(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
Tempe, Ariz – After their weekend on the road, No. 16 Arizona State Men’s hockey (4-1-1) returns home to take Stonehill College (0-7-0) for their first time in program history this weekend (Nov. 3-4 at 7 p.m.).
This weekend starts an eight-game home streak for the Sun Devils, who have shown that they can be a force to be reckoned with on home ice, going 14-10-0 last year and now 4-0-0 to start the year. The eight games take place the entire month of November and will feature the likes of No. 2 Denver next weekend, Alaska Anchorage, and No. 7 Providence, but first, it all starts with Stonehill.
Stonehill College, home of the Skyhawks, is located in Easton, Massachusetts. It is a small private Catholic College that is just stepping its toes into Division I hockey. Last year, the Skyhawks made the jump to Division I from Division II but still played a majority of Division II and III teams, finishing the year with a record of 17-6-2. They did play a couple of Division I foes: Long Island and Lindenwood, who they played a combined five games against and were outscored 40-10. This year, they make the full plunge as their schedule is full of Division I teams except for four games. Stonehill, like ASU, is without a conference this year.
To start the year, Stonehill has already been outscored 38-9 by their opponents in seven games while being shut out twice. Once in their season opener at Northeastern 7-0 and then later on the road to Bentley 2-0. Likewise, they have only played two games at home so far.
The Skyhawks come to Tempe on short rest this week after playing a Sunday-Monday series. Sunday, they were on the road to Providence, Rhode Island, to play Brown University, where they lost 7-2, before taking the short trip back to their home arena in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to play Long Island University, where they also lost 4-2.
“They’re gonna be excited to be here,” head coach Greg Powers said. “They’re doing what we did. They got to travel and go play everybody and anybody that will play them. They’re on some short rest; they played Sunday Monday this week, and then they travel out here on Thursday, so we hopefully can catch them, but they’re going to be excited to be here, and we’re going to get their very best. We know that.”
The Skyhawks are led by head coach David Borges (the dad of ASU assistant coach Dana Borges). David Borges is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell in ’85 and is going into his eighth year at the helm of Stonehill. He originally joined the program as an assistant head coach after 26 years at Coyle & Cassidy High School, where he was the head coach of the varsity hockey program for the last nine years.
Through their seven games, the Skyhawks have had seven different goal scores, but sophomore forward Frank Ireland leads the way with a pair of goals and assists for four points. The only guy to have more assists than him is junior forward Kyle Heath, with three. In net, sophomore Dylan Meilun has gotten the nod for all but one game; he averages 5.02 goals per game and has a save percentage of .888. The lone game not started by Meilun was against Long Island University in mid-October. Junior Gavin Fitzpatrick got the start in that game, and he allowed seven goals on 38 shots.
With their 4-1-1 start to the year, coach Powers feels that his team is skilled; they still just need to clean some things up. At practice on Tuesday, while on the ice, Powers referred to the Arizona Coyotes game that had taken place the night before against the Chicago Blackhawks. Some ASU players, along with Powers, were in attendance for that game, and Powers referenced how they can learn a lot from watching the best of the best.
“You watch the NHL; the best players in the world, they keep it simple,” Powers said when asked about the reference he made. “They get pucks on the net, they go to the net, they’re not afraid to go to those dirty areas. Right now, I think our guys, because we are a skilled team, are looking for the perfect play and maybe making an extra pass when they can just put it on a goalie’s pads and drive the net. So we have to be willing to score dirty goals and simplify our game offensively to get more production.”
Offensively, for the Sun Devils, 11 different guys have gotten on the score sheet with a goal, and three players are tied with three goals. Senior forwards Lukas Sillinger, Matthew Kopperud, and Alex Young have all scored three goals. With that as well, Arizona State has one of the top 15 power plays in the country right now; according to College Hockey News, they are converting with an extra attacker 22.6% of the time.
The first game between Stonehill and Arizona State is set for Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. MST.
