After a bye week, ASU hockey head coach Greg Powers said the focus is on special teams improvement and dictating the pace heading into the two-game tilt at Lake Superior State.
"I think if you look at our season statistics, they're a little misleading," Powers said. "They're higher, but most of our success has come against teams that we don't need to be successful on special teams to beat. We have to be successful on special teams to beat other Division I programs."
Powers said another point of emphasis has been playing with the same tenacity for 60 minutes, just like the Sun Devils (3-6) did in the last two periods of the Saturday game at Wisconsin.
ASU may have lost the Saturday game 2-1, but the team competed and almost tied the game when Jordan Masters got a breakaway opportunity with 15 seconds left in regulation. His shot missed wide right of the net, but the game was there for the taking.
"We need to quit going into Fridays in 'feeling out mode,' which is what we've kind of been doing with a young team," Powers said. "They kind of see the pace and then they adjust instead of dictating the pace, and if we dictate the play and the pace, and start how we end, we're going to be okay."
That mentality has carried over just in time for the trip to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where they will meet a Lakers team that went on the road and tied both games with Bowling Green. Powers praised them for hanging in well, noting that winning on the road in college hockey is no easy task.
"They can beat anybody," Powers said. "They beat Michigan State, they've played other high-level competition, they played North Dakota tough. They're good. They have a long-standing history at that school with hockey and we're thrilled to go into that building and play."
In terms of scheduling, getting into a rhythm has been difficult for ASU. After beating Arizona at Gila River Arena, the team went on two weekend road trips before playing its first two home games. Then, the Sun Devils went to Wisconsin before the bye week. Now they go on another road trip before another bye week and do not return home until Dec. 4 against the University of Alberta.
Amidst the tough stretch, Powers still found a positive.
"We were dealt the cards we were dealt and we knew we had to go on the road and we look at it as an opportunity to go out and get great experience," he said. "It's hard to win on the road in college hockey — you look at boxes every weekend, the road team rarely wins, it doesn't matter who it is. The experience that this young team is getting is unbelievable and we're just going to embrace it."
ASU's freshman class leads the nation with 42 points, largely in part to Jordan Masters with nine and Joey Raats with eight. While the stat is skewed because the team probably has the biggest freshman class in the country, Powers said he is proud of the young players, what they have learned and how they are using it to their advantage.
Powers also provided an update on goalie Robert Levin, who has been out with an ankle injury. Levin has been limited in practice and has not been cleared to play in live-game action yet.
The coach said his junior goalie is progressing and feeling better each day. When healthy, Powers said Levin's addition will be a welcomed one.
Related Links:
Pac-12 Networks to televise two ASU hockey games
Top Canadian defenseman talent Patrick Kudla commits to ASU hockey
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter
Like State Press Sports on Facebook or follow @statepresssport on Twitter
