The Arizona State women’s hockey team is set to battle rival Grand Canyon University this weekend as the two programs prepare for a potential playoff run.
The Sun Devils are currently first in the Western Women’s Collegiate Hockey League conference and are unbeaten amongst division foes. GCU, on the other hand, is fighting to get into the WWCHL playoffs as the team currently sits fourth in the conference.
This series will be the third and fourth meeting between the two teams, and the first series played at Oceanside Ice Arena. The Sun Devils won both games in October at AZ Ice Arcadia and are looking to replicate a similar performance this time around.
“It was a while ago we played them near the beginning of the season we’ve played a lot of games since then so I think from that point to now, half the team are freshman, so they’re growing and getting experience playing college hockey,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said. “I don’t think there’s really much difference in our game, we’re pretty consistent in what we do I think it’s just experience, they’re just better now.”
GCU’s overall record stands at 3-7 and is coming into this weekend having lost two straight games to newcomers Utah at home.
It’s been a different story for ASU. It has won its last three games and have scored a whopping 22 goals in that span.
For the Sun Devils, this will be the program’s first game in nearly two months. Ellis hopes the team come out of the gate with some speed after the long break.
“I think it’s definitely super important since we haven’t played games in a while,” she said. “Come out with speed, we’ve had really great practices for the past few weeks so I’m really excited, they’re excited they worked really hard over break on their own so I don’t think it’s going to be an issue coming into these games to come out with speed.”
Sophomore Captain Kat Jones has already passed the program’s record 22 points in a single season with 25 points in just 14 games. In the last six games, Jones has been on fire tallying up 16 points in that span. For Jones, it’s not as much about the individual performance but more so how well the line is playing.
“I don’t really think too much about it, I just play the way I know how to play,” she said regarding her recent offensive performances. “I just enjoy being out there with my line mates. I love my line and I think we produce pretty well together.”
Freshman forward Danielle Dupont and Jones are both top-10 in points and goals in the nation. However, in the previous matchups this season against GCU, the two have combined for just three points in those games.
The team shares a passion in beating a rival like GCU, but sophomore defenseman Sheridan Gloyd thinks the team doesn’t always play like themselves against the Lopes.
“It seems that every time we play GCU we kind of choke a little bit,” Gloyd said. “I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we’re rivals, but we’re definitely not going to take them lightly even though they lost to Utah who we beat pretty bad. I think it’s just the nerves that get to us sometimes, but I think that we’ve been working hard all season and we’re ready to play them.”
This rivalry has everything to do with the proximity of the two programs and the extra motivation to beat GCU comes down to one collective goal the captain has set.
“We want a longer-term goal of no longer considering them a rival, we want to be that much separated from them that they aren’t a rival to us anymore,” Jones said. “So, that’s the extra motivation, when we play them, we tend to play them in really close games and sometimes it’s a struggle for us to pull out the win.”
For coach Ellis, this week’s games have an even bigger meaning than just being a rivalry and they’ll need to create numerous opportunities to get the job done.
“Come out hard and get a lot of shots on net, I think that’s our main message to the girls that we can’t hold back,” coach Ellis said. “Right now, it’s the push to go into playoffs in a high seed, so that’s our motivation.”
The Devils will be without freshman forward Rabuck Malak this weekend who will be out four to six weeks with a knee injury, coach Ellis announced after Thursday’s practice. Malak has four goals and one assist on the season, three of those goals came in an 11-0 rout against Utah in the team’s last game before the break.
The first game of the series takes place on Friday when the puck drops at 8 p.m. and the final game begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
