PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Sun Devils finish the 2017 half of the season as one of four teams in the Three Rivers Classic at PPG Paints Arena, home of the 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, beginning on Friday, Dec. 29.
ASU (4-10-4) kicks off the tournament with a first-ever meeting against No. 11 Providence (10-7-1) at 4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT on Friday, and will play either tournament host Robert Morris or Lake Superior State on Saturday.
"This is another great opportunity to play a top program like Providence, who we haven't been fortunate enough to play yet," said head coach Greg Powers. "We will have to be very good to have a chance to win against a very deep and talented Providence team."
This tournament is the first the Sun Devils have played in outside of Arizona since the Kendall Hockey Classic in Alaska to start their inaugural Division I season in 2015.
The Devils enter the sixth-annual tournament coming off a 4-4 tie against Colorado College, who is currently ranked tied for 18th in the USCHO Pairwise rankings.
Three underclassmen have been riding hot hands as of late, including leading scorer Brett Gruber, fellow sophomore Tyler Busch, and freshman Johnny Walker. In that final game against the Tigers, Gruber recorded his third multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist. Over the last seven games, he's averaging a point per night, and is one point shy of his total output from a season ago.
Busch is also averaging a point per game with four goals and three assists, and has only been held off the scoresheet in three of the last 10 games.
In those same seven games, Walker has three goals and three assists for just under a point-per-game.
Attention now turns to another top-20 opponent in the No. 11 Friars, who are 3-3-0 in their last six games. Providence's roster features eight NHL draft picks, with one – freshman Jake Ryczek -- recently departing for the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads.
Offensively, Providence is led by Winnipeg Jets' draft pick Erik Foley, who paces the team with 10 goals and 11 assists – eight more points than the next player on the roster. At one point this season, Foley was riding a seven-game point streak with six goals and eight assists.
So far this season, the Friars have key victories against then-No. 19 Boston College, then-No. 6 Boston University and then-No. 13 New Hampshire, which puts them in second place in the Hockey East Conference.
A victory for the Sun Devils on Friday would become the program's biggest win as a Division I program.
Puck drop is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT at PPG Paints Arena. Stay tuned for live streaming information.
ASU (4-10-4) kicks off the tournament with a first-ever meeting against No. 11 Providence (10-7-1) at 4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT on Friday, and will play either tournament host Robert Morris or Lake Superior State on Saturday.
"This is another great opportunity to play a top program like Providence, who we haven't been fortunate enough to play yet," said head coach Greg Powers. "We will have to be very good to have a chance to win against a very deep and talented Providence team."
This tournament is the first the Sun Devils have played in outside of Arizona since the Kendall Hockey Classic in Alaska to start their inaugural Division I season in 2015.
The Devils enter the sixth-annual tournament coming off a 4-4 tie against Colorado College, who is currently ranked tied for 18th in the USCHO Pairwise rankings.
Three underclassmen have been riding hot hands as of late, including leading scorer Brett Gruber, fellow sophomore Tyler Busch, and freshman Johnny Walker. In that final game against the Tigers, Gruber recorded his third multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist. Over the last seven games, he's averaging a point per night, and is one point shy of his total output from a season ago.
Busch is also averaging a point per game with four goals and three assists, and has only been held off the scoresheet in three of the last 10 games.
In those same seven games, Walker has three goals and three assists for just under a point-per-game.
Attention now turns to another top-20 opponent in the No. 11 Friars, who are 3-3-0 in their last six games. Providence's roster features eight NHL draft picks, with one – freshman Jake Ryczek -- recently departing for the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads.
Offensively, Providence is led by Winnipeg Jets' draft pick Erik Foley, who paces the team with 10 goals and 11 assists – eight more points than the next player on the roster. At one point this season, Foley was riding a seven-game point streak with six goals and eight assists.
So far this season, the Friars have key victories against then-No. 19 Boston College, then-No. 6 Boston University and then-No. 13 New Hampshire, which puts them in second place in the Hockey East Conference.
A victory for the Sun Devils on Friday would become the program's biggest win as a Division I program.
Puck drop is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. MT at PPG Paints Arena. Stay tuned for live streaming information.