(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)
Entering the 2019-20 campaign, Arizona State’s goaltending situation was arguably the biggest topic of discussion surrounding a team that had accomplished unparalleled success for a team in such budding stages of existence.
After the departure of former Sun Devil and current Ottawa Senator’s farmhand Joey Daccord, the coaching staff was tasked with picking from three viable goaltending options, sophomore Evan DeBrouwer, graduate transfer Max Prawdzik and freshman Justin Robbins.
However, two games into the season, the team has no primary starter as it travel into a heavyweight tilt with No. 3 Minnesota State.
“[It’s] just continuing to get better,” Powers said. “Just like everybody else, get better every day and have a really good practice.”
DeBrouwer posted a .870 save percentage in the opening night loss to Mercyhurst and Prawdzik put up a .810 save percentage in a 6-4 win in game two. For both, it’s back to the ice for more training improvement.
“We’re going to need our goaltending to be good this weekend to get a win,” Powers said.
During his press conference, Powers confirmed DeBrouwer would get the start in game three on Friday night.
MINNESOTA STATE
Putting the series split with Mercyhurst behind them, ASU shifts its focus to the powerhouse that is Minnesota State, a team that features many of the same players as last year, an advantage for a Sun Devil team that will have familiarity on their side for the two-game tilt.
“They are just a really, really good team,” Powers said. “They’re one of the top teams in the country, they always are. And this year might be one of the strongest teams they’ve ever had.”
Last season, ASU went toe-to-toe with Minnesota State in the Desert Hockey Classic in Glendale.
The Sun Devils tied the No. 3 Mavericks 2-2 with goals from Jordan Sandhu and Johnny Walker. Walker’s goal tied the match with just 29 seconds to go in the game.
Arizona State technically won in a shootout but the game was officially recorded as a tie.
Similar to the host team, ASU will face off against Minnesota State with an established core of veteran players with only three freshman seeing consistent ice time.
“That’s the nice thing about having veterans,” Powers said. “Our sophomore through senior class have seen everything. They have literally seen everything you could possibly see in college hockey. That’s huge.”
Heading into the weekend’s match up north, Powers noted that practices have taken a focus on team play within the offensive zone.
“[We have been] dialing in the forecheck more,” Powers said. “We pride ourselves on being a forecheck predicated team. We worked on that today.”
During the Mercyhurst series, the team put 76 shots on Laker netminder Garrett Metcalf. Even still, Powers believes there more work to be done to get the attackers at full power.
At the end of the day, though, Powers states that in order for the team to be fully prepared for the weekend, the team needs to stay focused on itself, and not worry about any of the outside powers that be.
“[We need to] mainly worry about ourselves,” Powers said. “We found some things we wanted to shore up. We had a really good practice and addressed some things we want to be better at, going into Friday. And just worry about us. That’s all you can do this early into the season. You have to worry about yourselves. You can’t worry about who you’re playing. We know how good they are… but our guys believe they can do it.”
It was a less than ideal start to the season, but it appears that its full sail ahead, nonetheless for the Sun Devils.
