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Wildcats Hockey finishes 2012-13 Season with loss to Arizona State

Arizona got out to a 1-0 lead for the second straight night, but for the second straight night, ASU pulled out a win late in the third period

Robert Schultz keeps the puck out of the net
Robert Schultz keeps the puck out of the net
Jason Bartel

Arizona closed out their 2012-13 ACHA schedule Saturday night in front of over 6,000 people at Tucson Convention Center.

"I think we gave 'em their money's worth" said Coach Hogan.

He was right. Both games against ASU were highly competitive, but the Sun Devils just got the better of the Wildcats both nights, extending their unbeaten streak over Arizona to 32 games, a streak now spanning four full seasons.

"We're proud of the way we competed"

The Wildcats can't say that they didn't have their chance to take down ASU this time around though.

In the first period, Arizona did score a goal, but also ringed two shots off the post, and missed a wide-open net. ASU also put one past Wildcat goalie Robert Schultz, who will be headed off to pharmacy school next year. Schultz finished the night with 40 saves on 42 shots faced.

The second period saw Arizona take a ton of penalties, including a very long 5 on 3 advantage for ASU. But the Sun Devils could not take advantage.

"We killed them all off so that's not why we lost."

Danny McAuliffe broke the tie with 7:42 left in the game, giving ASU the 2-1 advantage. Arizona had one last chance with a pulled goalie with about 15 seconds left, but the puck just squirted through the crease, and the Sun Devils took it down the ice to put the game out of reach at 3-1 with just a couple of seconds left.

"The streak's pretty long now, but again we're talking about a streak against a team that's number 1 or 2 in the country for the last year and a half."

"The future's pretty bright for Wildcat Hockey....we have the capabilities of being a powerhouse here at the University of Arizona."

"We had a goalie commit yesterday, came here on his trip, right after the game he was like 'Oh I'm coming to U of A'."

So while this season did not end the way the Wildcat faithful would have liked, there are a lot of good things to look forward to in the coming years. Only five seniors were on this years' team, and offensive stars Ansel Ivens-Anderson and Andrew Murmes will be entering their senior years next year.