(Photo: Austin Hurst/WCSN)
This weekend, No. 12 Arizona State faces the tall task of taking on No. 3 Western Michigan at Mullett Arena. More than just a marquee matchup, the Sun Devils’ NCAA tournament odds hang in the balance with two series left and the Broncos are the only team ahead of them in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) standings. It’s a pressure situation that this team has long been waiting for.
“Pressure’s a privilege,” head coach Greg Powers said. “We need to have fun with this. We’ve earned this. This is a great opportunity. This is what this program has built towards for the last decade, to be in a league and be in late February in front of what’s going to be a sold-out crowd against one of, if not the best team in the country to date, and have it within our destiny and our control to take the season by the throat.”
Western Michigan (22-5-1, 15-2-1 NCHC) currently sits five points ahead of ASU (17-11-2, 12-7-1 NCHC) in the NCHC standings and have only lost three games in regulation this season. What makes the Broncos so good is their physicality and aggressive forecheck. On top of that, Western Michigan doesn’t allow a lot of shots and in turn, doesn’t allow many goals.
“You got to move your feet,” freshman defenseman Joel Kjellberg said. “You got to keep the puck moving too. That’s the hardest part because they’re so fast.”
Offensively, the Broncos are led by sophomore forward Alex Bump and sophomore forward Owen Michaels, who are tied for the team lead in goals with 14. Bump has a sizable lead in points on Western Michigan though, with 32 compared to Michaels’ second-place 23.
Between the pipes, the Broncos have one of the best goaltending tandems in the nation. Western Michigan has given up 1.79 goals per game, tied for third lowest in the nation. Both of the Broncos’ goaltenders are in the top 10 in goals against average and in the top 11 in save percentage. Graduate goaltender Cameron Rowe has made 16 starts and owns a 1.87 goals against average and a .928 save percentage while freshman goaltender Hampton Slukynsky has 12 starts and boasts a 1.57 goals against average and .942 save percentage.
“It’s legitimately a two-headed monster,” Powers said of Western Michigan’s goaltending. “You’ve got to get pucks on them and second-chance opportunities and create traffic and make it hard on them.”
As for the Sun Devils, they’re coming off a weekend of tough breaks as they suffered an overtime loss and picked up a tie with a shootout win at Minnesota Duluth. This weekend extended ASU’s streak of reaching overtime to four games. The bounces weren’t going the Sun Devils’ way, especially in the second game. Despite pulling out a shootout win, ASU put up 44 shots on goal and had numerous opportunities to get a goal to win in regulation.
“I think we’ve built the expectation where we expect to win every game we play,” Powers said. “The perspective I think is feeling a little disappointed going on the road to such a good program and getting three out of six points and not feeling content. I think that speaks volumes about most importantly where our players have put ourselves in position this year.”
The Sun Devils will turn to their veterans to lead the way this series. All four Sun Devils with 30 or more points this season are upperclassmen. Those players are graduate forward Lukas Sillinger (32 points), graduate forward Artem Shlaine (31 points), senior forward Ryan Kirwan (30 points) and junior forward Bennett Schimek (30 points).
ASU currently sits at 15th in the PairWise rankings, which means they are on the bubble of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if it doesn’t win the NCHC title. A sweep puts the Sun Devils in first place in the NCHC and in a great spot for an at-large bid for cushion. Getting swept puts ASU’s odds of an at-large bid further down into murky waters.
“What we have is complete control of our destiny, both from a conference standpoint and a PairWise standpoint, with an unbelievable hockey team coming in here this weekend,” Powers said. “That’s an opportunity that we have earned and that we have created for ourselves. It’s something that I’m really proud of our team for.”
