(Photo Courtesy – Joey Plishka)
Whenever Arizona State and Arizona face off against one another — regardless of record, level or conference affiliation — there’s no doubt that both teams will bring their A-game. This sentiment remained true when the Territorial Cup took to the ice at Mullett Arena on Friday.
It didn’t matter that the Sun Devils were hosting a scrimmage against Arizona’s squad that competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), which is a step below NCAA hockey. In fact, facing a club-level team hungry for an upset gave ASU even more reason to come out firing.
After all, it wasn’t long ago that head coach Greg Powers’ squad was in the same position as the Wildcats. In 2012, ASU — also a member of the ACHA at that time — traveled to Penn State and split a two-game series with a Nittany Lions team that was in its first season as an NCAA program.
“It’s just the way you play the game,” Powers said. “There’s always hope, right? There’s no way that every kid on (Arizona) didn’t at least envision what it would be like to come in here and get a win.
“You know, the reality is, people in Tempe don’t care. People in Tucson don’t care. They wouldn’t care if we were a club team and they were a varsity team. They’d expect U of A to go hard. So out of respect for that rivalry and out of respect for our university and fans, we had an obligation to play hard, and our guys did. It’s as simple as that.”
This message resonated with the Sun Devils, who dominated play for the entirety of their 16-0 rout of Arizona (2-1-0). The Wildcats simply couldn’t keep the puck out of their own end, and it showed on the scoresheet. ASU finished the night with a 72-19 advantage in shots, never taking their foot off the gas pedal against their hated foe.
But even with the implications of a rivalry matchup, ASU viewed Friday’s game as something bigger — an opportunity to leave a good impression on their head coach.
“I told the guys it was a tryout for who’s going to be in the lineup next Friday,” Powers said. “And that’s why they went hard until the end. And I have some tough decisions to make. It’s what you want as a coach, you want them to give you sleepless nights on who you’re going to put in the lineup.”
While it took a bit to break the scoreless tie, ASU came out swinging, consistently pinning Arizona in its own zone and generating quality scoring chances. However, the home team took advantage of its first power play just over five minutes into the game, as senior forward and Colgate transfer Alex Young rifled a one-timer past Arizona netminder Niklas Seppänen.
Last season, ASU’s power play was the 23rd-best in the entire nation, posting a 20.7% success rate. However, the stats alone don’t tell the whole story, as the Sun Devils’ man advantage suffered from inconsistencies throughout 2022-23. On Friday, Powers’ group logged four power play goals and had no trouble moving the puck and finding the open man, a good sign despite the success coming against a far weaker opponent.
“They were zipping it around good and we like how (the power play) is built,” Powers said. “We have some good pieces on both units that I think will have a really good year.”
Just 22 seconds later, junior defenseman Jackson Niedermayer fired a wrist shot from the high slot that found the back of the net, doubling up the lead and opening the floodgates. Jackson’s younger brother, freshman Jason Neidermayer, picked up the first of his three assists on the goal.
ASU’s blue liners getting involved on offense quickly became a theme on Friday night, with multiple puck-moving defensemen — including senior Tim Lovell and junior Ethan Szmagaj — playing parts in several goals, an encouraging sign of things to come from the backend.
“We like our D-core a lot,” Powers said. “We think that we really upgraded it and improved it, and certainly no offense to the guys that were here last year, but it’s really mobile. We have guys that can skate and really get up the ice and activate that fourth man, and we did it really well tonight.”
Perhaps the most promising takeaway from the blowout win was the immediate impact ASU’s several had on the game. Graduate forward and captain Tyler Gratton displayed his poise and veteran experience all night long, contributing two goals and two assists. Josh Niedermayer wasn’t the only freshman to impress in his debut, as rookie forwards Kyle Smolen, Tony Achille and David Hymovitch all recorded multi-point nights.
While there were virtually no holes in ASU’s game against Arizona, Powers still wasn’t satisfied with his team’s performance. The big area for improvement is his team’s puck management, which will undoubtedly need to be cleaned up with Merrimack — the No. 14 team in the country according to U.S. College Hockey Online’s Preseason Poll — visiting Tempe next weekend for the Sun Devils’ first official series of 2023-24.
“We want to get to the tournament,” Powers said. “We’ve done it technically twice as an independent so we know what it takes to get there. This is one game at a time, focusing on what’s in front of us. We have a really tough test next week.
“Merrimack has a great college hockey program. That’s why they’re ranked in the top-15. They’re an NCAA Tournament team that returns most of its team from last year. They lost in overtime in the Hockey East finals. They are very, very good, so we’re gonna have to be a lot more crisp than we were tonight to have a chance to beat them.”
