No. 12 Arizona State is 13-2 in its last 15 games, taking the NCHC by storm in the Sun Devils’ first year as a member of the decorated conference. Currently tied for first with No. 4 Western Michigan at 34 points, a crucial top-15 clash awaits Arizona State against a foe looking to avenge a rare blemish on its record.
ASU hosts No. 6 Denver after sweeping the Pioneers on the road back in November, the first team to do so Colorado College in February of 2020. To put that in perspective, Denver won two national championships (2022 and 2024), and in between the span of time, it took two teams to sweep the Pioneers at home. Denver will undoubtedly come to Tempe with a little extra motivation, especially with the regular season reaching its end in less than a month.
Denver comes into the weekend series after splitting a series with Omaha but won Saturday’s game 11-2 after a shootout loss on Friday. The Pioneers can put together a collection of goals in the blink of an eye, and head coach Greg Powers is well aware of that. Last season, ASU hosted Denver as an independent school and won the first game of the series 6-5 in overtime before the Pioneers trounced the Sun Devils 8-4 in the second game.
Denver and ASU are first and second in the country in power play success rate at 32.2% and 29.6%, but the Sun Devils have recently struggled to stay out of the box. In their last two losses, they committed a combined 10 penalties. Even though they only allowed one power-play goal and are second in the NCHC in penalty minutes per game (7:18), going on several penalty kills can drain a player's energy.
In the most recent loss to Colorado College, all four penalties came in the second period, allowing the Tigers to carry mental momentum into the third period. They scored five goals to beat ASU 5-4. Graduate forward Benji Eckerle was also ruled out for the remainder of the series after tearing his Achilles during warmups last weekend. This was a major loss for not only the team but also the penalty-kill unit.
With that being said, the numbers still speak for themselves. Powers trust his special team units, both offensive and defensive. The Sun Devils lead the NCHC in blocked shots (358) and short-handed goals (7), with every player out there willing to do whatever it takes to win games.
“You have your identity on the kill,” Powers said. “We know what our is; it’s being aggressive and not giving them space. We have to be good on their entries and not let them set anything up. We have to pressure and be willing to eat pucks, so we just have to keep doing all the things we do. They did a great job in Miami, and they’re going to have to be here as well.”
On its roster, Denver has a plethora of talent that can score from anywhere on the ice, with six players who have over 20 points in the season. Senior forward Jack Devine leads the team with 35 points while also being the best in the country with 29 assists, but junior forward Aidan Thompson isn’t far behind with 32 points of his own. The two forwards have the puck on their stick as much as possible, with the offense immediately a threat to score when either of them is on the ice.
The Pioneers are a possession-driven team, leading the NCHC in faceoff percentage (55.2%). Arizona State's faceoff circle has been an issue all season long (48.4%), and ASU will need to take advantage of every opportunity to establish the zone. This is especially important given how often Denver slows the game down to get into its offense.
“Denver doesn’t give much up because they’re such a great possession team,” Powers noted. “They generally have the puck for the majority of the game when they’re playing the way they want. You have to obviously be really good and dialed defensively when they start getting into their O-zone movement. They’re special, and that’s why they’ve been good for so long.”
The goaltending for Denver is more of the same, as senior Matt Davis will likely start both games, barring a meltdown in the crease. In 24 starts, Davis boasts an 18-5-1 record with a .923 save percentage. The last time he faced ASU, he allowed seven goals on 51 shots over the course of the weekend, the most goals he’s given up in a series all year. His goals-against average (1.967) is good for 10th in the country, and the Sun Devils will have their work cut out for them when it comes to netting pucks.
Denver is fifth in the NCHC with 24 points, but with three points per regulation win in NCHC play, all it takes is one weekend to be back in the thick of the race for the conference title. ASU finishes the regular season with a weekend series against Western Michigan and Omaha, the two teams right behind the Sun Devils in the standings, but it’s important for them to focus on one weekend at a time.
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