ASU hockey is back in town this weekend and will battle No. 7 Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a two-game series at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.
The Sun Devils have a full slate of February home games to close out the 2015-16 season. The team concluded its Division I inaugural NCAA season on the road, being defeated by UMass Lowell 4-1 and 8-1 in the second outing. They were also shut out 10-0 by Merrimack.
With this being a hybrid year for the Sun Devils, it was almost inevitable that they would experience their growing pains against Division I talent.
The latter part of this season should not be as challenging. ASU goes up against six opponents that aren’t Division I schools.
First on the list is Division III Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which has a 13-5-3 overall record. The team has played 21 games accumulating 83 goals, 132 assists and averaging just under 4 goals-per game.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire is also averaging 35 shots per game.
One of the Blugolds’ bright spots is junior forward Adam Knochenmus, who has amassed 17 total goals on 21 games played. In addition, he has 31 total points on the season.
Junior forward Patrick Moore is also solid for his team, contributing 10 goals and 11 assists.
With a vulnerable Sun Devils defense, Knochenmus may cause fits.
Junior forward Garret Clemment sets his teammates up nicely dishing out 16 assists so far. He is notoriously known for finding his teammates around the net for easy goals.
Tyler Green is Wisconsin’s senior goalie, who has gotten a majority of the starts. Green has saved 15 total games with .948 save percentage.
The Sun Devils currently have a record of 8-22-2 overall.
They are led by freshman stand out Jordan Masters, whose 13 goals are more than the next two ASU players combined. He was nominated for the Hobey Baker award, which honors the top national collegiate ice hockey player. Masters has been productive all season, scoring 13 goals and 15 assists. He even recorded ASU’s first-ever hat trick against the Ohio Bobcats on Jan. 23.
Head coach Greg Powers said Masters "has exceeded expectations."
“To put the amount of points he put up, and have the amount of success he has had as a freshman on a hybrid team that we are playing with has been really impressive,” he added.
In net, freshman goalie Ryland Pashovitz has a save percentage of .903. His experience against some of the top Division I talent earlier this year may start to work in the Sun Devils’ favor.
The Sun Devils will have to find offense outside Masters this weekend. Two players who could fill that void are junior forward Ryan Belonger or freshman forward Jack Rowe, who each have six goals this season. It’s essential that they both rise to the occasion and provide an additional spark for this team.
It would be beneficial for the Sun Devils to covert more on the power play. ASU has been deprived of a power play goal since Saturday, Jan. 23 against ACHA Ohio.
The two-game series between the Sun Devils and Wisconsin-Eau Claire starts Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at chaz.frazier@asu.edu or follow @chaz_frazier on Twitter.
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