The Miami RedHawks (11-7-2) will look for their first NCHC road win of the season at the Arizona State Sun Devils (11-10-1) this weekend. Puck drop is set for 9:00 PM EST on Friday and 7:00 PM EST on Saturday.
These teams met earlier this season during the opening weekend of conference play, splitting the series in Oxford, OH. The Saturday win marked Miami’s first NCHC victory in 658 days and head coach Anthony Noreen’s first conference win.
Miami enters the weekend 2-6-2 in NCHC play and has been swept in both road series so far at Denver and Western Michigan. Arizona State sits at 4-5-1 in league play and has won five straight at home (Mullet Arena).
Miami is coming off a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI), defeating Ferris State 4-2 in the consolation game after falling 5-2 to Michigan Tech in the semifinals the day before.
Related: Miami Takes Third at GLI With 4-2 Win Over Ferris State
Arizona State is coming off their third straight Desert Hockey Classic championship. After a slow start by their standards, the Sun Devils have won eight of their last 11 games and taken down ranked opponents in Dartmouth, Denver, North Dakota, and Minnesota Duluth.
Both teams are desperate for points in this series, given their spots in the NPI and NCHC standings. The RedHawks sit at 30th in NPI and ninth (last) in the NCHC with eight points, while the Sun Devils are 25th in NPI and fifth in the NCHC with 13 points.
The RedHawks and Sun Devils are close in overall scoring numbers. Miami is tied for 12th nationally at 3.5 goals per game, while Arizona State ranks 25th at 3.2. Miami allows 3.4 goals per game and Arizona State allows 3.3. However, Arizona State has the clear advantage on special teams.
In the faceoff circle, Sean McGurn leads Arizona State at 57.8%, followed by Logan Morrell at 56.5%. As a team, the Sun Devils win 52.1% of their draws, ranking 17th nationally. Ethan Hay leads Miami at 52%, while Ilia Morozov leads the team with 183 wins. Miami ranks 53rd nationally at 46.8%, an area that needs to improve.
Injury Updates
Arizona State will be without forward Jack Beck, who is out for the season after surgery, and former RedHawk Johnny Waldron, who was injured early in last weekend’s Desert Hockey Classic.
Per Tom Hardon of @Devils_Detail: “Sean McGurn (F) and Anthony Dowd (D) will likely be back in the lineup, but look for either Tony Achille (F) to get his first ice time of the season or for Tucker Ness (D) to move back into his hybrid defensive forward position from last season, opening the door for Lincoln Kuehne (D) to see consistent time on a defensive pairing.”
For Miami, it is still to be determined whether forward Doug Grimes returns after missing the GLI. Otherwise, the team is healthy.
Most Productive Line In Nation
Arizona State’s top line of Cruz Lucius, Cullen Potter and Bennett Schimek has combined for 88 points, the most of any line in the country.
Lucius leads the nation with 32 points, and Schimek is second with 31. Miami has to minimize this line by taking away their space and limiting turnovers, especially in transition. Lucius has three game-winning goals, and Potter also has three.
Miami’s top line of Kocha Delic, Morozov, and Matteo Giampa has combined for 49 points. Giampa leads Miami with 19 points. Delic and Vladislav Lukashevich are tied for second with 16. Lukashevich leads all Miami defensemen in points and has a team-high 14 assists.
Ryder Thompson leads Miami in blocked shots with 35. Lukashevich is second with 21.
Thompson earned NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors last week after scoring the game-winner against Ferris State.
Special Teams Matchup
The RedHawks have to start being more consistent on special teams in NCHC play. It has been the difference some nights between wins and losses, and at times, getting an extra point. Games that come to mind are the St. Cloud State Saturday loss in regulation, a 4-2 final, and the 4-1 Friday loss to Arizona State earlier this season.
The Western Michigan series also comes to mind. Miami took 12 penalties on the weekend, gave up two power-play goals, and went 1-for-11 on the man advantage. 17-year-old forward Morozov said earlier this week that the power play is an area Miami wants to improve.
“I would say that sometimes our power play is really good and we are getting a lot of chances to score. But we just do not score. I do not know. During the game against Michigan Tech, we got so many chances on the power play, but we did not score a single goal. And I think that entering the zone, we had some trouble with that. Sometimes we can make a little bit simpler play on the entry.”
The power play needs to get more traffic in front of the net and finish chances. It is clicking at 15.1% on 86 opportunities. Arizona State’s power play is dangerous at 24.1% on 73 chances, ranking 11th in the country.
Miami has to stay out of the box to have a good chance. The RedHawks average 12.1 penalty minutes per game compared to Arizona State’s 9.8. Lucius has five power-play goals, Potter has four, and Schimek has two. Schimek also has the Sun Devils’ only shorthanded goal this season and is dangerous in every situation.
Miami’s penalty kill is at 77.8%, while Arizona State’s is 82.2% on the season.
Goaltending Matchup
Arizona State’s tandem of Connor Hasley and Samuel Urban has a combined .938 save percentage (SV%) in their last eight games and has allowed only 18 goals. Hasley has made more starts with an 8-6-0 record, a .921 SV%, and a 2.60 goals-against average (GAA). Hasley took a split over Miami in the first series earlier in the season. Urban has a 3-4-1 record, a .906 SV%, and a 3.44 GAA. We will see who goes this time around. It would not be surprising to see both, and if not, Hasley would likely be in both games.
Newcomer Mathis Langevin made his NCAA debut against Ferris State in the third-place GLI game, a 4-2 win, and the freshman stopped 30 of 32 shots in his first start as a RedHawk. Matteo Drobac has made 19 starts this season with a 10-7-2 record, a .898 SV%, and a 3.14 GAA. It would not be shocking to see Langevin in the opening game on Friday night to give the Sun Devils a different look since they faced Drobac already. Miami could very well use both Drobac and Langevin this weekend, though.
Both teams are desperate for points in this series, given their spots in the NPI and NCHC standings. RedHawks sit at 30th in NPI and ninth (last) in NCHC with eight points, while the Sun Devils are 25th in NPI and fifth in NCHC with 13 points.
Noreen has said recently that this team can “win now” and that they are not looking past this season. He feels they can win with this specific group, and it needs to start with at least three points coming out of Tempe this weekend.
