TEMPE, Ariz. -- Coming off a historical performance at Brown, Sun Devil Hockey is back in Tempe to host RIT (11-8-3) Friday and Saturday night at Oceanside Ice Arena.
Last season, the Sun Devils (13-8-3) traveled to Rochester and swept the first series between the two programs. The squad mustered up 10 goals including three by now-senior captain defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk.
"At this point in the year, we need to focus on ourselves and that's all it's about. We have to battle and compete with playing simple and outcompete everyone we play. It's going to come down to our will," said head coach Greg Powers. "If our guys want it more than the team we play every week, we're going to win a lot of games here down the stretch, but they have to want it. This weekend is going to be hard with a really good hockey team coming this weekend who just played UMass-Lowell and beat them."
Sun Devil Rewind
After being down three goals Sunday afternoon to Brown, the Sun Devils bounced back to beat the Bears 4-3 in overtime to take the sweep in Rhode Island this past weekend.
Linemates Johnny Walker and James Sanchez rank in the top-10 in the nation for points combining for a total of 55 points. Walker's two-goal performance on Sunday brings him to 14 goals on the season and a tie for seventh nationally, while Sanchez's 20 assists on the year have him tied for fourth.
With Walker's four-point weekend this past weekend -- including the second and game-tying goal against Brown -- he was named the NCAA Third Star of the Week. He's riding a four-game point streak with two goals and four assists along with his 13th career multi-goal performance of his career. Walker now has 28 points through his first 24 games, outpacing his total of 27 at this same point last season.
On the flip side, sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer sports a .915 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average in 11 wins under his belt. For Sunday's game, goalie Max Prawdzik closed out the weekend in net for the Sun Devils having 18 saves in 39 minutes including his second win in the Maroon & Gold and first on the road.
Tigers, Oh My
As the Tigers pounce into Tempe for their second consecutive weekend playing a ranked opponent, they come off a series split with No. 13 UMass-Lowell this past weekend.
RIT continues to be successful out of the game, as they have scored 11 goals in the opening five minutes of the game. Out of the 65 goals, 19 have been scored by first-year players and 38 goals are by underclassmen.
Senior forward Shawn Cameron and sophomore forward Will Calverley are tied for 16 points a piece. Cameron and Calverley are in a three-way tie with freshman Andrew Rinaldi with nine goals respectively. Freshman forward Caleb Moretz leads his class with seven goals and seven assists.
Between the pipes, junior Logan Drackett has held down the net for the Tigers with 10 wins this season, 2.53 goals against average and .911 save percentage. However, against UMass-Lowell on Saturday, freshman Kolby Matthews had his first collegiate start with 26 saves for the upset of the Riverhawks.
Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday night is 7:05 p.m. (MST). Friday's game will be on ASU-Live Stream 2, while Saturday's game will be streamed on Pac-12 Plus Facebook Live.
Last season, the Sun Devils (13-8-3) traveled to Rochester and swept the first series between the two programs. The squad mustered up 10 goals including three by now-senior captain defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk.
"At this point in the year, we need to focus on ourselves and that's all it's about. We have to battle and compete with playing simple and outcompete everyone we play. It's going to come down to our will," said head coach Greg Powers. "If our guys want it more than the team we play every week, we're going to win a lot of games here down the stretch, but they have to want it. This weekend is going to be hard with a really good hockey team coming this weekend who just played UMass-Lowell and beat them."
Sun Devil Rewind
After being down three goals Sunday afternoon to Brown, the Sun Devils bounced back to beat the Bears 4-3 in overtime to take the sweep in Rhode Island this past weekend.
Linemates Johnny Walker and James Sanchez rank in the top-10 in the nation for points combining for a total of 55 points. Walker's two-goal performance on Sunday brings him to 14 goals on the season and a tie for seventh nationally, while Sanchez's 20 assists on the year have him tied for fourth.
With Walker's four-point weekend this past weekend -- including the second and game-tying goal against Brown -- he was named the NCAA Third Star of the Week. He's riding a four-game point streak with two goals and four assists along with his 13th career multi-goal performance of his career. Walker now has 28 points through his first 24 games, outpacing his total of 27 at this same point last season.
On the flip side, sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer sports a .915 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average in 11 wins under his belt. For Sunday's game, goalie Max Prawdzik closed out the weekend in net for the Sun Devils having 18 saves in 39 minutes including his second win in the Maroon & Gold and first on the road.
Tigers, Oh My
As the Tigers pounce into Tempe for their second consecutive weekend playing a ranked opponent, they come off a series split with No. 13 UMass-Lowell this past weekend.
RIT continues to be successful out of the game, as they have scored 11 goals in the opening five minutes of the game. Out of the 65 goals, 19 have been scored by first-year players and 38 goals are by underclassmen.
Senior forward Shawn Cameron and sophomore forward Will Calverley are tied for 16 points a piece. Cameron and Calverley are in a three-way tie with freshman Andrew Rinaldi with nine goals respectively. Freshman forward Caleb Moretz leads his class with seven goals and seven assists.
Between the pipes, junior Logan Drackett has held down the net for the Tigers with 10 wins this season, 2.53 goals against average and .911 save percentage. However, against UMass-Lowell on Saturday, freshman Kolby Matthews had his first collegiate start with 26 saves for the upset of the Riverhawks.
Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday night is 7:05 p.m. (MST). Friday's game will be on ASU-Live Stream 2, while Saturday's game will be streamed on Pac-12 Plus Facebook Live.