Penn State could find themselves in the position Arizona State did heading into its series against Wisconsin in late November.
It’s been an arguably disastrous season for the Nittany Lions, as their record sits at 1-5 on the year after the shortened 2019-20 season brought them great success at 20-10-4. But Penn State heads into its series against the No. 20 ranked Sun Devils coming off an impressive 9-5 win over Michigan, who dominated ASU to open the season and had head coach Greg Powers calling them the best team he’d ever seen.
“Penn State scored nine goals on a team we could barely get a shot against,” he said.
Penn State split with Michigan, losing 3-1 in the first game of the series, but its throttling of the Wolverines in game two made a statement. The Nittany Lions got offensive breakouts from those they needed it from. Junior forward Bobby Hampton – a transfer from Northeastern – scored two goals in the contest. Another junior forward in Aarne Talvitie – who had the second-most points last year out of Penn State’s returners – chipped in two more for his first of the season.
Overall, the Nittany Lions offense has played well early in the season. They rank eighth in the country in goals scored and third in shots. While the total number of games played for teams across college hockey varies, a majority of teams have begun their seasons and Penn State’s ranks well amongst a large crowd.
Defense has been the team’s shortcoming. They were able to overcome the five goals they allowed to Michigan with ease, but gave up six and seven goals to Wisconsin in its two game set with the Badgers in November. The Nittany Lions are tied with ASU in goals allowed on the year, but the Sun Devils have played two more games.
“They’re very good,” Powers said of the Nittany Lions. “Guy Gadowsky does an unbelievable job in every way. He’s a great guy and coach. he coaches a very exciting brand of hockey. They’re fun to watch. They’re not fun to playa against. They’re a very offense minded team.
“They are not by any stretch a 1-5 team.”
Goalie has been a whirlwind for Penn State. Junior Oskar Autio has a 4.32 GAA in four games this season, while freshman Liam Souliere sits at 4.59 in two games. Neither has a save percentage above 84 percent, which makes the Nittany Lions the fourth-worst team in the country in that category.
Goalies have rotated in the Sun Devils’ net too. Junior Evan DeBrouwer and freshman Cole Brady have received almost equal playing time through nine games, and Powers has tried to give each goaltender a game a series to start. As usual, Powers was mum on what the strategy was going into Penn State, but said that he’s waiting for one to pull ahead of the other.
“Both have been good, neither have been great,” Powers said. “Both expect to be great and that’s what I love about both of those kids: how competitive they are and how much they demand of themselves.
“If one of them blatantly steals the net and takes it and runs with it, then good for him. So far, neither have. They haven’t done anything to give up the net, but they haven’t done anything to take it. It’s a back and forth right now.”
While Powers’ words may indicate frustration in the net, the Sun Devils goaltender situation is holding strong. ASU ranks around average nationwide in save percentage – a much stronger position than the Nittany Lions hold.
If the offensive spark Penn State found against Michigan holds over, ASU has answers. Freshman Matthew Kopperud has led the Sun Devils out of their own struggles scoring the puck, making up for the loss of senior forward Johnny Walker (who will be out again for the series against Penn State) and the slump senior forward Sean Dhooghe has been in to open the year.
“When a guy like Johnny or Kopperud has a shot and time and space to really get one off, you feel like it’s going to go in and so far they have for him,” Powers said.
Kopperud’s line of Sandhu and Komountzis has done a lot of the heavy lifting. The freshman said its due to the chemistry the group has developed (Sandhu and Kopperud knew each other prior to ASU), and Komountzis cited his simplification of the game.
“I’m trying not to overthink as many things as I was last year,” he said. “It’s been nice being healthy, but honestly I think it’s the mental mindset of going into games and not overthinking it too much.”
Powers said Walker was close to returning, and that if this weekend was the NCAA Tournament, he’d be playing.
ASU has steadily improved since its Wisconsin series. The Sun Devils have worked their way back into the USCHO rankings, and are just below .500 heading into this weekend’s games. But ASU hasn’t been a team to be on the outside of the NCAA Tournament picture in years past, and even with the circumstances – tough Big Ten competition, long road trips, Walker’s injury – the Sun Devils have to start taking care of the teams they should if they want to be considered come spring.
“We genuinely believe that we have a team that can beat anyone in this conference,” Powers said. That’s the way we approach every game. We expect to win every game. If we prepare the right way and we’re detailed and we play the way we want to play, we believe we can beat anybody. Over the course of the last three weeks, that belief has started to take shape.”
