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ASU Hockey Hosts The 2016 Desert Hockey Classic

By Ethan Schmidt

Oct 15, 2016; Boulder, CO, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky during the fourth quarter against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field. The Buffaloes defeated theSun Devils 40-16. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Boulder, CO, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky during the fourth quarter against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field. The Buffaloes defeated theSun Devils 40-16. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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The second annual Desert Hockey Classic is going down this weekend in Prescott Valley, Arizona. The Arizona State Men’s Ice Hockey team will host St. Cloud State, University of Connecticut and Brown University in a four-team tournament on Friday and Saturday.

The tournament begins on Friday when the No. 18 St. Cloud State Huskies face off against the UCONN Huskies at 4 p.m. MST. Following the first game, the Sun Devils take on the Brown University Bears at 7 p.m. MST.

The winners of each game will play each other on Saturday for the tournament championship. Losers from the first games play for consolation also play on Saturday. Arizona State holds the primetime 7 p.m. MST game slot both Friday and Saturday.

The 2016 Desert Hockey Classic begins with the battle of the Huskies as St. Cloud State takes on Uconn. The St. Cloud State Huskies arrive as the No. 18-ranked team in the nation and have a record of 8-7-1. The Uconn Huskies come to the desert with a 6-6-6 overall record.

Both teams have had a tough season, playing against several ranked opponents. Friday’s match-up will be the first ever meeting between the teams in program history.

St. Cloud State is coming off a series split with then-ranked No. 20 Omaha back on Dec. 9th and 10th. The win was just their fourth against a ranked opponent all season.

The SCSU Huskies ranked 14th in the nation in team offense, scoring 3.38 goals per game. Their Power Play also ranks top-20 capitalizing on more than 20 percent of man-advantage chances.

Sophomore forward Mikey Eyssimont leads the team with 14 points (8 G, 6 A). Junior forward Judd Peterson has a team-high nine goals for the Huskies this season.

St. Cloud State will not have their head coach, Bob Motzko, for the tournament as he has been named the coach of the 2017 U.S. National Junior Team. Team USA is taking part in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship between Dec. 26, 2016 and Jan. 5, 2017. Husky freshman defenseman Jack Ahcan will also be gone representing Team USA.

The University of Connecticut will be returning for the 2016 Desert Hockey Classic. The Huskies finished third in the tournament back in 2015.

Uconn rolls into the southwest having won their last game, 3-1, over UMass back on Dec. 9th. Connecticut is averaging 2.83 goals per game this season.

The Huskies will also be missing some of their players due to the IIHF World Junior Championships. Sophomore forward and team-leading scorer, Tage Thompson, is representing the USA and starting freshman goaltender Adam Huska is playing for Team Slovakia.

Uconn will have to rely on senior netminder Rob Nichols for the tournament. He has two shutouts in just eight games played.

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After the first game, the 2016 Desert Hockey Classic continues with ASU (7-13-0) welcoming in the Brown Bears (3-9-0). This will be the first ever meeting between the two teams.

The Brown University Bears come into the tournament off a 6-3 win against RPI back on Dec. 10th. It was just their third win of the season, however the Eastern Athletic Conference did not begin regular season play until early November.

Brown is averaging just 2.17 goals per game. The Bears really struggle on special teams just scoring over 11 percent of their Power Play chances and are third to last in the NCAA on the penalty kill.

Bear junior forward Sam Lafferty leads the team in points with 14 points (3 G, 11 A).

The Arizona State Sun Devils host the 2016 Desert Hockey winning their last four-out-of-five games. ASU is riding a three-game winning streak after sweeping a Massachusetts road trip against American International and UMass. Arizona State is averaging 2.55 goals per game and around 25 shots per game.

Graduate transfer Robbie Baillargeon is the Sun Devils leading scorer through 20 games played. He has 15 points (8 G, 7 A). Redshirt junior forward Wade Murphy and redshirt sophomore Louie Rowe are on five-game point streaks. Murphy has 12 points and Rowe has 11 points on the season.

Senior goaltender Robert Levin has won the last two games for the Sun Devils. Expect him to see some playing time in the 2016 Desert Hockey Classic.

Next: ASU Hockey: Colgate Series Wrap-Up and Notes

The 2016 Desert Hockey Classic tournament will be entertaining with 18 NHL draft picks between the four teams participating. Each game can be streamed live on HockeyTV.com for a fee and stats can be seen here.