ASU hockey went winless in its three-game road trip in Connecticut. While head coach Greg Powers admitted it was a rough stretch of five games in eight days including the Alaska trip, he said the team has played competitively.
Now, the team will try to focus on fixing its mistakes as it moves into its first NCAA homestand at Oceanside Ice Arena, a two-game tilt against Southern New Hampshire.
Powers said his team is being competitive, which is all that can be asked of the Sun Devils (1-4) at this point because the jump to NCAA is an ongoing process. He said the staff has emphasized to the team that it has to be much more focused on that process than the results.
"For a team with 14 freshmen in the lineup and guys who haven't played at this pace consistently obviously playing ACHA hockey, we've had a lead or been tied in the third period in three out of five games," he said. "If we get the process right, which we will, then the results will come."
Perhaps the biggest problem for the Sun Devils has been converting on power plays. The team is 1-of-19 on the power play. That may seem abysmal, Powers said it will improve with repetition.
But when first asked about the power-play woes, he joked and chuckled, saying the team needed to change "everything." Then came the honest answer.
"The power play is fine, it's all new guys who have never played together," Powers said. "It's a great, well-designed power play, but it's new, so we knew it was going to take some time, but it's got to start producing for us."
Another issue that needs attention as the team move forwards is penalties. The Sun Devils are averaging 6.8 penalties per game and 15.8 penalty minutes per game.
"We're losing special teams battles in three of the four losses and if that was turned around, we'd probably have a much different record," Powers said.
Brock Krygier, a graduate transfer defenseman from Michigan State, said the team has worked on some defensive zone aspects during practice this week. More so than that, he said he believes some of the penalties were due to a lack of discipline.
"It's not worth it, just live to fight another day," Krygier said. "We need to stay out of the box so we can stay 5-on-5 or on the power play to help us get more goals.
"I feel like during Sacred Heart, it got away from us a bit —we got frustrated, angry and took some extra penalties. It's all just about keeping the guys level-headed, making sure that we stay focused on the goal and play between the whistles."
ASU's defensive lines has been under a lot of pressure this year. While the Sun Devils have only managed 22.8 shots on goal, they've given up 40.4 shots per game.
Krygier said the team needs to focus on putting pucks on net in the offensive zone instead of trying to make the extra pass or play, which will help generate more offense.
Powers also said freshman goaltender David Jacobson will get a start this weekend because Robert Levin is out with a tweaked ankle from the game against UConn.
After a rough road trip, it's just nice for the Sun Devils to be home.
"It's humbling coming back to Oceanside, it's a little dose of reality," he said. "We're happy to be back. ...(The road trip) was one we learned so much from, but it's good to be back and get in a routine of practice and classes, so we're here for almost two weeks before we go to Wisconsin."
Related Links:
ASU hockey opens weekend homestand versus Southern New Hampshire
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter
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