Penn State hockey looks to build off 1st win in weekend series vs. Arizona State

Twenty-eight days into a road trip that has almost another full week remaining, the Arizona State men’s hockey team has been able to avoid the distractions and inconveniences and focus, mostly, on playing well.

Coach Greg Powers will have his barnstorming group visit Pegula Ice Arena Friday night for a two-game series, stretched over three days.

After an 0-3-1 start to the trip, the Sun Devils swept Wisconsin and split with Notre Dame the past two series. They’ll play every game on the road this season, enabling them to build a full schedule and helping Big Ten Conference opponents complete their slates as well.

Powers, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday in State College (the team has been in town since Sunday), said the Sun Devils are confident about this weekend’s series — and the unusual schedule overall. Their expectations were to succeed no matter what.

“We didn’t put a win-total goal or anything like that on it. We genuinely believe we have a team that can beat anyone in this conference,” Powers said. “If we prepare the right way and we’re detailed, we believe we can beat everybody. Our guys feel it. They expect to win.”

Penn State gained some confidence recently, too. After an 0-5 start, the Nittany Lions scored their first victory of the season with a dominant 9-5 victory against fifth-ranked Michigan last week.

Coach Guy Gadowsky said the victory helped with the team’s “jump” and tempo during recent practices. Still, for Penn State to build on that so-far singular success and add another W, it must find some consistent intensity.

While offensive aggression seems to define Penn State’s approach, it’s really about much more than shots on goal. When the Nittany Lions play well there’s good bit of grittiness to their game.

Gadowsky appreciates the challenges the ongoing road trip has provided for ASU, acknowledging the other option was not having a season at all.

“It’s the lesser of two evils and certainly a very unique situation,” Gadowsky said.

Arizona State has games scheduled Dec. 17-18 at Ohio State before finally heading home.

Penn State ends the first portion of its schedule with this weekend’s series, and the Big Ten has not released the schedule for the second half of the season, which is likely to resume in mid-January.

Penn State (1-5) vs. No. 20 Arizona State (3-4-1)

Series: 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Radio/TV: 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com

Notable: Penn State fell out of the national rankings this week, the first time in 67 weeks of polling dating to the 2017-18 season. … Penn State has a 5-1 record against Arizona State, including 3-1 at Pegula Ice Arena. … Freshman forward Matthew Kopperud leads ASU with 11 points, six goals and five assists.

This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 3:28 PM.