(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
After traveling what will be a total of 35,670 miles this season, Arizona State’s exhaustive road schedule will end this weekend.
The Sun Devils will hit the road on their final road trip of the season as they will take on No. 8 UMass-Lowell in a two-game series and Merrimack on Sunday.
Officially, Arizona State is still riding an 11-game losing streak despite sweeping ACHA Ohio in Tempe last weekend.
Breaking the streak won’t get any easier this weekend in Massachusetts.
“I don’t know if it’s the rigors of the travel that really knock a team down per say,” head coach Greg Powers said. “I think it’s just playing on the road; home-ice advantage is so important.”
Playing on its home ice has really become a foreign concept for Powers’ team. In their first year, the Sun Devils have played just seven games in Tempe, including just three official NCAA matchups.
The team is 3-18-0 this season in opposing venues.
This weekend, UMass-Lowell – a team that made a Frozen Four appearance in 2013 – becomes the fifth ranked opponent Arizona State has faced this season.
The River Hawks enter the matchup at 15-5-4.
“It [a win] would obviously be huge against a top-10 team like Lowell,” junior defenseman and captain Drew Newmeyer said. “Any win against a big program like that would be big for us.”
For that to happen, the Devils will need to slow down forwards C.J. Smith and Adam Chapie. The two have combined to score 19 goals this season, as well as 27 assists.
Both lead an offense that averages 2.88 goals per game.
On the defensive side, the River Hawks are only allowing 1.71 goals per game.
Goaltender Kevin Boyle has stared in net for Lowell, boasting a 15-5-4 record to go with a pristine .938 save percentage. For a team that averages just 1.58 goals per game, the task of sneaking one past Boyle could prove to be rather daunting for the Sun Devils.
Jordan Masters continues to be the lone bright spot for this Arizona State team and he will continue to be the team’s best hope for offense this weekend.
Masters posted the first hat-trick in team history last weekend against Ohio.
The team will also be without Jack Rowe, who tore his ACL in the Ohio series. Powers expects his rehab to take 6-8 months, putting his availability for the start of next season in some doubt.
Robert Levin and Ryland Pashovitz will likely split the first two games of the series between the pipes against Lowell. However, it will be interesting to see how Powers handles the goalie situation for the last game against Merrimack (2-7-5).
David Jacobson has started in three games this season, posting a .921 save percentage in that span. He should be available off the bench should powers take that approach.
Merrimack has struggled as of late, losing its last nine games.
The story remains the same: the road trips don’t yield the greatest results on the ice for the Devils, but the impact and the experience of playing such respected teams is still more valuable at this point in the year.
“Playing on the road, on visiting team ice is really the most valuable experience this young team can take away from the season,” Powers said. “Travel’s not easy, but with how we travel and the way our guys are treated we don’t look at that as an excuse.
Puck drop (Arizona time) is at 5:15 p.m. and 5:00 p.m on Friday and Saturday respectively, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
You can contact Colton Dodgson via e-mail or on Twitter @DodgsonColton
