COHEN: Bowling Green vs. ASU – who was the biggest underdog?
Bowling Green got a tournament bid for the first time in 29 years! 1989-90 was the year. A postage stamp cost 25 cents in the U.S. Milli Vanilli were still in business and Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina” was a huge hit. A BMW only cost slightly over $21,000, oh, those were the days.
Back to hockey, the team had a great season and there are some players that could have NHL careers. Their goalie, Ryan Bednard, 6-5, 200 is a talent. The junior had to work himself into being a starter with hard work and making good use of his frame. Having long arms works for the Florida Panthers prospect. He grabs loose pucks and brings them back in. Freezing the puck is his thing and we’ve seen that work at the next level. He has a fast glove and can grab shots up high. Florida has a good one and my guess is he’ll return for his senior season to see how far this program can go.
Brandon Kruse was on third line duty. He played a solid right wing. Today, he’s 5-9, 155, but the Vegas Golden Knights draft pick can really cycle the puck. His puck possession is already good and should get better as he gets stronger. This sophomore had a point per game season with 41 points and 10 goals. He has time to improve and round out his game, but his passing is on point and there’s something here for sure.
Adam Smith, Nashville Predators prospect, was the kind of defenseman who didn’t stand out for anything great and nothing bad. The 6-2, 197-pound junior plays a solid brand of defense and can get the puck out of the defensive zone without issue. He doesn’t spend a lot of time in the penalty box and he blocks shots too. He should return next year too.
A slightly unheralded blueliner is Tim Theocharidis. The 6-1, 183-pound freshman was a #5 that game and he really showed off a wrist shot and good hockey sense in the offensive zone. His puck retrievals were solid, and his skating is already good. I can see him not only coming back but having a bigger role with the team next year and I can see more than a few teams keeping an eye on this offensive defenseman. This season he had four goals and 11 points in 34 games.
A few weeks ago, they were ranked 15th. A great ranking but a far cry from Minnesota Duluth’s second overall ranking. They didn’t win their game, but they sparked the program.
Coach Chris Bergeron set the tone for the future.
“I describe the team as a really good team to be around on a daily basis and a fun team to coach. This season was a great season, but we didn’t win anything from a championship perspective and those are expectations we have as a program and I am just being honest about that. I guess I want to change what I said, it was a really good season, but it wasn’t a great season because we didn’t win anything. We won a bunch of games and we made it to the national tournament, and I am not downplaying that, but we had an opportunity to win a championship last Saturday and we had an opportunity to win a championship with 28 regular-season games and we weren’t able to do that. These are the goals of the program. I am not going to be the guy that says, ‘nothing is good enough.’ That is not fair to anyone involved and I am not that. It was a really good year, but we define great as winning a championship and making it to the national tournament and winning 28 regular season games. That is what we define as great and unfortunately, we fell short.”
Arizona State University is an unaffiliated team that doesn’t belong to a conference. They dipped their feet in the Division I game in 2015. As the 14th ranked team in the nation, heading into the tournament, they were certainly an underdog compared to 8th ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats.
They have an aging rink but a vibrant hockey program. The star of the team is netminder, Joey Daccord. He’s an Ottawa Senators draft pick and son of Brian, who was a goaltending coach for the Bruins and currently a consultant for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Mike Richter Award nominee had a .926 save percentage and seven shutouts. In a thrilling loss to Quinnipiac, he almost no five-hole to shoot at. At 6-3, 200, he knows how to cover as much net as possible. His positioning was top-notch, and he handles the puck like an NHL goalie. He could hit a tape-to-tape pass on occasion. He doesn’t flop. He’s a very intriguing prospect. The junior may come back, he could sign if he wanted to. I’m sure the Senators would be ok with that. But if he comes back this program will get another kick at the can.
Austin Lemieux (sophomore), 6-3, 175, and son of Mario Lemieux is pretty raw. So is freshman center, Demetrios Koumontzis, a draft pick of the Calgary Flames. At 5-10, 183, he didn’t make big mistakes and played a safe, smart game.
Brinson Pasichnuk, the captain and undrafted top pairing defenseman has some talent. His slapshot is very accurate and he’s not afraid to unload on the opposing goaltender. He had 13 goals and 30 points in 35 games. He’s very aggressive on the penalty kill and he scored the first NCAA tournament goal in Sun Devil history. Someone will sign him this year or next. This junior may come back for one more season before worrying about that.
Coach Greg Powers is already looking forward to next year.
“To make a national tournament in our third full season is a special accomplishment that no one else but our locker room thought that we could do. We knew pretty early in the season that we had a pretty good team that could do some very special things. Anyone that says that we didn’t belong here or think that we didn’t deserve the right to be here is wrong and they couldn’t be more wrong. Our guys deserve to be here because they are as good as anybody and we have proven that all year. I think we proved that tonight with how we didn’t go away and how we came back and nearly tied that thing up. I think that the takeaway is that we all know that we are going to be back, and it will be sooner than later.”
In the end. I think ASU was the bigger underdog.