TEMPE – The Arizona State ice hockey team (9-2-1) completed the series sweep in shutout fashion, 3-0, against Alaska Anchorage (5-8-1) on Sunday afternoon at Mullett Arena. In an all-around team effort, three Sun Devil skaters lit the lamp, including Ryan Alexander and Brandon Tabakin netting their firsts of the season while TJ Semptimphelter earned his seventh career shutout.

Ryan Alexander slotted the first goal of the game off of a pass through the neutral zone from Tim Lovell for his first goal of the season. His goal marked the fifth-straight game that ASU took the first lead. Dylan Jackson scored his third power play goal off a rebound during the second period and Brandon Tabakin put the game away in the final minutes of the third period with an empty netter. Cade Alami tallied his first point of the season for his assist to Tabakin’s goal. 

TJ Semptimphelter grabbed his seventh career NCAA shutout, complete with 21 saves. He tallied a shutout earlier this season during the season opener against then-No. 15 Merrimack when the Sun Devils won 1-0 in overtime. Semptimphelter is one shutout shy of tying ASU alum Joey Daccord’s school record of eight career shutouts. 

GAME NOTABLES

• ASU allowed only four shots in the first period, tying the fewest amount allowed this season. The last time the Sun Devils allowed four shots was during the first period at Miami (Ohio) on Oct. 28.
• The Sun Devils rank seventh nationally for scoring offense with 43 goals through 12 games. They are third in the nation on power play goals scored and remain in fourth on power play percentage. 
• Semptimphelter’s two shutouts this season is tied for third in the NCAA. 
• Brandon Tabakin is +10 on the season, tied for 11th in the NCAA. 
• Lukas Sillinger continues to lead the team in power play scoring with an assist Dylan Jackson’s power play goal. Sillinger has two goals and nine assists on special teams. 
• Lukas Sillinger has 16 points this season which ties for 13th in the country. 

PERIOD BREAKDOWN
First Period
The Sun Devils came out hot, striking first for the fifth game in a row. Tim Lovell found Ryan Alexander up the middle, giving him a clear path to break through UAA’s defensive line and send one to the back of the net. ASU was able to successfully kill off a hooking penalty halfway through the period and held UAA to just four shots. 

Second Period
ASU kept its momentum going into the second period, tallying 12 shots in the first 15 minutes. The Sun Devils gained a man advantage off of a hooking call and quickly seized the opportunity to extend their lead. Dylan Jackson made it 2-0 by tapping in a rebounded shot originally from Matthew Kopperud and Lukas Sillinger. ASU held off UAA’s offense, only allowing five shots throughout the period. 

Third Period
Despite an offensive surge from the Seawolves, Semptimphelter and company denied all 11 shots through a five-minute 5-on-5 power play and game misconducts assessed to skaters from both teams. UAA pulled its goalie with four minutes left in the game to gain the man advantage, but Brandon Tabakin was able to lift one over the defense to finish off the game for his first goal of the season with help from Cade Alami and Ryan Alexander. 

QUOTE OF THE GAME
Head Coach Greg Powers
On the ASU record of 9-2-1:
“It certainly is what we hope for. You know, we knew we were capable of it. But, it’s a great record and a great start through 12 games. In the two losses, we had three-goal leads and I hate to play the game of shoulda-woulda-coulda, but the team’s off to a good start, the team just finds ways to win, and that’s what you want, it’s not perfect, but we were resilient today. It was really good, I thought minus about a stretch of six minutes in the third period there, they found some energy after Dylan’s penalty, but we played really good, clean, hard hockey for the most of the game.”

On the team’s depth:
“No, we have so much depth and we have so many good players that are such great kids that are out of the lineup that we want to get in. It’s just things are working right now. We were able to get a couple in today and make a couple minor changes and the guys are handling it really well. It’s obviously easy to do as a coach when you’re winning. It’s a hard thing to do, when you’re not, but we’re winning, guys are staying with it, knock on wood, we’re healthy. We got a deep team and guys are just going to have to continue to support their teammates and when their time is called, they all step up. There’s not a guy we don’t believe in…”

On Ryan Alexander this afternoon:
“Well, he’s one of our best players, and what people I think maybe don’t know or forget is he had a pretty serious surgery in the off season. And, so it takes time to get your legs going after what he had done to him and he just wasn’t skating yet. He didn’t have his legs underneath him. Tonight he’s back. He popped that goal. He was forechecking. He was playing hard, he was downhill. He’s such a good hockey player for us and we’re now really 9-2-1 with him fully going in one game. Liane’s (ASU’s performance coach) has been working hard with him to get his conditioning back up. He’s been putting in a lot of extra work to get his legs fired and they were firing today…” 

Sophomore forward Ryan Alexander and junior defenseman Cade Alami
Ryan Alexander on the game after the off season he went through: 
“I mean, it feels great. Yeah, it’s been a rough start to the year but I tried to keep a positive mindset and tried to believe that I could do it. Scoring is fun and it’s good that we won too.” 

Cade Alami on the defensive core:
“We have kind of everything you need in it. We got size, grit and then we got like Timmy and Dowder (Dowd)  who are all obviously very offensive and like everyone kind of mixes and matches and we got a lot of good team chemistry in it.” 

 Cade Alami on breaking out of the defensive zone:
“Well, I think we focus a lot on the D zone and killing players quickly and then it’s repeated probably 20 times throughout the day and move the puck north. So it’s kind of ingrained in all of our heads at this point.”