Sophomore forward David Norris celebrates after scoring a goal against Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Wildcats 7-2. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)The No. 1 ASU hockey team (28-3-1) will travel to Colorado this weekend for a three-game away series with one game against No. 21 Colorado State (14-17-1) and two against No. 18 Colorado (11-12-2).
The last time the Sun Devils played these two teams was back in late October and early November when Colorado and Colorado State came to Oceanside Ice Arena. ASU ended up sweeping both teams.
On Oct. 30, the Sun Devils beat the Buffaloes 2-1 in overtime in their only game together that weekend. ASU then went on to play Colorado State on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and swept them by scores of 8-0 and 7-2.
The Buffaloes had some strong wins since their last meeting with ASU. The team went from not being ranked to No. 18, its current ranking. It's played teams similar to ASU, including No. 8 Oklahoma (21-7-2), No. 2 Central Oklahoma (25-5-1) and No. 22 Arizona (11-17-3). The Buffaloes were not as successful against these teams as the Sun Devils were. Against all three teams, they went 1-4 only winning once against Arizona, 3-2 in overtime.
Colorado State has also gone up in rankings since playing ASU most recently. They were not ranked as well and now sit at No. 21. The Rams have also played Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma since their last time in Tempe and walked away 0-3 during their games in Oklahoma.
ASU is coming off of a great weekend where they swept No. 22 Arizona (11-17-3) 7-0 and 7-2 despite the fact that six key players were en route to Spain for the World University Games in Spain. Those players included forwards Chris Burkemper, Ryan Belonger and Sean Murphy, as well as defensemen Connor Schmidt, Ed McGovern, and Jordan Young.
Missing these players gave additional players the opportunity to step up and that is exactly what happened and they will have the same opportunity this weekend as those players will still be away in Spain.
It also appears that sophomore forward Ryan Ostertag will be out for this weekend and the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury.
The Sun Devils take on Colorado State on Feb. 5 and Colorado on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7. All games are expected to start at 7:30 p.m.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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