ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVIL HOCKEY MEDIA NOTES @SunDevilHockey @SunDevilHockey /SunDevilHockey GAME 15-16: ARIZONA STATE AT #18 NOTRE DAME JANUARY 9-10, 2021 6:30 / 5:00 PM (ET) ON THE HORIZON Jan. 15-16 at #14 Wisconsin TBD (CT) TBD Jan. 21-22 at #1 Minnesota TBD (CT) TBD AT COMPTON FAMILY ICE ARENA SUN DEVIL REWIND Notre Dame, IN Despite the outcome against the top-ranked Gophers, the Sun Devils 6:30 / 5 p.m. (ET) showed up for the challenge and gave Minnesota a run for their money. NHL Network Going into the weekend, the Golden Gopher’s penalty kill had never al- 4-5-1 4-8-2 lowed a goal through eight games until the streak was spoiled by fresh- man forward Matthew Kopperud, who tallied his eighth of the season in RECORD VS. BIG TEN OPPONENTS the first period on Sunday. Minnesota had also never trailed this season TEAM 2020-21 OVERALL LAST MEETING until Kopperud’s goal five minutes into the game. MICHIGAN 0-2-0 0-5-0-0 L, 0-3 - NOV. 15, 2020 MICHIGAN STATE 0-1-1 3-1-1-1 L, 0-2 - NOV. 20, 2020 MINNESOTA 0-2-0 0-4-0-0 L, 4-6 - JAN. 4, 2021 The next day, senior forward Sean Dhooghe scored his second of the NOTRE DAME 1-1-0 1-3-0-0 L, 4-5 - DEC. 4, 2020 season on the Golden Gophers near-perfect PK unit. Minnesota had not OHIO STATE 1-0-1 1-3-2-0 W, 3-2 - DEC. 18, 2020 allowed more than two goals in a game with an average of one goal al- PENN STATE 0-2-0 1-4-0-2 OTL, 2-3 - DEC. 13, 2020 lowed per game, but ASU managed to put up four on Monday night. Also WISCONSIN 2-0-0 2-4-0-0 W, 3-1 - NOV. 29, 2020 important to note, ASU did not commit a penalty during Monday’s game 2020-21 SUN DEVIL LEADERS for the first time in program history. Player G A Pts. Goalie Rec. SV% GAA Matthew Kopperud 8 6 14 Evan DeBrouwer 3-6-1 .907 3.40 The Sun Devil offense celebrated the return of active NCAA career goal Jax Murray 5 4 9 Cole Brady 1-2-1 .891 4.12 leader Johnny Walker, who made SportsCenter’s top play on Monday Demetrios Koumontzis 3 5 8 with a lacrosse-style goal against No. 1 Minnesota. Walker, who missed James Sanchez 2 6 8 10 games with an injury, saw limited minutes on Sunday before having 2020-21 FIGHTING IRISH LEADERS multiple scoring chances in addition to his goal on Monday. He becomes an added offensive weapon to a squad averaging 3.90 goals per game Player G A Pts. Goalie Rec. SV% GAA Alex Steeves 5 5 10 Ryan Bischel 2-2-1 .903 2.58 over the last 10 games – ranking tied for 4th in the country. Graham Slaggert 3 5 8 Dylan St. Cyr 2-3-0 .887 2.82 Nick Leivermann 2 5 7 Michael Graham 2 4 6 WE MEET AGAIN BY THE NUMBERS After playing the Sun Devils last month, the Fighting Irish split a series with Ohio State and then went to overtime in both games with Michigan Despite winning just one game since the last time these two teams met, the Sun Devils are averaging 3.00 goals State, resulting in a tie and a loss. This upcoming series will be the first per game (ranks T-15th) since the last meeting. post-break games for the Irish. 3 If the Sun Devils were included in the Big Ten standings, they would currently rank no worse than T-2nd behind the Notre Dame has been without freshman forward Landon Slaggert, who Gophers with 16 points. won gold with Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championship and is 2 expected to return for the weekend series. Slaggert has three points (1G- ASU has six players with over 100 games played, 2A) in six games with the one goal being scored against the Sun Devils. including James Sanchez, Jacob Wilson, Dom Garcia, 6 Sean Dhooghe, Johnny Walker and Gvido Jansons. Junior forward Alex Steeves currently paces the team in scoring with 10 Five of the Sun Devils’ last seven games have been decided by a goal with three of them going to overtime. points (5G-5A) and carries a five-game point streak into the series, while They are 1-3-1 in those one-goal games. Graham Slaggert is second in scoring with eight points (3G-5A) and has a 5 four-game point streak going into the weekend. SUN DEVIL TWEETABLES 1. .@SunDevilHockey is one of the least penalized teams in the country this year, averaging just 2.93 penalties per game for the third-lowest in the NCAA. PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 2. .@SunDevilHockey went without committing a penalty in Monday night’s game BUNCIS: bun-sis KNIERIM: NEER-um at #1 Minnesota, becoming the first time in program history. DHOOGHE: DOO-gie KOPPERUD: copper-RUDE 3. Three of @SunDevilHockey’s top seven point leaders are freshmen, including ECKERLE: ECK-er-lee KOSOBUD: COH-suh-bud @kopper303, @oreilly_ryan and Benji Eckerle. 4. Sophomore Jax Murray (@jmur12) ranks T-8th in the country for shooting GOURLEY: GORE-lee KOUMONTZIS: co-mun-ZEEZ percentage at 35.7%. GRANDO: gran-DOH MANCINELLI: Man-sin-el-EE 5. After being one of the least experienced teams in college hockey in recent GVIDO: guh-VEE-doh SANDHU: san-DOO years, ASU is T7th for most upperclassmen and T4th for most seniors. JANSONS: YAWN-sons SEMIK: seh-MICK QUOTES OF THE WEEK SUN DEVIL SCENARIOS • “It’s frustrating. To take a lead like that and see how we can play when we want to play the right way to beat During the 2020-21 regular season, the Sun Devils are: teams in the Big Ten. You have to make a decision you want to do that the entire game. That’s what it takes to • 2-2-1-1 when scoring four or more goals string together a bunch of wins and beat a team that good.”” -Head coach Greg Powers on the recent close • 2-1-1-0 when allowing two or fewer goals games • 2-1-0-1 when scoring first • “That was the biggest frustration from these past two games. We won the special teams battles both nights and • 2-1-0-1 when leading after one period didn’t find a way to win. Generally, when you do that on the road, you are going to find a way to win. But we • 4-1-0-0 when leading after two periods didn’t. We have to keep at it.” -Head coach Greg Powers on the special teams success as of late • “I think we’ve proven that we’re going to be competitive and have hopefully earned our stripes on the ice with • 1-5-1-1 when trailing after one period what we’ve done the last couple years. Now it’s time to really, really make a decision and hone in on what that • 0-5-2-1 when trailing after two periods home is going to be. We want to get into a league and the arena was probably the last step for us in probably • 1-0-1-0 when tied after one period really, truly pursuing where that home is going to be.” -Head coach Greg Powers on the next steps after the • 0-0-0-1 when tied after two periods arena announcement • 1-1-2-2 in one-goal games RETURN OF WALKER 2020-2021 SCHEDULE • Senior forward JOHNNY WALKER, who entered the 2020-21 season as the active leader in goals scored in Date Opponent Network Time/Result the NCAA, finally returned to the lineup at Minnesota after missing 10-straight games with an injury suffered in Nov. 14 at #12 Michigan BTN+ L, 1-8 game two of the season at Michigan. Nov. 15 at #12 Michigan BTN L, 0-3 • After limited minutes in game one against the Gophers, WALKER returned to the top line and wasted no time Nov. 19 at Michigan State BTN T, 1-1 making his presence felt with a highlight-reel, lacrosse-style goal -- made famous by Mike Legg at Michigan Nov. 20 at Michigan State BTN+ L, 0-2 and Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes -- to put the Sun Devils up 3-2 in the 2nd period. The play Nov. 28 at #14/15 Wisconsin FS-AZ W, 8-5 made for SportsCenter’s top play of the day on Monday. The goal was WALKER’s first of the season, and he Nov. 29 at #14/15 Wisconsin FS-AZ W, 3-1 managed several additional scoring chances on Monday night. Dec. 3 at #13/16 Notre Dame NHL Network W, 6-3 • WALKER now has 97 points in 104 career games played. Dec. 4 at #13/16 Notre Dame NBCSN L, 4-5 Dec. 11 at Penn State BTN+ OTL, 2-3 Dec. 13 at Penn State BTN+ OTL, 4-5 WHERE THEY LEFT OFF Dec. 17 at #18 Ohio State BTN+ T, 4-4 • Including the final game against Notre Dame, five of the last seven games have been hard to swollow for the Dec. 18 at #18 Ohio State BTN+ W, 3-2 Sun Devils, who were one bounce away in each game from being on a potential game-winning streak -- or even Jan.