ASU Hockey: Sun Devils take down Holy Cross in overtime

No. 11 Arizona State (19-9-3) had to make a late push, but the Sun Devils pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night at Holy Cross (9-14-5), capping off a third consecutive one-goal win.

The overtime hero proved to be sophomore defenseman Josh Maniscalco, who buried a shot from the slot to put the game away.

Prior to that, however, ASU was in a dog fight with the Crusaders. They led 2-1 after 40 minutes thanks to two second period goals, and the Sun Devils needed to respond in a big way in the final 20 minutes.

They got that response early in the third, as sophomore forward PJ Marrocco lit the lamp off a one-timer and a feed from freshman defenseman Jacob Semik. That goal came just over a minute into the period.

Both teams would hold scoreless up until Maniscalco’s strike, which was his second OT game-winner this season (also scored at Brown).

ASU’s only other goal of the night came just over seven minutes into the opening frame when the Sun Devils struck first. Junior forward Willie Knierim, who has five goals in his last three games, put home another one to make things 1-0.

Sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer made 31 saves in the effort as well. The Devils’ were outshot by the Crusaders 33-28, but in the end, ASU used a late push to put things away.

It wasn’t the best win all season, and a loss could have put a dent in ASU’s postseason outlook in the PairWise rankings, but they still managed to scrape away and pull out a victory.

Up next, ASU goes for two wins in Massachusetts as the team makes the 45-minute trek to Waltham to take on Bentley tomorrow night at 5:05 p.m. local time.