Arizona State hockey returns to action hosting NCHC foe Colorado College

Coming off a road split at the surprising Miami RedHawks last weekend, Arizona State returns to the friendly confines of Mullett Arena for a weekend series with the No. 20 ranked Tigers of Colorado College.

The Tigers are one of the few NCHC teams that Arizona State has a winning record against all-time, posting a 7-5-2 record in 14 meetings all time, including a 5-1-0 record in Tempe where the Devils have outscored the Tigers 27-12. Colorado College won the season series last year, winning three of the four matchups including the series finale from Mullett that saw the Tigers score all 5 of their goals in the 3rd period on the way to a 5-4 comeback win.

Picked to finish 5th in the NCHC preseason media poll, Colorado College started their season with a home split against preseason-No. 10 ranked Connecticut and reeled off a four game win streak against Bentley, Air Force, and Northern Michigan. Last weekend saw the Tigers get swept at home to open conference play against the Omaha Mavericks.

Offensively, Klavs Veinbergs (6 G-3 A) and Owen Beckner (5 G-4 A) lead the charge with 9 points each, with Bret Link (4 G-3 A-7 P) and Gavin Lindberg (2 G-4 A-6 P) displaying solid offensive performances in the season's early going. In total, eight different Tigers have scored at least 4 points in the team's 8 games to start the season.

Defensively, the Tigers took a big hit when co-captain and top defenseman Max Burkholder went down with a lower body injury against Bentley, and is expected to be out until the second half of the season. Freshman Colton Roberts (San Jose Sharks, 5th round 2024) has jumped out offensively with a scoring line of 1 G-5 A-6 P, with Seth Constance, Matteo Mann (Philadelphia Flyers, 7th round 2023) and Fisher Scott (Detroit Red Wings, 7th round 2024) contributing to a team that has given up just 2.75 goals per game.

Senior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko decided to return for his senior season and was named co-captain alongside Max Burkholder, a rarity for hockey goalies. The undrafted 22 year old is on the verge of climbing into the top 5 of games played by a Colorado College goaltender after appearing in his 100th career game against Connecticut on October 4th.

This weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for forward Ryan Alexander. Ryan played at Mullett for three seasons but injuries impacted his playing time after a great freshman season that saw him register 11 G-6 A-17 P in 2022-23. In 93 career games in the maroon and gold he contributed 17 G-18 A-35 P before transferring to Colorado College over the offseason.

On paper, the Tigers have the advantage in scoring offense and defense, ranking 22nd in the nation in both categories at 3.38 goals per game and 2.75 goals against per game. Arizona State holds a slight advantage in shot percentage, but the special teams will tell the story of the weekend. Colorado College has converted just 12.5% of their power play chances (51st) to open the season, while killing off only 75% of their penalties taken (48th).

Outside of an incredible 5-for-9 performance on the power play against Alaska in the Ice Breaker, the Sun Devils have gone 5-for-40 in their remaining 7 games for a 20.4% conversion rate. Arizona State has also allowed the second-most shorthanded goals against (4), compounding the ineffectiveness of the power play. If the Sun Devils can create offensive chances with the man advantage, they can overwhelm Mbereko and force him to make mistakes in the crease.

Freshman Samuel Urban will be making his third start of the season in net for the Sun Devils, his first since October 18th when he gave up 4 goals in the 5-2 weekend finale at Augustana.

Don't miss any of the action this weekend from Mullett Arena. Tickets are still available for both Friday and Saturday night. If you can't make it to the arena, Friday's game will be broadcast locally on Fox 10, and streaming nationally on NCHC.tv. Saturday will be streaming only on NCHC.tv. Tyler Paley and Alex Coil will have the call on the radio for Fox Sports 910 Phoenix.

Arizona State enters tonight as 1.5-goal favorites according to DraftKings Sportsbook. The Sun Devils are -180 on the moneyline, while the Tigers are +140. The over/under on total goals is 6.5.