#16 Hockey Set for Battle with the Vikings

TEMPE – The No. 16 Arizona State ice hockey team (16-5-5) hosts first-year program Augustana (6-11-3) at home for alumni weekend on Jan. 19-20. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. MST on both Friday and Saturday at Mullett Arena. Both games stream on Pac-12 Insider or listen in on the Sun Devil Hockey Radio Network, Fox Sports 910.

This weekend's matchup will be the first meeting between the schools in program history. ASU has met three other new foes this season including Stonehill, Dartmouth and Miami. The team aims to improve its record of 2-1-3 against the fresh opponents in the tilt versus the Vikings.  

The Sun Devils look to get back to their winning ways after falling to then-No. 18 Cornell last weekend. Friday night's overtime heartbreaker marked the first overtime loss in Mullett Arena's two seasons.  

Fans attending Saturday's game may experience parking delays due to the triple header of events within the area as Sun Devil Hoops tip off is set for 12 p.m. and the Arizona Coyotes game in Mullett Arena at 1 p.m. MST. 

TOP IN THE COUNTRY 
The ASU team continues to rank amongst the top in the country in numerous categories:

• No. 2: ASU's 16 wins is second-best in the country
• No. 2: ASU has scored 28 power play goals in 26 games
• Tied-No.2: Currently tied for fewest losses in the NCAA at 5
• Tied-No. 4: ASU has scored 86 goals in 26 games so far this season
• Tied-No. 6: ASU has sixth-best goals against per game at 2.4
• No. 7: Power play unit converts at a 26.9 percent success rate
• No. 9: Winning percentage at 77 percent
• Tied-No. 17: ASU's penalty kill unit boasts a 83.3 percent success rate

PLAYERS IN THE TOP-10 NATIONALLY

• No. 1: Matthew Kopperud is still on top for most powerplay goals across the NCAA this season with 11. He leads all current NCAA skaters in career power play goal scoring by nine (35 career PPG)
• No. 1: Matthew Kopperud leads the NCAA in game-winning goals (6)
• No. 1: Brandon Tabakin is tied at No.1 in the nation with a +22 on the season
• No. 4: Tim Lovell's 23 assists ranks 4th in the NCAA. His 0.96 assists per game lands eighth in the country
• No. 4: Brian Chambers has won 267 faceoffs through 26 games, the fourth-best in the nation
• No. 9: Lukas Sillinger currently has 28 points with six goals and 22 assists
• No. 10: TJ Semptimphelter remains in the top-ten in the nation for winning percentage (.705)

SUN DEVIL NOTABLES

• It is expected that captain Tyler Gratton will play in his 150th NCAA game on Friday vs. Augustana. He will become one of only 24 current skaters who have played in at least 150 collegiate games.
• Last Friday night, ASU suffered its first loss in overtime at Mullett Arena in the building's history. It was the first loss in OT for ASU since Oct. 27, 2023 at Miami.
• Last weekend, ASU was swept at home for the first time since February 2023 vs. Alaska Fairbanks
• Cornell is one of only two teams this season to score on the Sun Devils within the opening 10 minutes of play
• ASU continues its 14th-straight week in the national polls. Polls national polls placed the Sun Devils at No. 16. The highest national poll ranking ever received by the Sun Devils was No. 9 on Feb. 17, 2020 in the 2019-20 season.

RECORD CHASE

• Tim Lovell (23A) is one assist away from breaking Brinson Pasichnuk's single season record for assists by a defenseman (23A) set in 2019-20.
• Matthew Kopperud is three power play goals away from breaking the program record he set for most power play goals in a single season with 13 in 2021-22.
• TJ Semptimphelter is one shutout away from setting a program record for career shutouts. The record is set at eight by ASU alum and current NHL Seattle Kraken netminder Joey Daccord.

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Goaltenders TJ Semptimphelter and Gibson Homer both saw action this past weekend. Semptimphelter remains in the top ten nationally for best goalie winning percentage with a .705. Last Friday, the Mike Richter Award announced its watch list pool for 2024, listing Semptimphelter as one of 41 NCAA goaltenders in the running for the annual award. The New Jersey native's three shutouts this season is tied for second in the NCAA as he looks to break Joey Daccord's career record for an Arizona State netminder. His 560 saves ranks ninth in the country and his season record of 14-5-3 is second-best in the NCAA. Homer entered Saturday's game as relief for Semptimphelter early in the second period and held Cornell scoreless, logging 22 saves. 

DEFENSE ON ANOTHER LOVELL
Defenseman Tim Lovell has become one the key components to the Sun Devils' success this season. He currently ranks fourth nationally for most assists this season and sits at No. 8 in the nation for assists per game with 0.96. Lovell has tallied 23 assists so far and tied Sun Devil hockey alum Brinson Pasichnuk's single season record for most assists by a defenseman set in the 2019-20 season. 

ACADEMIC WEAPONS
Off the ice, the hockey team competes in the classroom as the team earned a collective semester GPA of 3.44. The group carries a cumulative GPA of 3.52, including eight players who earned a 4.00 semester GPA in Fall 2023. Eighty-six percent of the team earned a 3.00 or higher. 

QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Goaltender Gibson Homer
On his play on Saturday night:
"I felt really good, I got tested early which kind of got me into the game fortunately. I'm happy with how I played, it was an unfortunate result, but happy with how I did."

Forward Matthew Kopperud
On how to handle these next few games and the PairWise standings:
"We have to play it one game at a time, we know what the rest of our schedule looks like, we know what we have to do to get into the tournament so we have to play Augustana this weekend and we have to sweep them at home then we have to look forward to the next series. But we have to play it one game at a time and not look forward to Saturday night when we have Friday still to go."

On getting all four lines going against Augustana:
"I think you could sort of tell this weekend that we were a little bit out of gas playing Cornell, so I think this week it will be nice for our guys to refresh and regroup and then come out and hopefully have the offensive capability that we do have and to hopefully produce against Augustana and take two wins against them."

On the ability for Coach Powers to mix up lines and maintain chemistry:
"It's nice because we can play with each other, we know each other's tendencies so if he mixes it up, it doesn't switch too many things up. It sort of throws a wrench in the other team when we switch up the lines, but it doesn't affect us too much. It kind of helps us play with new players, figure out new things and try out new things that might work."

Forward Charlie Schoen
On getting back to the basics:
"Yeah, obviously when things are going good you kind of start forgetting about little details sometimes and you just start to play a little bit looser. You know, that's kind of what we've been doing so obviously you know what the coaches said, we kind of have to get back to what made us successful and what got us on the winning streak. It was doing things like that."

On maintaining motivation for the rest of the season:
"I think for us it will be easy because our season is on the line and we want to make the tournament, that's our goal and we can't take any game lightly. It doesn't matter who it is. I don't think we'll have an issue staying motivated moving forward. We just kind of know how important every game is so I think it will be fine."

On the line changes last weekend:
"That's something we've been trying to figure out for most of the year. It's something where just kind of with our more skilled guys we have to all come together as one and we just have to be better. I think regardless of what the coach does with the lines, I think we all have to step up and do our role better. That's why he's in that position to have to shuffle the lines because we're not doing our job not quite to where we should be so I think that's on us. Just have to be better."