No. 19 ASU enters home series versus Minnesota-Duluth

(Photo: Aishling Cavanaugh/WCSN)

Coming off a monumental breakthrough in the team’s season-opening gauntlet with a road sweep of No. 1 Denver, the Sun Devils prepare for their final in-conference series before a month-long break from regular season competition.

ASU (6-7-1, 3-3 NCHC) takes on Minnesota-Duluth (5-8, 2-4 NCHC) at Mullett Arena this upcoming weekend. The only previous meeting between the two programs came in the 2022-23 season when the Bulldogs swept the Sun Devils in Minnesota. Despite the rough start to this current season, UMD is still one of the premier programs in NCAA hockey and will be looking to make up ground quickly.

“They’re one of the most well-coached teams in the country,” head coach Greg Powers said. “They’re gonna be coming in really hungry, chasing points in the standings like everybody we play. There’s no nights off in this league and we know that.”

Both teams enjoyed a week off from play during Thanksgiving weekend with ASU in particular desperately needing the rest period to continue reducing its lengthy injury report. After getting junior forward Bennett Schimek and graduate forward Dylan Jackson back in the lineup in time for the Denver series, trends point to the Sun Devils also seeing junior forward Charlie Schoen return to the ice very soon. 

“It’s hard for me to make changes after what we did up there, and as long as the guys are really sharp this week at this point, maybe he’ll get in this weekend.” Powers said. “You never know, it’s a possibility.”

On an individual basis, Minnesota-Duluth is host to a collection of NHL-caliber players. Sophomore forward Anthony Menghini ranks top-15 in goals per game while senior forward and 2022 Chicago Blackhawks sixth-round pick Dominic James is top-10 in power play goals per game.

However, the major struggle for the Bulldogs this season has been in their netminders. Out of the three goaltenders on the team’s main roster, not one has a save percentage above or equal to .900, including 2023 Chicago Blackhawks second-round pick Adam Gajan.

The deciding factor in this upcoming series comes down to capitalizing while on the man advantage. Minnesota-Duluth is 16th in the country in power play percentage at 23.1%, and after struggling mightily in that department for most of the year, the series against Denver saw much-needed improvement for Arizona State thanks in part to graduate forward Artem Shlaine rejoining the unit.

“Before he was healthy, these first six games we were 0% on power play face-offs,” Powers said. “Since, we’re 70%. His retrievals in the power play are unbelievable. We’re getting second and third chances because he retrieves the puck so well.”

Following the home series versus Minnesota-Duluth, the Sun Devils won’t see the ice again until a two-game exhibition with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program on Dec. 28 and 29 at Mullett Arena. Five days later, ASU’s regular season resumes during the Desert Hockey Classic in an opener versus Robert Morris on Jan. 3.

The return to play in late December and early January is also when the team expects to see junior forward Cruz Lucius suit up for the first time this season.

“He’s been working hard off the ice and getting some individual work on the ice,” Powers said. “The hope and the plan is to get him into at least one of the exhibition games and have him back for the Desert Classic.”

While it’ll be hard to top the heights of their stunning victory at Denver, the Sun Devils look to avoid becoming complacent and carry that momentum into the upcoming series against Minnesota-Duluth to establish a standard that they can compete against anyone in the NCHC.

“It starts this weekend against Duluth,” sophomore forward David Hymovitch said. “We think we’re going to finish well in the conference. If we go out this weekend, play how we did last weekend every single weekend, one game at a time, we like our chances.”

Game one of the series starts at 7:00 p.m. MST Friday followed by the finale on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. MST.

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