior goalie Robert Levin who earned the Sun Devils their first ever NCAA shutout in program history.

“There’s not a kid who I’d rather have that on his belt than Rob Levin. He deserves to have that, so I’m glad he got it,” Powers said.

Levin finished the night saving all 19 Penmen shots and has continued his success from Arizona State’s 2-2 tie against Ohio State in which Levin had 22 saves on 24 shots.

Arizona State eyes it’s first home sweep of the season on Saturday night as they face the Penmen once again at 7:05 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena.