ASU Men’s Hockey: No. 18 Sun Devils begin road stretch with trip to Harvard

(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)

No. 18 Arizona State will make its first East Coast road trip of the season this weekend with a battle against Harvard in Boston.

The Sun Devils (9-3-0) have been one of the early-season surprises in college hockey. ASU heads into the two-game series at Bright-Landry Hockey Center as a ranked team for the first time in program history after earning 168 votes in the latest USCHO poll.

Despite tough tests against Big Ten opponents the last two weeks, the Sun Devils enter Harvard on a three-game winning streak and have won seven of eight overall during a program-best start to the season, their fourth Division I campaign.

The Sun Devils backs could be pushed against the wall the next couple of weeks though, with each of their next six games coming away from home. However, coach Greg Powers is confident guiding his team with”game-by-game” preparation.

“It’s been just another week of preparation for us, and we’re looking forward to another tough road test in Harvard,” Powers said this week. “Our guys are focused on the task at hand, and we have our work cut out for us in one of the toughest atmospheres in college hockey.”

Harvard is one of the oldest programs in the country, dating back to 1898. The Crimson played only one game that year, losing to Brown 6-0. Fast forward 120 years, Harvard stands as a perennial powerhouse in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Coach Ted Donato has led Harvard to a slow 1-2-2 start in his 15th season at the helm. The former Crimson captain has steered Harvard to four 20-win seasons, capturing five NCAA tournament berths and a Frozen Four appearance in 2017.

While their record doesn’t stand out early in the 2018-2019 campaign, the Crimson do hold with one of the strongest defensive cores in the NCAA.

Junior defenseman Adam Fox leads the team with 10 assists, 12 points and a +6 plus/minus ratio in five games. Fox’s 2.40 points per game is tied for No. 1 in the country with Princeton’s Ryan Kuffner.

The blueliner was drafted as a third-round pick (No. 66 overall) by the Calgary Flames in 2016 for his exceptional edge work and four-way mobility that enables his uncanny playmaking and eagle-eyed vision. Scouts see him as one of the few defensemen in the country that can skate with the puck at his high level of confidence and skill. The Sun Devils will have to block the shooting lanes with Fox’s powerful shot from the point.

Sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh has a team-leading four goals, all of which have come on the power play. He has five points in five games paired alongside Fox on Harvard’s top line.

Freshman defenseman Jack Rathbone is another crucial contributor to the Crimson blue line. Rathbone has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists), which ranks second on the team behind Fox, and was a 2017 fourth-round draft pick (No. 95 overall) by the Vancouver Canucks.

With their stacked blue line, Harvard owns one of the most offensively explosive teams in the nation with 4.20 goals per game (2nd in NCAA). ASU holds the 11th scoring offense with 3.83 goals per game.

While the series could serve up a pair of high-scoring affairs, junior goaltender Joey Daccord returns to his home state, seeking to stay sharp after his third shutout of the season. Daccord sits in the top-10 in the country in both save percentage (.930) and goals against average (2.09) among goalies with at least six starts. On top of that, the native of North Andover, Massachusetts leads the country with nine wins, 343 saves and 717 minutes played.

Special teams also continue to be an effective facet for the Sun Devils, whose top-ranked penalty kill (92.7%) locks horns with Harvard’s second-ranked power play (40.9%). The Crimson have found the back of the net nine times in 22 opportunities with the man-advantage. Harvard utilizes a two-pronged attack with Fox and Walsh quarterbacking the top power play with one-time bullets.

The Sun Devils penalty kill has dominated with an aggressive forecheck, supplying heavy pressure from their veteran presence. Seniors Anthony Croston and Dylan Hollman are staples on the primary penalty-killing unit, blocking shots and breaking up passes with their long reach. Senior Steenn Pasichnuk and sophomore Dominic Garcia follow with a gritty style of play, forcing opponents to make untimely passes and shots.

ASU and Harvard crossed paths once at Gila River Arena during the 2016-2017 campaign. The Crimson won both games, outscoring the Sun Devils 13-2 in the series. Now, both teams, revamped and ready to rumble, take the action to Bright-Landry Hockey Center and square off Friday and Saturday night at 5 p.m. MST.

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