No. 11 Sun Devils head to Minnesota to take on No. 6 Denver in NCHC Frozen Faceoff

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

The debut of NCHC Tournament hockey at Mullett Arena this past weekend did not disappoint in the slightest. Fans of the maroon and gold watched two down-to-the-wire victories over Minnesota Duluth capped off with an overtime game-winner by senior forward Ryan Kirwan that lifted the Sun Devils to the semifinals in the program’s first-ever conference title chase.

No. 11 Arizona State (21-13-2, 14-9-1 NCHC) moves on to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in Saint Paul, Minnesota where it awaits a win-or-go-home matchup against No. 6 Denver (28-10-1, 15-8-1 NCHC) on Friday. If the Sun Devils win, they’ll play in the NCHC tournament championship game the next day against either No. 3 Western Michigan or No. 17 North Dakota.

“The message from me consistently since Saturday has been, ‘Hey, every time you put on our jersey it could be your last for the guys that are out of eligibility,” head coach Greg Powers said. “We believe if our guys play with that urgency and desperation of not making it last, we love our chances against anybody.”

Four separate best-of-three quarterfinal series took place from March 14-16 on the home turf of the top four seeds. Second-seeded ASU squeezed out a 4-3 victory in Game 1 before overcoming a three-goal deficit and eventually winning 6-5 in overtime in Game 2 to clinch the sweep. Top-seeded Western Michigan didn’t even keep it close against St. Cloud State, outscoring the Huskies 12-4 over two games to also advance.

The only team to win its quarterfinal series that didn’t have home-ice advantage was fifth-seeded North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks grinded out back-to-back 3-2 wins including scoring three goals in the third period during Game 2 to sweep Omaha.

Third-seeded Denver came close to sharing the same fate when it lost 3-1 to Colorado College in Game 1. However, the Pioneers evened things up with a 6-3 Game 2 victory then cruised to a dominant 9-2 series-clinching win.

Arizona State and Denver met four times during the regular season with both teams hosting a two-game series. The Sun Devils traveled to Magness Arena in late November and produced a stunning sweep of the then-No. 1 team in the country. A go-ahead goal by graduate forward Artem Shlaine with less than a minute led ASU to a 3-2 game-one win. The Sun Devils finished off the upset via a convincing 5-2 victory in game two to breathe new life into their once stagnating season.

“We knew we had that formula of winning, of getting the job and playing the right way,” Shlaine said. “At Denver, I think everything just clicked. It wasn’t like we found the formula. I think we kind of validated the formula for ourselves and we found that we were playing right the whole way. It just clicked in that moment and since then I think we’ve been doing the same exact thing over and over every weekend and getting results because nobody from then has wavered from it.”

In early February, Denver made the trip down to Tempe and immediately got revenge by winning the first game 5-4 in overtime. The fourth meeting was a thrilling back-and-forth shootout where ASU scored its own extra period game-winner to prevail 6-5 and take the in-season series versus the Pioneers.

The Sun Devils’ offense fired on all cylinders in the quarterfinal against Minnesota Duluth with seven different skates scoring at least one goal. This includes All-NCHC Third Team selection Ryan Kirwan who scored the first and last goals of the series to forge a now four-game point streak.

ASU’s power play had a quiet two games in large part due to the team only having three total turns on the man advantage. Junior forward Bennett Schimek scoring the tying goal on the power play late in game two helps the unit maintain a ranking of third-best in the country at 29.2%.

The Sun Devils’ penalty kill on the other hand was flawless, making Duluth go a combined 0/3. However, the unit faces the possibility of missing sophomore forward Kyle Smolen’s presence again after he missed game two of the quarterfinal. Smolen spent three days in the hospital for precautionary reasons due to an undisclosed injury and has since been released.

“Obviously, our top PK pair has been Smolen and (graduate forward) Benji (Eckerle) and they’re both probably out so it’s the next man up,” Powers said. “That’s how we’ve operated this season and it’s the only way this team knows how to go. Guys will just get the job done. We have no other choice.”

If there’s any team that knows what it takes to bring home the conference championship trophy home, it’s the current defending NCHC tournament champions.

Similar to ASU, Denver thrives off of consistently getting the puck in the net. The Pioneers have the second-ranked scoring offense at an average of four goals per game alongside a power play percentage of 29.5 for second-best in the country. In the final two games versus Colorado College, the team managed three power play goals in each contest.

“When you have players as good as they have and you’ve got an extra guy on the ice and all that skill and IQ, you’re going to see a power play execute to the level they do,” Powers said. “They do such a great job establishing what the identity of those players needs to be and that’s why they’ve had so much success.”

Senior goaltender Matt Davis has been consistent and reliable throughout the season for the Pioneers, starting 35 out of the team’s 39 games whilst boasting a .920 save percentage. The netminder will be looking to pick up his first quality start against the Sun Devils as he’s given up at least three goals in the four games he’s faced them.

Denver had seven players selected to the three All-NCHC teams with senior forward Jack Devine and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium — the conference’s player of the year — earning first-team honors for the second straight year.

In the case that Arizona State defeats Denver in the semifinal game, the team will face the winner of Western Michigan vs. North Dakota on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. AZT. A win in the NCHC tournament final means an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Even if the Sun Devils drop the championship game, they’ll still have a decent probability of receiving an at-large bid. However, a loss on Friday leaves the team’s fate completely up to the PairWise Rankings and the results of the other conference tournaments.

Puck drop for the Frozen Faceoff Semifinal is set for 2 p.m. MST on Friday, March 21.