#12/11 Sun Devil Hockey Finishes Regular Season in the State of Hockey

Preview by Liesl Babicka, Sun Devil Athletics Intern
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. --- No. 12/11 Sun Devil Hockey will skate their way into their final series of the 2018-19 regular season against the University of Minnesota this weekend at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.

It will be the first-ever meeting between Arizona State (21-10-1) and the Golden Gophers (14-15-4), and the Sun Devils enter the weekend currently tied with No. 9 Northeastern for the longest active winning streak in the country with five.

"To be able to go up in that environment with the season we're having and play a traditional powerhouse like Minnesota who is a tremendous team this year as well with a great coach in Bob Motzko, it's a tremendous honor for our program," said head coach Greg Powers. "We couldn't be more excited for the opportunity, and that's exactly what it is -- a great opportunity for our program."

Despite these two programs never meeting, it will be somewhat of a reunion on the ice between the two teams as 17 different players between the two rosters have played with at least one other from the opposite team.

ASU freshman Demetrios Koumontzis will have déjà vu taking the ice at Mariucci, as nearly a year ago to the date he was playing with Minnesota's Sammy Walker and Ben Brinkman for Edina High School at Mariucci in the MSHSL 6AA Section Playoff Championship. In the championship win, Koumontzis scored the first goal for Edina and went on to assist on Brinkman's goal with Walker tallying the other assist.

While it took some time to adjust to the pace of the college game, Koumontzis' success has caught up with three goals and five assists in his last three games. Since the new year, the 2018 Calgary Flames' draftee has averaged a point-per-game with his season total up to four goals and 16 assists.

Minnesota has won three of their last four games and all coming against ranked opponents in then-No. 2 Ohio State and then-No. 16 Notre Dame. The Golden Gophers currently sit in second place in the Big Ten Conference standings.

"I think at this point we're going to get everyone's best," said Powers. "We have to focus on us. We know how good they are, how skilled they are, how difficult of a building it can be to play in. We're going to embrace it, have fun with it and keep doing what we've done all year."

Minnesota junior Rem Pitlick is having a breakout year for the Golden Gophers with 17 goals and 38 points. Senior Tyler Sheehy is right behind Pitlick with 25 assists and 36 points.

While netminder Mat Robson went 3-4-0 in the month of February with a 3.73 goals against average and .904 save percentage, this past Saturday he posted a 26-save, 2-1 victory over No. 16 Notre Dame.

For the first time this season, ASU will be playing on an Olympic sheet of ice. The last time the Sun Devils played on a big sheet was last year at Colorado College.

Sophomore Johnny Walker, junior Brinson Pasichnuk and Koumontzis are all riding point streaks heading into this weekend.

With 21 wins under his belt, junior netminder Joey Daccord sports a .930 save percentage -- ranking 6th in the country -- and a 2.20 goals against average. In his last five games, he's holding a 1.59 goals against and a .944 save percentage.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (CST) both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night's game will be televised on Fox Sports North and Saturday's game will be on Fox Sports North-Plus.