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Hockey Caps Month-Long Home Stand with St. Thomas

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TEMPE — The Arizona State hockey team (11-16-0) looks to close out its month-long home stand against the University of St. Thomas (7-15-2) on January 27-28. Both competitions go down at 7 p.m. MST and are available on the ariwaves of Fox Sports 910, home of Sun Devil Hockey. Both games are available for viewing on the free ASU Live Stream.

The Tommies return to the desert for the second consecutive year after the Sun Devils swept them at Oceanside with dominating 5-2 and 4-2 wins in October 2021. The last series against St. Thomas was controlled by the Sun Devils as ASU outscored them nine to four, with 14 different Sun Devils tallying points throughout the two games. 

St. Thomas is in its second season as a Division I program and the Tommies have compiled a 5-3-2 record over the last ten games.

ASU’s RECORD AGAINST CCHA (1-4-0)

W, 3-0 – at Bemidji State 

L, 4-5 (OT) – at Bemidji State  

L, 2-4 – vs. #16 Michigan Tech 

L, 1-3 – vs. #17 Minnesota State  

L, 0-5 – vs. #17 Minnesota State 

TALE OF THE TAPE

Wrapping up the month of January, the Sun Devils are tied at 36th in the country with 2.68 goals per game and rank 43rd in the nation with 27.9 shots per game. The penalty kill squad still proves to be a success as it ranks 11th in the country with an 85 percent success rate in 103 opportunities. TJ Semptimphelter boasts the most playing minutes out of all NCAA goaltenders and tallied the second-most saves in the country with 809. Robert Mastrosimone’s 27 points still falls in the top-15 of all Division I skaters. 

In last season’s matchup against St. Thomas, former ASU captain Colin Theisen achieved a hat trick against the Tommies, the first of his career. Current skaters Josh Doan and Matthew Kopperud also had success in the series, both assembling multi-point games against St. Thomas.

Kopperud made his return to the lineup last weekend against No. 20 RIT and proved to have an immediate impact with a goal in Saturday’s game.

MASTRO MAGIC 

Continuing to lead the team in points, goals and assists, senior forward Robert Mastrosimone added two assists last week against RIT to bring his total to 19 on the year, which is tied for 11th in the nation. His shot total also leads the team with 104 this season which ranks third in the country. Mastrosimone also has two game-winning goals this season, most notable against No. 2 Minnesota and against then-No.6 North Dakota in Las Vegas earlier this year. 

JUST JUDDER

Senior defenseman Jack Judson is riding an all-time career high. Throughout his 26 games, Judson has tallied a personal single season record of 15 points, including another career high of 11 assists and four goals. Judson scored his first short handed goal against Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 11, 2022, and a game winning goal against New Hampshire on Dec. 9, 2022.

HISTORY VS  ST. THOMAS

W, 5-2 – Oct. 29, 2021 vs. St. Thomas (MN)

W, 4-2 – Oct. 30, 2021 vs. St. Thomas (MN)

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

Arizona State Head coach Greg Powers:


On another home weekend against St. Thomas:

“It’s just getting back to an identity, we’ve been missing it the last three games. I liked our effort on Saturday and we just have to take it one day at a time. Loved our practice today, loved our energy so far this week. Guys are going to be hungry.”

On expectations of St. Thomas:

“They can beat anybody, they’ve already proven it. They’re stout, they’re not easy to play against, they are playing with some really good confidence right now. Rico’s a great coach, he’s a good friend of mine, he’s doing a great job and we are excited to have them.”

On health of the Sun Devils:

“Really no changes. We’re not fully back, but we’re getting a couple guys back. I expect Jack Jensen to kind of be back to himself this weekend. Missing two months, his first first couple of weekends back he was feeling it out. Saturday I thought he was really good and we watched film and it proved that. So, getting him back to full speed, I think on Friday, will be huge for us. Kopper (Matthew Kopperud) is getting better and better, he’s on his way back in. He’s had a good two days of practice, so I think he’s going to be fully back. Just those two guys alone are huge in the arm. But we are heading in the right direction.”

On Benji Eckerle:

“He’s doing his job. He knows what his job is and he’s doing it really well. Now we need everybody else to do their jobs. That was the message Saturday during the day, stop worrying about what everybody else is doing, stop worrying about doing other people’s jobs, do your job, do what you are supposed to do to help our team win and if you do, we’re going to have success. And again, I thought we were the better team, the film showed that, but it just didn’t go our way. Sometimes you can’t control results, sometimes you can’t control puck luck, sometimes you’ve got to earn your way out of the funk that we are in. Like I said, it’s a four game losing streak, it feels like a 14 game losing streak. We just have to go get one on Friday.”

On players doing too much individually:

“There’s no doubt, there’s no doubt. And that is part of what we’ve been shown. RIT didn’t do anything fancy, they just got pucks to the net and went through the blue paint and created some chaos and they had success. Where we are trying to force passes through these thicks and make everything perfect and pretty and that’s not what wins. It’s just peeling back the onion and really simplifying, our guy’s see it now because they felt it against a team that scored 10 goals and didn’t have one real hockey play on any goal. It was just funneling pucks and bodies to the net, that’s what wins.”

Arizona State Junior Forward Benji Eckerle:

On pattering his game after Arizona State Alumni Anthony Croston and Dylan Holman:

“I heard a little bit coming into my freshman year about those guys, like they wanted me to emulate those guys a little bit, especially the guys on the team and I try my best certainly to embody them.”

On coming to Arizona State after growing up in Michigan: 

“Growing up in Michigan is awesome for hockey and there’s tons of it everywhere. When I got the opportunity to come down here, I remember taking my visit when I was on my junior team and we flew out in a blizzard that night and here it was 65 and sunny and that was kind of the dealmaker right there.”

On Oceanside vs. Mullett and the culture of Sun Devil Hockey:

“It’s night and day obviously. Oceanside was a very unique experience while we had it and we packed that place there was nothing like it in college hockey, but this place is one of a kind as well, it’s a golden facility, brand new obviously and when we pack this place there’s nothing like it. For the culture certainly it’s a huge deal. We can now match our facilities with any other program in the country recruiting wise.” 

On it being an even game at Mullett, where it wasn’t at Oceanside: 

“I wouldn’t say it’s an even game necessary since we have the student section and fans so certainly we still have a home ice advantage. Playing at Oceanside was unique with the ice sheet, the low ceiling and all that stuff. We were really the only team in the country with that. So it is certainly a unique advantage but we still have one here.”

On getting through the slump and the injuries: 

“It’s taking it one day at a time and something we’ve been stressing a lot recently was processing the results. We haven’t been getting the results so we’ve been trying to really stick through the process. Everyday I come to the rink and practice and get better that day. Everyday you go and focus on that shift and everything.”

On the upcoming matchup against St. Thomas: 

“Yes, I would love to get a couple of goals this weekend. To me they’re just another team that we have to come in here and beat. We’ll try to do our best.”

On keeping the team focused: 

“It certainly can be, especially when we were getting touch results we were trying to keep refracting to the team dynamic. Part of what we were trying to do the last few weeks was stay dialed in as a team and make sure we come together as a group and lean on each other opposed to our own talents.”





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