Arizona State has a tough weekend ahead of them with three games against top 15 opponents. The Sun Devils will look to dominate against both No. 10 Liberty and No. 15 Stony Brook Thursday through Saturday.
After last weekend’s split series, the maroon and gold fell by a 3-2 decision to Minot State in what was arguably their worst game of the season. ASU rebounded with a 7-1 victory over Williston State the following day, which makes the Sun Devils 2-2 so far this semester. This weekend, the Sun Devils want nothing more than to improve their record and get out of the rough patch they have recently found themselves in.
They will be facing Liberty on Thursday, who has not played a game since December 8th. The Flames will without question be rested for the matchup down in Tempe, and they are expected to put up quite the fight.
Flames forward Rick Turner currently leads the team with 50 points thus far on the season. To break it down, he has a total of 30 goals and 20 assists. Liberty also has strong goaltending, where Blair Bennett has a 91 percent save percentage, to match ASU’s Joe D’Elia.
If Arizona State wants to capitalize on their chance to win the game, they will need to convert on their power play opportunities. The Flames have racked up an outlandish 520 penalty minutes in 24 games, compared to the 295 minutes that the Sun Devils have committed. Liberty forward Christian Garland is the most penalized player with 66 minutes.
ASU forwards Stephen Collins and Colin Hekle are tied for the team lead with seven power play goals and the Flames need to be aware of that heading into Thursday night’s contest. Due to Liberty’s high amount of penalties, they could possibly open the door for the maroon and gold’s explosive offense if they don’t address their team discipline.
Both Friday night and Saturday night, Arizona State will be facing a 9-7 Stony Brook team. Identical to Liberty, the Seawolves have not played a game since December 8th, where they fell to Liberty.
Stony Brook also has a high number of penalty minutes with 385. Defenseman Andrew Balzafiore has accumulated 91 minutes worth himself.
As for the Seawolves’ offense, Nick Barbera and Daniel Cassano are tied with 19 points on the season so far.
Nonetheless, it should be a competitive weekend of hockey in Tempe. The puck drops at 8:30 p.m. Thursday night, 8 p.m. Friday night, and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
