(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
Arizona State hockey is back to conclude its road trip and face off against the Colgate Raiders.
The Sun Devils return after a wild weekend against University of Nebraska at Omaha. ASU fell short to the Mavericks 5-1 on Friday night, but was able to push through double overtime to take the win in a shootout thanks to a goal scored by Jack Rowe. Due to NCAA rules, the game was later concluded as a tie.
Colgate finished its matchup last weekend against Canisius in a similar style, earning an overtime tie.
ASU enters Colgate’s Class of 1965 Arena with a record of 1-4-1 with their solo victory coming from its clash against UMass- Amherst, while Colgate hits the ice with a 2-2-2 record, including a sweep at the hands of New Hampshire.
This will be the second run-in for the Sun Devils and the Raiders. Last season, ASU first appeared in New York in which the split series both ended in single point games.
Colgate’s strength lies in having the home ice advantage. Both of their victories came in their own arena.
“Home or away, our guys have embraced and learned how to embrace playing on the road,” head coach Greg Powers said. “We don’t change anything or approach anything differently. We just embrace the opportunity to go get a couple road wins and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
ASU has lost three of its four road games thus far. It’s difficult to bounce back but the team might have received a pivotal confidence boost due to Saturday’s tie.
“There isn’t a guy here that’s not excited to get on a plane tomorrow and go back to work because they’ve got that contagious, that feeling’s contagious,” Powers said. “After you get a good moment collectively together, you want to get more and do more and get it again.”
Out of ASU’s first six games, it has only opened up the scoring once. The Sun Devils have had rough opening games, but by the second game in each weekend series, they have came out more aggressive than the night prior.
“Everybody’s got to know their role before we go out there,” goaltender Ryland Pashovitz said. “Being ready to go at the drop of the puck is a key thing for us to get a good start.”
Colgate is an extremely aggressive competitor with Powers even comparing their style to that of a previous.
“They forecheck really hard,” Powers said. “To me they’re a lot like Air Force. They play, just play so hard and they come at you in waves and so if our guys aren’t ready to compete and they’re not ready to play with poise in the back, breaking the puck out effectively. We got really good at breaking the puck out of our zone and getting good support, then we’ll struggle but if we show up and we’re ready to compete, we like our chances.”
The Sun Devils will be using that momentum built from their tie last weekend to help drive the team in delivering a few wins back to Tempe.
