(Photo: Kylee Meter / WCSN)
The Sun Devil hockey team will enter this weekend’s series against Michigan Tech as the underdog: ASU has 66 goals and a .317 win percentage, while MTU nearly doubles the Sun Devils’ numbers with 102 goals while winning 53 percent of its games.
Two weeks ago, Yale swept the Sun Devils in two close matchups. ASU head coach Greg Powers said losing late in overtime two nights in a row “just stung a little bit more than usual.”
“I wasn’t really happy about how we played against Yale,” Powers said. “We were literally inches away from a sweep and instead you get swept and that’s all part of the maturation process unfortunately.”
Despite the lack of success at Yale and the apparent disadvantage heading into this series, the Sun Devils are excited about facing an opponent they’ve already defeated this season.
“We’re just looking forward to getting up there.” Powers said. “It’s going to be a good, fun trip for our guys.”
ASU began the new year with its first-ever tournament title, defeating the Huskies 3-2 in the final round of the Ice Vegas Invitational.
With two goals from Brinson Pasichnuk and one from Johnny Walker, the Sun Devils held the usually productive Michigan Tech offense to zero points until the third period. Even though the Huskies out-shot their opponent throughout, ASU managed to maintain the lead and take home the trophy.
“They’re going to be hungry,” Powers said. “They’re going to be a tough team and we already know how good they are.”
Although the Huskies have fallen from preseason rankings, Michigan Tech’s offense is currently ranked in the top-20 nationally with an average 3.09 goals and 30.7 shots per game.
Following the high note in Las Vegas, both Pasichnuk and Walker have continued to add points, but ASU has posted just one win, a tie and six losses.
This series with the Huskies at MacInnes Student Ice Arena will be the second to last for ASU this season and Powers has expectations for the freshmen.
“They’ve had big roles right away, a ton of ice time, a ton of situation,” Powers said. “We want to see them take the next step in these last four games and start to execute a little bit better and use all that great experience that they came here to get to springboard into next season.”
