When the Sun Devils traveled to Colorado College in early November and got swept, they were on the cusp of breaking out.
The sweep does not tell the whole story of the weekend — the Sun Devils outshot the Tigers 72-42 despite losing both games. ASU was in a rut of outplaying their opponents but not getting the results it wanted, mostly due the laundry list of injuries that the roster had suffered.
Now when No. 19 Colorado College (11-10-1, 5-6-1) comes to Mullett Arena this weekend, it will face a healthy and white-hot No. 11 Arizona State (13-8-1, 8-4) that has won 10 of its 12 games since the November matchup.
“I thought that weekend we didn’t play our best,” graduate forward Benji Eckerle said. “It wasn’t our fully-fledged form that I think we’re kind of coming into now and sort of the confidence that we didn’t get the results that we wanted, but we were playing with them when we weren’t at our 100 percent.”
ASU is coming off a sweep at then-No. 15 St. Cloud State where it notched five power play goals on the weekend, including four in Saturday’s 5-3 victory. After struggling on the power play to start the season, the Sun Devils have revamped the power play and now have the ninth-best power play in the country at a 26.8% success rate.
“It’s nice to see our special teams start to win us games and put us in positions to win games two weekends in a row,” head coach Greg Powers said. “We’re happy with the way that’s trending.”
Another reason why ASU has gone on this run is because it finally got everyone healthy and the players that have come back to the lineup are finding their stride, and none more so than graduate forward Artem Shlaine. Shlaine returned to the lineup for the series against Northern Michigan in late October, but was only able to muster one point in his first five games back. In the 11 games since, Shlaine has scored nine goals and 17 points as the main driving force behind ASU’s hot streak.
“I think just when I came back from injury the first two games at Northern (Michigan) wasn’t like fully healthy and then the first two games at (Colorado College) were tough for me a little bit like getting in shape and especially with the altitude and then it kind of got easier and I’ve been playing with good line mates and I’ve been given a good opportunity, so it’s just been the consistency,” Shlaine said.
Along with Shlaine, sophomore forward Kyle Smolen has also been driving play for the Sun Devils. Smolen has 16 points in his last 15 games and earned his way up to the second line through his ability to be aggressive on the forecheck and win puck battles to set up his teammates for scoring chances.
“It’s a mentality thing, and it’s about being unselfish,” Smolen said. “If you’re willing to go in and hit someone and create a disruption, your linemates are going to have success. That’s kind of the mentality that our team has in general, willing to sacrifice ourselves for the betterment of the team and that’s something I’ve learned throughout junior(s). All the coaches always say it’s not what you’re capable of but what are you willing to do for the team?”
That mentality helped Smolen become not just a good forechecker, but also a well-rounded player. Smolen wears a variety of hats for ASU as he has been tasked with playing on the wing, playing center, playing on the penalty kill and the power play.
“Smolen is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife,” Powers said. “He does everything. He’s a coach’s dream in every way. He’s a guy I trust in every situation and that’s why he plays in every situation and he just makes everybody around him better. There’s not a guy on our team that doesn’t want to play with him because he goes and gets the puck and he can make plays. He’ll do anything you ask of him and he’s the ultimate team first guy, and that’s why I think he’s had so much success.”
As for Colorado College, it is coming off a split with Minnesota Duluth that snapped its four-game losing streak. After starting the season an impressive 9-0, the Tigers have gone 2-10-1 while struggling offensively. Colorado College is known for playing in low-scoring contests, only averaging 2.7 goals per game while allowing 2.5 goals per game compared to ASU’s 3.5 goals per game and 2.5 goals allowed per game.
“They’re big, deep, play hard, they forecheck you,” Powers said. “They swept us up there so we know how good they are.”
Colorado College’s success rides on the back of junior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko, who owns a 2.26 goals against average and a .914 save percentage while starting in 21 of the Tigers’ 22 games.
This series against Colorado College means a lot to ASU, not only because of the revenge factor, but also because ASU currently sits in sole possession of first place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), with two teams able to surpass ASU in the standings this weekend. With 12 games to go in the regular season, all of these games have added meaning to them, especially for a team like the Sun Devils that struggled to start their first season in a conference.
The slow start was a test for the Sun Devils. A test of perseverance in the face of adversity. A test of mental toughness. A test to their culture, and so far, they’re passing with flying colors.
“We work in the offseason and in preseason and pretty much 99% of my focus is culture-based and bringing guys up to speed on what the expectations and the standards are in our program, both on and off the ice, especially off the ice,” Powers said. “Obviously we didn’t have the start we wanted results-wise, but that’s why we’re in the position we’re in, because the culture was good and nobody faltered, and we just stuck with it.”
