The 2019 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament begins this weekend as 16 of the best teams in college hockey gather to begin the quest towards a national championship.
Arizona State, a No. 3 seed, is in for the first time in program history and will meet the No. 2-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats in round one of the Midwest Regional on Saturday in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“There’s no layups in the tournament,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said on Selection Sunday. “Everybody that gets in is really good...anybody can win it.”
This first-round match-up has great potential to be a thriller. The Sun Devils enter the tournament with a 21-12-1 record as the only independent team in division I and are looking to make some noise in their first-ever appearance.
On the other side, Quinnipiac is a powerhouse out of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The Bobcats (25-9-2, 14-6-2 ECAC) are in the Big Dance for the fifth time in seven seasons, the last time finishing as the runner-up in 2016.
“They’re going to come out and try and punch us right in the mouth,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to counter-punch, and punch back even harder.”
The Sun Devils played six teams that earned a bid for the postseason, the most in this year’s tournament. Quinnipiac, ranked seventh in the Pairwise, is right behind after playing five of the other teams.
ASU has not played a game since March 2nd due to not being in a conference, but the team hopes the extra time off will be strictly beneficial.
“We’ve gotten a lot of time to be in the gym and put some more muscle on,” freshman forward Demetrios Koumontzis said. “While other teams have had to play games, kind of use a lot of energy to get to where we are, so I think us having that time to recover and rest, but also get in the gym and work hard has given us an advantage.”
Quinnipiac is coached by Rand Pecknold who is in his 25th season with the program. Pecknold is third in wins among active NCAA D-I coaches and Powers deemed him one of the best in college hockey.
In their last time out, the Bobcats were swept by Brown University in the ECAC conference championship tournament. But it’s important to note that Hobey Baker Award top ten finalist and senior defenseman Chase Priskie was absent due to a two-game suspension.
Priskie is one of the top players in the country and is cleared for action against ASU. The sixth-round Washington Capitals draft pick finished his final regular season as a Bobcat with 17 goals and 22 assists, averaging an impressive 1.15 points a game.
“Chase Priskie is a heck of a player,” Powers admitted. “I think he’s a legitimate Hobey Baker candidate, arguably could easily be a finalist in the final three. If he won, I don’t think anybody would bat an eyelash at it. That’s how good of a year he’s had.”
Sophomore forward Odeen Tufto paces the Bobcats with 42 points and 27 assists.
But the Sun Devils have two Hobey Baker Award nominations of their own, one of them being sophomore forward Johnny Walker who exploded onto the college hockey scene early on this year.
Walker did not play in the final regular season series against Minnesota due to injury. But the leading goal-scorer and only player with at least 20 goals (23) in the 2019 NCAA Tournament is ready to play in the postseason and says he “felt 100 percent” on Tuesday.
“I don’t think I missed a beat at all, so I’m really excited,” Walker added.
However, the goaltending battle that’s in store between the pipes on Saturday will be something special to watch. The five finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which goes to the best goalie in college hockey, were announced on Thursday and both juniors Joey Daccord for the Sun Devils and the Bobcats’ Andrew Shortridge made the cut.
Shortridge has put up video game-like numbers this season, leading the nation with a .941 save percentage and 1.51 goals against average. 17 of Quinnipiac’s 25 wins came behind the play of Shortridge.
Both of the stellar goalies have previous ties together as they trained with Joey’s father, Brian.
“I know him pretty well,” Daccord said. “He’s a really good guy and he’s having an incredible year, so I’m excited for the match-up.”
In the other crease will be Daccord who had a monster regular season himself. The Ottawa Senators draft pick posted career-highs in just about every category, including a .926 save percentage, 2.36 goals against average, backing all 21 of ASU’s wins and seven of them shutout performances that’s tied for best in the country.
Quinnipiac does have ASU’s number leading the all-time series, 3-1-1. The only time the Sun Devils beat the Bobcats was two seasons ago on the road in which Daccord recorded a program-best 53 saves and Anthony Croston, now a senior, scored two goals.
Croston explained the key for his team to be successful is to battle in the corners, getting pucks on Shortridge, and crashing the net. “I think if we do that, we’re going to score a bunch of goals, so we’ll be good.”
ASU absolutely cannot afford to play undisciplined against the Bobcats on Saturday evening. Quinnipiac has one of the most lethal power plays in the country which is successful almost 26 percent of the time.
“The goal is going to be to play as much five-on-five hockey as we can,” Powers said. “And that’s been our goal all year.” He added that discipline is paramount.
The Sun Devils are the quickest school in history to qualify for postseason play in just their third full year since gaining the status of an NCAA program. The record was previously four set by Penn State.
“At the end of the day, we know that no matter who we play, there’s no pressure on us,” Powers said. “Nobody expected us to get here. Nobody expected us to get this far, so we’re going to have fun with it.”
Saturday’s game at PPL Center in Allentown will drop the puck at 7:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m. MT and will be broadcasted live on ESPN3.
The winner of No. 2 Quinnipiac-No. 3 ASU will play the winner of No. 1 Minnesota Duluth and No. 4 Bowling Green on Sunday, March 31st for a chance to represent the Midwest Region at the Frozen Four in Buffalo, N.Y.
