(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)
The No. 12 Arizona State men’s hockey team has all but sealed its NCAA Tournament bid in their fourth Division I season.
While Pairwise probability charts and national projections point to a near guarantee that ASU will earn an at-large bid, the Sun Devils (21-10-1) still have to wait for their ultimate fate when Selection Sunday rolls around on March 24th.
However, they are hoping the buzz around their potential first-ever bid won’t serve as a distraction, as the well-rested squad embarks to the famed State of Hockey for their final series of the regular season against Minnesota at Mariucci Arena.
For the first time in their young program history, the Sun Devils square off with the Golden Gophers – a tremendous opportunity, as ASU coach Greg Powers explained this week, to gain valuable experience against a prestigious program.
“It’s the State of Hockey and how they treat the sport, I think their development model all the way from the youth ages on up through high school, is one that other states should adopt and copy,” Powers said. “To be able to go up in that environment with the season that we are having, and play a traditional powerhouse like Minnesota…It’s a tremendous honor for our program. We couldn’t be more excited.”
Minnesota represents a key cornerstone on the college hockey map. Dating back to 1921, the Gophers own a historically prominent program that boasts 37 NCAA tournament appearances and five national championships.
In the first year under coach Bob Motzko’s supervision, Minnesota (14-15-4, 11-10-3 Big Ten) currently sits on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament picture, ranked 22nd in the Pairwise rankings and second in conference play.
Despite a shaky back-and-forth season, the Gophers have shown a surge of confidence lately with a recent road sweep of the Big Ten-leading Ohio State Buckeyes – a common opponent that the Sun Devils struggled with earlier this year (ASU lost both games at home).
Led by one of the country’s best power play units (sixth in the country at 25.0 percent), Minnesota’s success has relied heavily on its offensively-driven lineup.
As the greatest scoring threat among a dozen Gophers with double-digit point totals, junior forward Rem Pitlick owns a team-high 17 goals and 38 points. Flanking Pitlick on the top line and senior forward Tyler Sheehy hold primary playmaking roles with a team-best 25 assists while senior forward Brent Gates Jr. rounds out the trio with 26 points.
This final road trip to the land of 10,000 lakes is a steep mountain to climb, but for freshman forward Demetrios Koumontzis and freshman defenseman Josh Maniscalco, the weekend tilt is more than a tough test. It is a return to common ground.
After Koumontzis learned the ropes with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, the Scottsdale-native traveled to Minnesota and found a spark at Edina High School where he led Team Northeast with 49 points in the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League.
Following a sensational high school career, the Calgary Flames selected Koumontzis in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Draft and the 18-year-old winger has added 16 assists and 20 points to an impressive freshman campaign for the maroon and gold.
Koumontzis, who has been the Sun Devils’ hottest skater after recording a six-point weekend in the sweep over American International, is excited to return to the colder weather up North.
“It will be pretty cool to have a lot of family and friends there. I got a bunch of tickets ready for people… I’m excited,” Koumontzis said. “Just to go out there and beat a team like that would be pretty special for this program.Obviously, we get three weeks off before we know if we make the tournament or not, so it would definitely be strong to end with two wins or end on a high note, and just keep working from there.”
Maniscalco also played his high school hockey in Minnesota, strengthening his defensive structure and mobility at Shattuck-St. Mary’s from 2013 to 2015 before developing further with the United States Development program.
In his first season skating on the Sun Devil blue line, the native of Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania has played heavy minutes alongside co-captain Brinson Pasichnuk where Maniscalco has benefitted with 18 points and a +14 rating.
“It’s definitely going to be a test for us. [Koumonztis] and I watched [Minnesota’s] games this week. They play really well at home, so it’s going to be a test for us and it’s a test were ready for,” Maniscalco said. “We want to win as much as possible and to get a win against Minnesota, a big national team like that, would be huge.”
While these two games mark the end of the Sun Devils’ regular season, the team knows they can’t take their foot off the gas. At No. 8 in the pairwise rankings, the Sun Devils would place as a No. 2 seed if the Tournament began today, but Providence, Northeastern and Western Michigan all pursue not far behind as the regular season winds down.
Nevertheless, ASU sits in a prime position to earn its first-ever NCAA tournament bid. A win or two over the Gophers would put the cherry on top of one of the most surprising success stories of college hockey this season.
“We have to go up there and respect our opponent and respect the game that goes along with finishing out strong,” Powers said. “We owe it to ourselves to go up there and leave it all on the ice in Minnesota.”