Candace Riley // Isaac Bosse scores a goal on Friday night

It is already apparent that this one-season long new era of WCHL hockey will take no prisoners, sporting a simple motto:

‘Just win, baby.’

The Sun Devils and Wildcats faced off against the Sooners and Bronchos in round-robin fashion, coming out with a 3-3-0 record. The WesternCHL office then published the conference table late Saturday night:

The sample sizes are not equal as you can see, but it could also be argued that more games played = more opportunities to win. This weekend was the conference opener for Oklahoma, but not for the Arizona teams. Oklahoma is sporting a .667 win interleague percentage, while Arizona has won three of their five conference games, good for .600.

This was also the best showing of opponents making the Oklahoma Trip since I started tracking the data in Sept. 2018, as previous travel partners never did better than winning two out six from the Sooners & Bronchos. Let’s talk about it.

On Thursday, Arizona bought an early goal from Matthew Hohl and there would be no more goals scored on the night. 1-0 is a rather surprising result with the firepower possessed by both Oklahoma and Arizona. Little did I know that during the game, an upset was brewing up north. Arizona State defeated UCO 5-4 in regulation, scoring the winner at 19:56 of the 3rd.

Arizona State was poised to not let up on Friday night, but a pair of goals from Isaac Bosse – and a trio of points from both Paolo De Sousa and Cam Brown, all in the first period – set an unsurmountable lead. 

ASU’s Bronson Moore was in net for the recently discussed upset that occurred last October. However, despite Moore being healthy enough to play, the Sun Devils started Everett Yasinski on both nights; it would be his first two games of the season. Oklahoma trotted Trevor Hawkes out on Saturday, and it would also be his season debut weekend. Yasinski looked good on Saturday, and even started to mirror his in-state rival Anthony Ciurro. Raymond Wilson then found Zach Pard and Josh Pusar found Jackson Giammona to end the first period 2-1 Sooners.

The second period would be very eventful, but in a bad way for Oklahoma.

After Luc Whyte made it 3-1, the Sooners went on to commit three times as many penalty minutes as ASU, and even upended Timothy Hoffenkamp enough to warrant a penalty shot. Phil Babb has become a shootout artist, and in true Babb fashion, Hawkes stood tall to deny Hoffenkamp’s bid to make it 3-2. ASU finally did earn the 3-2 goal to go into intermission.

Candace Riley // Timothy Hoffenkamp draws a penalty shot

Josh Pusar’s empty netter would be the next goal and Oklahoma held on for a 4-3 victory, and Hawkes’ first.

It was a big consecutive win to follow up a .500 record on the previous two nights, especially given that the #24 Sun Devils have a revamped squad and put up a quality fight. Trevor Hawkes looked like a natural, and that will be big in the future to rely on him with Phil Babb on the bench.

The weekend was not without chaos.

-#4 Dearborn defeated #2 Lindenwood 3-1. The Lions would avenge it.

-#17 Jamestown defeated #1 Minot State in two consecutive overtimes.

-#9 Davenport (who defeated UCO in Frisco) fell to (UR) Aquinas (Grand Rapids, MI) in the Saints’ first D1 game.

-#10 Illinois won and lost against D2 Michigan State.

-#3 Iowa State won and lost against (UR) Illinois State.

#15 Oklahoma fell to #11 Arizona but racked up two wins against #24. We’ll check in on Wednesday to see the new national rankings.

As Luc Whyte exited the ice on Friday night, he noticed OU Hockey’s new unofficial mascot. He proclaimed, “can I pet the puppy?” 

Candace Riley // Michie the Great Pyrenees Lab Mix attends the game

Boomer, Sooner, and Michie.

All game photos and dog photo are credited to Candace Riley. You can follow her work here.

The WCHL standings are created by the Western Collegiate Hockey League.

Thanks for reading.

Written by John Adkins, Broadcaster and Deputy Media Director