Thursday, October 26, 2023

Men’s Notes: Sun Devils Running Hot

Arizona State off to unprecedented start

Eight NCAA Division I men’s hockey teams remain undefeated entering this week’s schedule. One of those eight is Arizona State, which is off to the first 4-0-0 start in program history.

The Sun Devils have opened the season with home sweeps over Merrimack and Northern Michigan, putting together a plus-8 goal differential while yielding just 1.3 goals against per game. The latter leads all teams that have played at least four games so far.

ASU’s quick start propelled the Sun Devils five spots to No. 13 in the latest USCHO.com national poll. They’ll face their first road test of the season when they travel to Oxford, Ohio, this weekend to face future NCHC rival Miami (3-1-0).

The series with the RedHawks marks the first two of just 10 road games for ASU this season, compared to 26 home games on the season slate.

“We have to win on the road,” ASU head coach Greg Powers (Arizona State ’99) recently told the school’s website. “These are huge games. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to go and win on the road this year, so we have to make the most of them.

“It’s a much-improved Miami team, they’re 3-1. We’ve never played them. They’re a future conference opponent, and we’re excited to go play them.”

Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

NHL Central Scouting Watch List:

More than 100 current and committed college hockey players were on NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch list for the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, which was released on Wednesday.

Seventeen of the 119 players with NCAA connections received either an A or B rating. Players with an A rating, such as Boston University freshman F Macklin Celebrini (Vancouver, British Columbia), are considered potential first-round picks. Players with B ratings are considered possible second- or third-round selections.

Latsch for Cy Young?:

The pattern is rather fascinating for those fascinated by such things:

11-4
12-4
11-0
7-1

The career scoring patterns of Northern Michigan’s Tanner Latsch (Fr., Muskegon, Mich.) can make one wonder if they’re looking at the back of an all-star pitcher’s baseball card. His goal-scoring proclivity has resulted in some unusual stat lines: 11 goals and four assists with the U.S. NTDP in 2019-20; 12 goals and four assists with Des Moines (USHL) in 2020-21, then 11 goals and no assists with the Buccaneers the following season.

Latsch, who redshirted at NMU in 2022-23, has continued that quirky trend as a collegiate freshman, striking seven times – most in the nation – and adding one assist through his first four games.

Quickdraw Cosentino:

Air Force junior F Clayton Cosentino (Colorado Springs, Colo.) entered the week leading the nation with 98 faceoff wins, 13 more than his next closest competition, Wisconsin’s David Silye (Gr., Arnprior, Ontario). Cosentino has won a stellar 64.5 percent of his draws while ranking fourth on the team in scoring with five points in six games.

Fit to Print:

“It was so loud in there. It’s definitely something I’ll remember forever.”

— North Dakota graduate F Carson Albrecht (Martensville, Saskatchewan) following the Fighting Hawks’ series split with visiting Minnesota. The two games totaled 23,252 fans in attendance at Ralph Engelstad Arena. (source: Grand Forks Herald)

NHL Note of the Week:

Minnesota Duluth alum Hunter Shepard (2016-20) made his NHL debut with Washington on Wednesday night, becoming the 10th member of the Bulldogs’ 2019 national championship team to play in the NHL. Only one of those players (Riley Tufte) was a first-round draft pick.

Shepard led UMD to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019 and was a two-time All-American.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

In-state rivals Colorado College and Air Force will square off Friday in the annual Battle for the Pikes Peak Trophy at Cadet Ice Arena … Unranked New Hampshire (2-1-0) has posted wins over then-No. 1 Boston University and then-No. 4 Quinnipiac on consecutive weekends. The Wildcats host No. 17/18 Northeastern tonight … Arizona State senior F Matthew Kopperud (Denver, Colo.) set a school record Saturday with the 26th power-play goal of his career. Kopperud has three goals in four games this season and all three have been game winners … Wisconsin (5-1-0) is off to its best start since 2004-05. The Badgers’ three road wins already match their total from all of last season … Penn State had a 21-game non-conference winning streak snapped Saturday in a 6-4 loss to AIC … First-year Bentley head coach Andy Jones (Amherst College ’00) picked up his first career win in Friday’s 2-0 victory over Stonehill … Union sophomore G Kyle Chauvette (Goffstown, N.H.) made a school-record 62 saves Saturday in a loss to UConn. He was coming off a career-high 36 stops one night earlier in a 4-1 win … Minnesota fifth-year G Justen Close (Kindersley, Saskatchewan) earned his 11th career shutout Friday at North Dakota, leaving him two away from tying the school record shared by Kellen Briggs and Adam Wilcox.

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 92% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!