(Photo: Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)
TEMPE – With school back in session for the spring semester, Arizona State Men’s Hockey will begin what will arguably be the most critical stretch of the best season in program history, to date. Through 24 games, the Sun Devils are riding the highs of a 16-3-5 season overall, and an overwhelming 13-2-3 record at home.
On Friday, ASU will have a rare opportunity in college hockey: a full series rematch against a team they played just two weeks earlier. A little under two weeks ago, ASU tied Cornell in the inaugural Adirondack Winter Invitational Championship at the site of the iconic 1980 Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, a result of overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the third period.
With the Sun Devils ranked 11th and 16th in the USCHO polls and Pairwise respectively, and Cornell ranked 18th in both, it will mark the fourth Top-20 series at Mullett Arena so far this season and ASU’s 13th consecutive week in the national polls.
“They’re everything they’ve advertised,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said of Cornell on Tuesday. “They’re big, heavy, and hard to play against. Obviously, we technically tied them, but we took a trophy from them. So, they’re going to come in here probably pretty hot and ready to go.”
As the Pairwise stands entering the weekend, Cornell is also ASU’s highest-ranked opponent remaining on the schedule. Even then, Cornell is only 6-4-1 on the year and 3-4-1 in ECAC conference play, while also coming off a bye week following the tournament in Lake Placid.
Leading the way statistically for the Big Red is senior forward Gabriel Seger with 16 points, producing a team-leading nine goals. Freshman defenseman Ben Robertson ranks third in points, while also holding the team lead in assists with 11.
On the other side of the ice, the Sun Devils’ success as of late has been fueled by the offensive breakout of freshman forward Kyle Smolen. With just two goals and three assists through the Christmas break, he has compiled five goals, two assists, and two game-winning goals in the last four games. Smolen competed for four years in the USHL prior to ASU, where he tallied 77 total points in over 190 games.
Smolen said of his experience in Juniors: “Junior hockey is the biggest advantage ever because you have time to develop as a player. Then when you’re ready, you have four years. … It made me a more mature player, and gave me the opportunity to score points in ways I never have scored before, which can translate into the college level.”
“He’s been really good for us all year and I think now people are just noticing because he’s scoring some goals,” Powers said of Smolen. “I trust him in every situation. He has hard skills. He’s good defensively, good at the dot, and has been really good on the kill. He’s a great two-way player. … Like I said all year, he’s a freshman but he’s not really a freshman because of the experience he came in here with, so he’s just going to get better.”
Between the pipes, expect to see junior goalie TJ Semptimphelter and Ian Shane for ASU and Cornell, respectively. Semptimphelter currently sits fourth in the country in winning percentage at .755 and is one shutout away from breaking the program record for career shutouts, currently set at eight by current Seattle Kraken goalie Joey Daccord. Shane was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 2 after putting up a .915 save percentage in the Adirondack Invitational. He earned 18 saves against the Sun Devils.
As a team, ASU’s special teams leads the country with 27 power-play goals through 24 games, while also tying with Boston College and Maine for fewest losses in the country with three. The Sun Devils are undefeated in its last 10 games, setting the record for the longest undefeated streak in program history. Their last loss came on Nov. 26 at home against then-No. 9 Providence. Defensively, ASU has held its opponents to less than 30 shots on goal in its last eight games, dating back to Dartmouth on Dec. 8.
After taking home their own Desert Hockey Classic trophy in overtime last weekend, this week’s series against No. 18 Cornell will set the stage for whatever the rest of the season will hold for the Sun Devils. After this, ASU will only play its fellow independents, which includes two road trips to Alaska.
Puck will drop at 7 p.m. MST on Friday and 5 p.m. MST on Saturday. Both games can be streamed for free on Pac-12 Insider and Fox Sports 910 AM.
“We need to put a more complete three periods in,” graduate forward Tyler Gratton said. “When we played them two weeks ago, we had times in the game that were good and a couple of times that weren’t as good. It’s how they were able to get their offense on.”
Added Powers: “We’re still an independent. It’s hard to get in as an independent. We’re in a position today where we feel really good about our chances and the way our team is trending, how we’re playing, and guys are bought into what they need to do every day.”
