(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
As finals week concludes at Arizona State, it is business as usual, and full steam ahead for the Sun Devils’ men’s hockey team. On the docket this weekend: a 2,100 mile trip to New Jersey. Princeton, New Jersey, to be exact, as the Sun Devils prepare to take on the 3-6-1 Princeton Tigers.
Unlike previous weekends this season, the 10-6-0 Sun Devils are coming into the Princeton series with a week of rest under their belts.
“We needed [the bye week],” ASU head coach Greg Powers said after Tuesday morning’s practice. “We were the only team in college who hadn’t had a weekend off, and we started before almost everybody too.”
The players made the most of their bye week, spending valuable time with teammates and focusing on recovering from a demanding first eight weeks to the season.
For freshman forward Demetrios Koumontzis, the week was spent in the gym.
“I did a little rehab for my body,” Koumontzis said. “It was good to kind of get a break from everything. Get loose, workout, [and] get back in the gym and build some muscle. And now, I think we’re ready for Princeton here.”
Koumontzis has tallied one goal and seven assists in 16 games with the team.
Starting netminder and junior Joey Daccord spent the extra time with volunteer coach Andrew Matheson to touch up on areas the junior wouldn’t normally be able to work on during the week.
“We kind of got back to the basics, a little bit,” Daccord said. “Worked on some things. Looked at my mechanics and technique.”
Before the bye week, ASU had played in eight consecutive weekend series, including back-to-back road trips to Harvard and Nebraska Omaha before the break. The trip to Omaha saw the Sun Devils get swept for only the second time all year. The only previous time was to then No.1 Ohio State University at Oceanside Ice Arena. In the first match of the UNO series, ASU entered the third period tied at three apiece and even took the lead on a short-handed goal by Dylan Holland 12 minutes into the third. But a UNO power-play goal less than a minute later and another goal just a few minutes after that secured the Mavericks 6-3 victory.
In the second game of the series, ASU was held goalless despite putting 44 shots on net.
“Friday, we were terrible,” Powers said. “It was the worst game we played all year… It was a frustrating weekend. Statistically [Saturday’s game]…we were really good.”
The Devils are looking to bounce back against a struggling Tigers team that has dropped their last five games. Three of the five losses have been by three or more goals. However, Princeton boasts a deadly top line pair in senior forward Ryan Kuffner and senior forward Max Véronneau who have combined for 29 of the team’s points.
“[Princeton has] one of the best lines, if not the best line in the country—with two of the very best players in the country,” Powers said. “They have a dynamic defenseman too, sotheire power play is as good as it gets in college hockey.”
Special teams will play a major factor in this weekend’s affair. Princeton’s power play and ASU’s penalty kill are both near the top of the rankings in the country. Princeton enters the weekend with the seventh best power play in the nation, humming at 27 percent, while ASU’s penalty kill sits ninth in the nation at 86.5 percent.
The teams played each other almost exactly one year ago in Tempe, splitting the series as Princeton took game one 4-0 and ASU took game two in overtime 4-3 with the game-winner scored by then forward and current Milton Keynes Lightning (England) player David Norris.
After the sweep to UNO two weeks ago, the team is not only well rested for the showdown in New Jersey, but is also hungry to get back to its winning ways.
“[Princeton is] really good. They were a tournament team from last year, they returned all their top guys,” Powers said. “There will be no taking anybody lightly.”
