Preview by Justin Gaither, Sun Devil Hockey Intern
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State Sun Devils are set to welcome the No. 1 ranked team in the country to Oceanside Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday night.
The Sun Devils will host top-ranked Ohio State in what will be the teams' first meeting since January of 2017. When they last faced off in Columbus, the then 10th-ranked Buckeyes came out firing taking the first game of the series 6-1.
As they have been known to do, however, head coach Greg Powers and company bounced back in game two, hanging with the Buckeyes all the way through overtime for an official tie before prevailing in a shootout.
"We're obviously an entirely different team than the last time we met, and so are they," said Powers. "We'll need to play our very best hockey this weekend, stay out of the box, and execute when given opportunities because their goaltender won't give us many. We anticipate a really fun weekend of hockey with the top team in the country coming into Tempe."
Coming off their first home sweep in program history over Alaska-Fairbanks, ASU looks to shock the top-ranked Buckeyes who have yet to play a game in the 2018-19 campaign.
Offensively for the Sun Devils, sophomore forward Johnny Walker extended his goal streak to seven games over the weekend with a whopping three points. Last season, it took Walker until Nov. 18 and a total of 10 games to get his first three points. He ended up finishing with 17 goals and 7 assists.
Junior netminder Joey Daccord, who stopped all 36 shots he faced over the weekend in a back-to-back shutout effort, also found his way onto the stat sheet with an assist on Walker's first goal on Saturday night. It earned USCHO's No. 2 Play of the Week, and was his third assist since the start of last season.
Outside of the veteran presences, the baby Devils contributed their fair share as well. Both PJ Marrocco and Demetrios Koumontzis scored their first goals, while Jordan Sandhu and Austin Lemieux recorded their first assists.
The freshman class of last year made a huge impact for coach Powers' team but it appears that this year's rookies could be poised to surpass their predecessors.
Heavy Firepower
As for the visiting Buckeyes, they are coming off one of the program's best seasons, which came to an end in St. Paul at the Frozen Four at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth, who went on to win the national championship.
Offense won't be lacking for OSU, who are the only team to rank top-five nationally in goals scored, goals per game, and power play over the last three seasons.
The Buckeyes return 21 players from their 2017-18 team that made the Frozen Four run, including Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst who had 38 goals and 52 assists between them a year ago.
In net for Ohio State will be Sean Romeo who allowed just over 2 goals per game while bolstering a .927 save percentage. Those numbers were enough to warrant a spot on the Mike Richter Award Watch List, which is given to the nation's best goaltender.
With the Buckeyes looking to prove they're No. 1 and the Devils looking to prove they're for real, it's a weekend of hockey you don't want to miss.
Both Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. MST with doors opening an hour before puck drop.
Just a handful of tickets remain for both games and fans can claim theirs by visiting thesundevils.com or by calling the Sun Devil ticket office at 480-727-0000.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State Sun Devils are set to welcome the No. 1 ranked team in the country to Oceanside Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday night.
The Sun Devils will host top-ranked Ohio State in what will be the teams' first meeting since January of 2017. When they last faced off in Columbus, the then 10th-ranked Buckeyes came out firing taking the first game of the series 6-1.
As they have been known to do, however, head coach Greg Powers and company bounced back in game two, hanging with the Buckeyes all the way through overtime for an official tie before prevailing in a shootout.
"We're obviously an entirely different team than the last time we met, and so are they," said Powers. "We'll need to play our very best hockey this weekend, stay out of the box, and execute when given opportunities because their goaltender won't give us many. We anticipate a really fun weekend of hockey with the top team in the country coming into Tempe."
Coming off their first home sweep in program history over Alaska-Fairbanks, ASU looks to shock the top-ranked Buckeyes who have yet to play a game in the 2018-19 campaign.
.@asucoachpowers following Sunday's game on the series vs. #1 Ohio State, which serves as the season-opening series for the Buckeyes. pic.twitter.com/c7AOBuD4ml
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) October 9, 2018
Offensively for the Sun Devils, sophomore forward Johnny Walker extended his goal streak to seven games over the weekend with a whopping three points. Last season, it took Walker until Nov. 18 and a total of 10 games to get his first three points. He ended up finishing with 17 goals and 7 assists.
Junior netminder Joey Daccord, who stopped all 36 shots he faced over the weekend in a back-to-back shutout effort, also found his way onto the stat sheet with an assist on Walker's first goal on Saturday night. It earned USCHO's No. 2 Play of the Week, and was his third assist since the start of last season.
Outside of the veteran presences, the baby Devils contributed their fair share as well. Both PJ Marrocco and Demetrios Koumontzis scored their first goals, while Jordan Sandhu and Austin Lemieux recorded their first assists.
The freshman class of last year made a huge impact for coach Powers' team but it appears that this year's rookies could be poised to surpass their predecessors.
Heavy Firepower
As for the visiting Buckeyes, they are coming off one of the program's best seasons, which came to an end in St. Paul at the Frozen Four at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth, who went on to win the national championship.
Offense won't be lacking for OSU, who are the only team to rank top-five nationally in goals scored, goals per game, and power play over the last three seasons.
The Buckeyes return 21 players from their 2017-18 team that made the Frozen Four run, including Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst who had 38 goals and 52 assists between them a year ago.
In net for Ohio State will be Sean Romeo who allowed just over 2 goals per game while bolstering a .927 save percentage. Those numbers were enough to warrant a spot on the Mike Richter Award Watch List, which is given to the nation's best goaltender.
With the Buckeyes looking to prove they're No. 1 and the Devils looking to prove they're for real, it's a weekend of hockey you don't want to miss.
Both Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. MST with doors opening an hour before puck drop.
Just a handful of tickets remain for both games and fans can claim theirs by visiting thesundevils.com or by calling the Sun Devil ticket office at 480-727-0000.