A hockey series against Boston University is never easy.
ASU hockey coach Greg Powers realizes that his No. 17 Sun Devils (16-9-1) will be challenged as the team travels to play inside Agganis Arena this weekend against Boston University, a five-time national champion. After ASU was swept against Cornell in its last series, he hopes that his team responds with bounce-back performances as a NCAA Tournament spot is within reach.
Despite a 9-9-3 record, Powers said he knows the Terriers – having nearly crept back into the latest USCHO rankings — have a tremendous team this season and a historic program. With that, he said ASU has to come ready to play in a hostile environment against Boston University, which has only lost twice since December.
“Now, they are playing their best hockey,” Powers said. “Again, like we told our guys, ‘It doesn’t matter who we play. When we are not committed to playing fast and hard and heavy and physical, we are not going to beat anybody, let alone a team as talented as them.’ It is going to be a good test for us to go in and play against a team that is peaking.”
Powers admitted, as he has for many series this season, that ASU, which is in its fourth season as a Division I program, doesn’t have the type of high-end talent throughout the lineup that Boston University has.
He won’t use that as an excuse, though.
“It is like I tell the guys every day, ‘that means nothing,’” Powers said. “If skill doesn’t want to pay the price, I will take will all day. If you have the skill, you better also have the will. But if you have a ton of will, sometimes you don’t need that skill and we have proven that. If we commit to playing our style of game, and we outwork and outcompete and outskate, we think we can beat anybody, and we have proven that. Our guys have to take that mentality into Friday, and we will see what happens.”
ASU knows this series won’t be easy, as well, and junior forward Steenn Pasichnuk echoed his coach, saying the Sun Devils can’t use a record to judge an opponent because that doesn’t actually reflect Boston University.
“We are going to have to go in there with a blue-collar effort and give it everything we got, and I think if we do that, we will be successful for sure," Pasichnuk said.
For junior goaltender Joey Daccord, playing in Boston will be special. As a North Andover, Massachusetts native, Daccord will have a homecoming. Powers noted, hoping the trend continues, that Daccord has had some great moments against New England schools, mentioning the Harvard series earlier this season, matchups at Holy Cross and Massachusetts last season and Quinnipiac when Daccord was a freshman.
After getting swept against Cornell in the last series, Powers said there is a “sense of urgency” to do well against Boston University, coming off a bye week. ASU has NCAA Tournament hopes as an independent and there are just eight games left this season to improve its resume.
Powers mentioned that after ASU was swept against Nebraska Omaha earlier this season, and the Sun Devils then rebounded with a series sweep at Princeton, following a bye week.
“We hope to replicate that exact same thing,” Powers said. “We bounce back really strong, so that is what we are looking to do. This team has become accustomed to that winning feeling and they want to feel that more. They hate to lose. … That is what you need, you need to hate to lose.”
When asked about what he will look forward to with this trip to Boston, junior defensemen Brinson Pasichnuk had a simple two-word answer.
“Sweeping them,” Brinson Pasichnuk said.
Reach the reporter at nahiatt@asu.edu or follow @NATE_HIATT on Twitter.
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