(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
At one point or another over the course of a season, every team will go through a rough patch. Whether it’s only for a few games or for a few weeks, some level of adversity will always be present for any squad.
For No. 13 Arizona State hockey, that difficult stretch may have occurred at the beginning of the season, when it posted a 1-4-1 mark in its first six games. However, seventh-year head coach Brett Larson and No. 15 St. Cloud State, who ASU visits this weekend, are currently enduring a slump of their own. After a 9-4 start to the 2024-25 campaign, the Huskies have dropped five of their last seven games and were swept twice.
Despite the recent struggles, Larson’s squad hasn’t spiraled out of control. Picked to finish fourth in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC)’s preseason media poll, the Huskies (11-9, 4-6 NCHC) sit at third place in the league and are within three points of second. With a tough schedule ahead, though, they’ll need to right the ship fast to stay in the mix to host a playoff series come mid-March.
“They’re really good,” head coach Greg Powers. “Everybody goes through those moments; unfortunately, it just happens. But they’re going to be hungry to get out of their slump that they’re in, and obviously, we’re going to have to be really good. They’re a very, very good hockey team.”
Through its first 20 games, St. Cloud State has made it clear it won’t beat you 5-4 — it’s scored five goals in only one game so far this season. Instead, the Huskies will shut you down and limit your chances offensively and pounce on the few chances they generate.
Offensively, this ranks 53rd in the country, but its 44 goals conceded are the 12th-fewest in all of college hockey. The problem is it’s been without their main anchor behind all of its defensive success in sophomore goaltender Isak Posch.
After being named to the All-NCHC Rookie Team in 2023-24, Posch has emerged as one of the nation’s premier goaltenders during his sophomore year. Through 13 starts, the Swede’s 1.68 goals against average and .938 save percentage ranked fourth and fifth in the country respectively.
But the young goaltender hasn’t played since Nov. 23 due to an injury, and the impact has been evident. In the seven games without Posch, the Huskies are 2-5 and have allowed 2.86 goals per game compared to the 1.87 goals per game it conceded prior to their starter going down.
“He’s tremendous,” Powers said. “I think that’s been some of their issue, is he’s been out for a while, he’s out for a good while to go still. So we hope he gets healthy… he’s a big part of their team and he’s a hell of a goalie.”
It’s difficult to replicate the level that Posch played at, but senior and Bemidji State transfer Gavin Enright has done his best. His .919 save percentage and 2.51 haven’t always resulted in wins as he’s 2-4 as a starter this season, though it doesn’t help that his team is middle-of-the-pack in shots against per game. Speaking of injuries, St. Cloud State is also without one of its best defensemen in junior Cooper Wylie, who also missed last weekend’s series with an injury.
Offensively, the Huskies lost a lot of production from 2023-24 — namely forward Veeti Miettinen (33 points), defenseman Dylan Anhorn (32 points) and forward Kyler Kupka (31 points) — but two underclassmen have picked up the slack. Freshman Austin Burnevik, who represented team USA at the recent IIHF World Juniors Tournament, has nine goals and eight helpers in 19 games. His linemate, sophomore Barrett Hall, is the second-highest point-getter on St. Cloud State, boasting 16.
While this doesn’t translate to a dominant power play, which has operated at an 18.5% clip (T-40th in the nation), St. Cloud State has gotten it done on the penalty kill with a stellar 90.2% success rate that is the college hockey’s fifth-best. In the seven games since Posch went down, the Huskies have only allowed two power play goals, posing a stiff test for a Sun Devil man-advantage that is top-20 in the land.
“Their (penalty kill) is really good,” Powers said. “Obviously, your best killer always has to be your goalie, and when (Posch) was healthy, he was maybe the best killer in the country. So they’ve got a good thing going with it, they’re confident on it.”
There are several keys to victory for ASU this weekend, and one of the biggest is playing from ahead early — the Sun Devils are 10-1 when scoring first this season while St. Cloud State is 2-7 when giving up the first goal. This is especially important playing in Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, where the Huskies are 7-3 on the year.
“They’re a really talented team,” junior forward Bennett Schimek said. “They’re one of the top teams in the NCHC, so we know how important these points are. We know they’re going to be hard, we know the building’s going to be loud.”
