TEMPE – Back in the desert after a hot weekend in Alaska, the Sun Devils (21-7-6) return to Mullett Arena for the final home series of the 2023-24 season as hosts to Long Island (16-18-2) on March 1-2. The Arizona State hockey team is chasing a 23-plus win season in the final four games of the year and celebrates its senior class on Saturday night.
Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. MST on Friday night and 5 p.m. MST on Saturday. Fans should arrive by 4:40 p.m. on Saturday night to watch the pregame Senior Night ceremony. Seniors Benji Eckerle, Alex Young, Tim Lovell, Matthew Kopperud, Ryan O'Reilly, Lukas Sillinger, and graduate students Brandon Tabakin, Brian Chambers, Tyler Gratton will be honored. Twins Ty and Dylan Jackson, although seniors, will not participate in the ceremony as they have announced their return for the 2024-25 season.
With the 2024 NCAA Tournament and postseason chase off of the table for the 2023-24 season, the team has set its sights on accomplishing a new goal: the most wins in a single season in program history. This team sits two wins away from breaking the record which is currently held by the 2019-20 squad who accomplished a 22-win season before the season was ultimately cut short due to Covid-19.
Most Wins in a Sun Devil Hockey Season
22 - 2019-20 season
21 - 2023-24 season
21 - 2018-19 season (first NCAA tournament berth in program history)
ABOUT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
There are reasons that ASU in 2018-19 is the only independent to make the NCAA Tournament in the past 31 seasons, and that is what is so great about joining the NCHC next season.
College hockey tournament bids are predicted all season-long, and ultimately chosen, by the PairWise Rankings system. According to the USCHO, "the PairWise Rankings (PWR) is a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the 16-team NCAA tournament." The PairWise compares each team with every other team based on three criteria: RPI, record against common opponents and head-to-head competition.
Utilizing the PairWise in its last year as an independent, the Sun Devils would need to be within the top 12 spots of the rankings to feel secure in the possibility of a tournament bid. Heading into the weekend, ASU currently stands at No. 19. College hockey has six conferences, all of which host conference tournaments which give their member teams a chance at an NCAA tournament automatic bid. Right off the bat, automatic bids could potentially take six spots of the 16-team NCAA Tournament field. More likely though, several teams that are already in the top-12 of the PairWise will also win their conference tournaments. In those instances, the outlier teams, including independents within the top-13, find the opportunity to make the postseason. The window of opportunity is slim and independent teams are forced to play their entire seasons like its Game 7. No off-games allowed. Case in point, last season, fellow independent Alaska Fairbanks ranked No. 13 in the PairWise and they did not make the NCAA field.
Arizona State is the most recent independent team to make the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. It was predicted by the PairWise that the Sun Devils would also make the tournament the following year (2019-20) but the season was cut short due to the pandemic. Before ASU made the tournament in 2018-19, no other independent team had accomplished the feat since 1991-92 by Alaska Anchorage.
SHARKS vs. DEVILS
The Sun Devils and Sharks meet for the third-straight season and ASU looks to protect its 4-0 undefeated record against LIU. In the final season as an independent, ASU owns a 8-1-1 record against its fellow independents (Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Lindenwood, Long Island, and Stonehill).
ACTION JACKSON
Senior center Ty Jackson was injured in the first game at Colorado College on Dec. 1 and subsequently missed the next 15 games. He made his return as first line center on Feb. 9-10 and tallied two goals and two assists against the Nanooks. After the off weekend break, the Sun Devils traveled to Alaska to complete the home-and-home series with the Nanooks. Jackson kept his scoring ways humming with a goal and an assist and as a +2 on the weekend. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Saturday night in Fairbanks - his first GWG of the season.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Gibson Homer continued to stand out in his fourth and fifth consecutive starts in State 49 last weekend. He reached 12 games played on the year and boasts a 1.86 goals against average and .935 save percentage complete with a 7-2-2 record.
TOP IN THE COUNTRY
The ASU team continues to rank among the top in the country in numerous categories:
Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. MST on Friday night and 5 p.m. MST on Saturday. Fans should arrive by 4:40 p.m. on Saturday night to watch the pregame Senior Night ceremony. Seniors Benji Eckerle, Alex Young, Tim Lovell, Matthew Kopperud, Ryan O'Reilly, Lukas Sillinger, and graduate students Brandon Tabakin, Brian Chambers, Tyler Gratton will be honored. Twins Ty and Dylan Jackson, although seniors, will not participate in the ceremony as they have announced their return for the 2024-25 season.
With the 2024 NCAA Tournament and postseason chase off of the table for the 2023-24 season, the team has set its sights on accomplishing a new goal: the most wins in a single season in program history. This team sits two wins away from breaking the record which is currently held by the 2019-20 squad who accomplished a 22-win season before the season was ultimately cut short due to Covid-19.
Most Wins in a Sun Devil Hockey Season
22 - 2019-20 season
21 - 2023-24 season
21 - 2018-19 season (first NCAA tournament berth in program history)
ABOUT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
There are reasons that ASU in 2018-19 is the only independent to make the NCAA Tournament in the past 31 seasons, and that is what is so great about joining the NCHC next season.
College hockey tournament bids are predicted all season-long, and ultimately chosen, by the PairWise Rankings system. According to the USCHO, "the PairWise Rankings (PWR) is a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the 16-team NCAA tournament." The PairWise compares each team with every other team based on three criteria: RPI, record against common opponents and head-to-head competition.
Utilizing the PairWise in its last year as an independent, the Sun Devils would need to be within the top 12 spots of the rankings to feel secure in the possibility of a tournament bid. Heading into the weekend, ASU currently stands at No. 19. College hockey has six conferences, all of which host conference tournaments which give their member teams a chance at an NCAA tournament automatic bid. Right off the bat, automatic bids could potentially take six spots of the 16-team NCAA Tournament field. More likely though, several teams that are already in the top-12 of the PairWise will also win their conference tournaments. In those instances, the outlier teams, including independents within the top-13, find the opportunity to make the postseason. The window of opportunity is slim and independent teams are forced to play their entire seasons like its Game 7. No off-games allowed. Case in point, last season, fellow independent Alaska Fairbanks ranked No. 13 in the PairWise and they did not make the NCAA field.
Arizona State is the most recent independent team to make the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. It was predicted by the PairWise that the Sun Devils would also make the tournament the following year (2019-20) but the season was cut short due to the pandemic. Before ASU made the tournament in 2018-19, no other independent team had accomplished the feat since 1991-92 by Alaska Anchorage.
SHARKS vs. DEVILS
The Sun Devils and Sharks meet for the third-straight season and ASU looks to protect its 4-0 undefeated record against LIU. In the final season as an independent, ASU owns a 8-1-1 record against its fellow independents (Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Lindenwood, Long Island, and Stonehill).
ACTION JACKSON
Senior center Ty Jackson was injured in the first game at Colorado College on Dec. 1 and subsequently missed the next 15 games. He made his return as first line center on Feb. 9-10 and tallied two goals and two assists against the Nanooks. After the off weekend break, the Sun Devils traveled to Alaska to complete the home-and-home series with the Nanooks. Jackson kept his scoring ways humming with a goal and an assist and as a +2 on the weekend. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Saturday night in Fairbanks - his first GWG of the season.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Gibson Homer continued to stand out in his fourth and fifth consecutive starts in State 49 last weekend. He reached 12 games played on the year and boasts a 1.86 goals against average and .935 save percentage complete with a 7-2-2 record.
TOP IN THE COUNTRY
The ASU team continues to rank among the top in the country in numerous categories:
- Tied-No. 2: ASU is tied for the second-fewest losses in the NCAA at 7 with reigning national champions No. 7 Quinnipiac. Only No. 1 Boston College and No. 13 Cornell have fewer losses this season (5).
- No. 4: ASU has scored 35 power play goals in 34 games
- No. 6: ASU's 21 wins is tied for fifth-best in the country and ranks sixth overall for best winning percentage (.706)
- No 8: Power play unit converts at a 25.9 percent success rate
- Tied-No. 8: ASU boasts one of the smallest goals against average in the country at 2.4
- No. 14: ASU has scored 113 goals in 34 games so far this season with an average of 3.32 goals per game
- No. 1: Matthew Kopperud's power play goals continues to lead the NCAA with 14 this season.
- Tied-No. 1: Matthew Kopperud has a knack for scoring game-winning goals in 2023-24. The senior has scored eight GWG through his 34 games played.
- No. 4: Lukas Sillinger tallied 31 assists. He is one assist away from breaking the single season record for most assists in a season set by Robert Mastrosimone in 2022-23. He ranks ninth in the NCAA for assists per game at 0.91 through 34 games.
- No. 7: Tim Lovell notched 29 assists and continues to extend his program record setting mark for most assists in a single season by a defenseman. He is tied 10th for assists per game at .91 through his 32 games played.
- No. 10: TJ Semptimphelter holds the 10th spot in the NCAA for goaltender winning percentage at .696 (14-5-4)
- No. 14: Brian Chambers won 340 faceoffs this season, ranked 14th in the NCAA.
- Hobey Baker nominee Lukas Sillinger is one assist away from breaking the single season program record for assists owned by alum Robert Mastrosimone from his 2022-23 season with 31.
- Tim Lovell is four points away from breaking the individual single-season record for most points by a defenseman. Sun Devil alum Brinson Pasichnuk set the record at 37 points in the 2019-20 season.
- Tim Lovell currently sits at the No. 2 spot for all-time career assists and assists by a defenseman with 62. He is eight points away from breaking Brinson Pasichnuk's record that is set at 68. He is three assists away from the assist record for a single season set by Mastrosimone at 31.
- Matthew Kopperud has 19 goals so far this season and is five away from breaking Johnny Walker's record for most in a single season at 23. Kopperud is 10 goals away from breaking the all-time career goals record currently set at 70, also by Walker.