Prescott Valley, Arizona – November 3, 2025 – A trip to the concession stand and restroom at the wrong time? You might've missed them all.

The Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team used a punishing defense to make two goals scored within five minutes of each other stand up, holding off the charge of archrival Arizona State University, 2-1, Saturday night in the 2^nd Annual Grand Canyon College Hockey Classic at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley. The sellout crowd of 4,700 oohed and aahed throughout the 2 ½ hour affair as the two teams rattled the boards constantly, pushing and shoving their way to a combined 40 penalty minutes. Despite that fact, it was a shorthanded goal that salvaged a split of the weekend series for the 11^th-ranked Lopes, who dropped a lackluster 3-1 decision to the Sun Devils Thursday night in Tempe. 

The fans from the area again showed how starved they are for the sport that left them when the Arizona Sundogs' minor league team went away nearly a decade ago by showing up in droves for the second straight November. They got a taste of the tone of the night almost immediately after reaching their seats when the first penalties of the game were called on both teams just 11 seconds in. The dual penalties also showed how even the two teams were through the first period: eight shots on goal and two penalties each, and an intact scoreless tie at the end of the frame.

The clashes intensified after the first intermission was over. ASU struck quickly in the first minute of the second period as senior forward Ben Chase corralled a puck that bounced off of GCU goalie Dmytro Kubrytskyi and deposited it past the Lopes' netminder for a 1-0 Sun Devils' lead. Appropriately for the evening, it took an infraction for the Lopes' offense to finally get on track after that. A scrum between GCU's Nash Jacobsmaand ASU's Connor Squeri sent both to their respective penalty boxes with 13 minutes left in the period with not just two-minute roughing penalties, but 10-minute misconduct fouls. GCU's Tyler Misialek, tabbed to serve Jacobsma's minor infraction, completed the time, and in the span of eight seconds, sprinted from the box towards the ASU goal where Gabe Tritschler backhanded him a pass in stride for Misialek to flip the puck past ASU netminder Nathaniel Glenn to even the score at 1-1. Three minutes later, Misialek found himself seated next to Jacobsma once again for his own penalty, handing the Devils a chance to take the lead. Instead, the Lopes overplayed the puck throughout ASU's man advantage, and when the Lopes cleared the puck the length of the ice, Glenn strayed far enough out of the ASU goal for Lopes' junior forward Ben Oakland to swoop in and fire a shot into the net (going away from the goal, no less) to give the Lopes their first lead of the weekend.

Fans who thought these were signs of an incoming goal onslaught were instead treated to an increasingly physical last 26 minutes of play that saw plenty of scoring chances (as well as physical altercations) on both sides, but no further movement on the scoreboard. Kubrytskyi spent the rest of the night smothering the other 22 ASU shots, including all 11 in the final period. Meanwhile, the Lopes overcame three more penalty kills in the final 17 minutes of action to preserve the victory.

After pinballing between AZ Ice Gilbert and AZ Ice Peoria over the last month due to the storm damage inflicted to their home ice, AZ Ice Arcadia, in late September, the Lopes (7-4 overall, 5-2 WCHL) may have their home base back by the time they return from their four-game road trip, which begins against 13^th-ranked University of Utah next Friday in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Arcadia roof repairs are expected to be finished within the next two weeks, thereby paving a triumphant return by the Lopes' Hockey teams to the venue they've called home the past seven years on the weekend of November 21 and 22. That's when the D1 Lopes host San Diego State University as part of men's-women's doubleheaders both days. The GCU-SDSU matchup that Friday will follow the Lopes' Women's Hockey 5:45PM clash against ASU with a 9:05PM puck drop, then the men will lead off the twin bill on November 22 at 5:35PM, with the women's series finale following at 8:45PM. Game tickets are available on the GCU Club Sports website.