(Photo Courtesy – Haley Spracale)
2015, the year Arizona State Men’s hockey became a Division I program. Playing at Oceanside Ice Arena they finished 8-22-4 overall getting their first Division I win against Alaska Fairbanks. Now in 2023, the seasons of first will continue as the Sun Devils welcome into the brand new Mullet arena, a brand new team, the University of Lindenwood. The Lions will make their first trip to the desert after making the jump this year from a Division II school to a Division I school.
After a weekend off it is time for college hockey to return to the desert as a struggling Arizona State Men’s hockey (13-18-0) returns after a previous losing weekend against Alaska Fairbanks in Alaska to start February.
With eight games left in the season, the next test will be Lindenwood (7-17-0) who comes into the weekend off their second sweep of the year at home against Stonehill College. At 7-17-0 and 13-18-0 both the Lions and the Sun Devils find themselves out of the postseason, however the Lions are just a first-year program aforementioned.
Announced on February 18, 2020, that Lindenwood would begin the transition from Division II to a Division I school after a unanimous decision by the University of Lindenwood Board of Trustees. Like the Sun Devils, the Lions play as one of the six independent teams while they search for a conference to join. Some of the school’s athletics will join the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) however that conference does not have hockey.
“They’re (Lindenwood) going to come in, they’ve got nothing to lose, they’re a first-year program, they’re going to play hard.” Head Coach Greg Powers told the media on Tuesday. “They’re big, and they’ve threatened some really good programs this year.”
The Lion’s schedule this year has featured teams from all over college hockey, after opening against at the time No.2 Minnesota Gophers on the road and then No. 7 Michigan, the Lions finally picked up their first win against Air Force at home in a weekend split. Lindenwood has had some good teams on the ropes this year, they were tied 4-4 with No. 1 Denver in Denver late in the third before losing 5-4 and even had North Dakota down 2-0 early but wound up losing 4-3 Grand Forks.
Powers says the priority to slowing down the Lions will be to skate, play the body and just play their own game. “Our guys are ready, they’re loose but they understand that they gotta finish strong.”
Leading the Lions into the new frontier is Head Coach, Rick Zombo, a former NHL player for the Blues and the Red Wings. Before the head coach for Lindenwood in 2010 he was the assistant coach for two years prior. As a head coach, Zombo has led Lindenwood to two American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division I national titles in 2016 and 2022.
Zombo’s team is among the younger ones in college hockey with 18 total underclassmen. To put that into perspective, Power’s team has 14 underclassmen. With a younger class, it can be required for older players to step up when needed and one of the players who has done that is junior forward Hunter Johannes. With 10 goals (a team-leading stat) and eight assists, he sits second overall on his team with 18 points.
The tail of the tape falls like this. When scoring first Arizona State is 10-7-0 and when Lindenwood scores first they are 3-7-0. When the opponent scores first ASU is 3-11-0 and Lindenwood is 4-10-0. Arizona State is 10-8-0 at home while Lindenwood is 4-16-0 on the road. The bright spot for the Lions compared to the Sun Devils is their power play. Lindenwoods power play is converting 21.3% of the time compared to 18.3% for Arizona State. To counter that power play is a very strong kill for Arizona State ranking 5th 86.2% of the time.
The Sun Devils are 2-2 overall when facing an independent team this year. They have also faced similar teams to Lindenwood like Minnesota, Air Force, Denver, North Dakota, Long Island, and both Alaska Schools where they are 5-4 overall compared to Lindenwood who is 1-7.
Puck drop is set for Friday February 7, at 7 pm MST.
