Forward Sean Murphy fights for control of the puck against Oklahoma, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015 at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. The Sooners defeated the Sun Devils 5-3. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)After a tough loss last Saturday, the No.1 ASU hockey team (25-3-1) goes into its home game against No. 7 Stony Brook (19-4-1) looking to bounce back and beat one of the few teams to have beat them earlier this season.
The last time these two teams met back in November, the weekend series in New York ended in a tie with the Sun Devils winning the first game 4-0 and the Seawolves winning the second 6-3. This loss was only the second for ASU in the season, after being defeated by Central Oklahoma a few weeks prior.
Both teams have had a fairly consistent season since their last matchup. Before playing each other, ASU was ranked No. 2, just below Central Oklahoma, with a 14-1 record and Stony Brook was undefeated and ranked No. 6 with 11 wins.
Since then, the Sun Devils have held the No. 1 ranking for the past five weeks. Stony Brook was pushed down in the rankings and now sits at No. 7 after their four losses against Rhode Island, ASU and twice against Liberty.
After the away series against Lindenwood, there are some players to keep an eye on.
With his goals last weekend, sophomore forward Michael Cummings has scored 16 goals this season giving him 23 points (also seven assists) in 27 games. His goal last weekend against Lindenwood was a game-saver, tying it up with only 30 seconds left in the game. Also at his last home game, Cummings had his first hat trick in a while and is definitely a player to watch tomorrow night.
Sophomore goalie Robert Levin has also been a dominant player this season with six shutouts this season and in average allowing 2.00 goals per game. He had some solid saves this past weekend including two during an intense shootout before losing the game.
After a long battle with complications from an injury, sophomore forward Ryan Ostertag has been wearing a no-contact jersey during practice, and his expected return is this weekend against Stony Brook, so keep an eye out for him as well.
On Thursday, ASU takes on Stony Brook at Oceanside, with the puck expected to drop at 8:15 p.m.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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