Arizona State opens NCHC schedule at Miami-Ohio

Coming off a disappointing sweep at Augustana two weeks ago, the Sun Devils had a much needed bye week last weekend before hitting the road again to open conference play against the 6-0-0 Miami RedHawks.

It took to overtime in both games at Lindenwood, but the RedHawks have been one of the early surprises in all of college hockey this season, doubling their win total from last season here in the early going. Head coach Anthony Noreen, now in his second season, has completely revamped his roster with 11 new forwards and those changes have been paying immediate dividends.

After finishing 63rd of the then-64 programs in Division I hockey with 1.85 goals per game, Miami has exploded with 29 goals in their first 6 games (4.83 goals per game). Miami brings a youth movement to the ice as freshman Kocha Delic leads the charge with 5 goals and 4 assists, joined by fellow freshman Ilia Morozov (4 G-5 A) and junior Matteo Giampa (3 G-6 A) for the team lead with 9 points each. A further five players are averaging at least a point per game for Miami to open the season, headlined by NCHC Forward of the Week Ryan Smith who took home the weekly honors with his first career hat trick on Saturday night at Lindenwood.

Miami's retooling saw changes on defense as well, and the biggest addition so far has been 2021 Florida Panthers draft pick Vladislav Lukashevich coming in from Michigan State. Playing almost like a 4th forward during his shifts, Lukashevich has exceeded his scoring total from the 2024-25 season with 1 G-7 A-8 P so far. His vision on the ice creates incredible opportunities for his teammates, and opponents have only kept him off the scoresheet once this season. Joined by graduate transfers Kyle Aucoin (Harvard) and Owen Lalonde (Queen's University - USports), Miami is well on their way to improving on their second-worst 4.19 goals against per game.

Completing the top-to-bottom revamping is freshman goaltender Matteo Drobac. Spending a year at the University of Western Ontario (USports) after three seasons with the Hamilton/Brantford Bulldogs, Drobac is one of many Canadian Hockey League additions that are helpign to create the new level of parity across college hockey.

Earning NCHC Goaltender of the Week honors with his first career shutout at RPI on October 11th, Drobac has put together a respectable 2.64 goals against average and .913 save percentage while starting all 6 games for Miami. As long as he stays on his hot streak that he's started, don't expect to see a changing of the guard in goal.

The biggest opportunity that the Sun Devils will have to exploit will be on special teams. Miami has allowed opponents to convert on 6 of the 20 power play chances given, ranking 48th of 63 teams. The addition of Jack Beck to the top power play unit hopes to breathe new life into a unit that went just 1-for-10 on power play chances in the series at Augustana.

The Sun Devils and RedHawks will play their two game set from Goggin Ice Center, Friday's puck drop at 4pm Arizona time and Saturday at 3pm. Both games will be streaming only on NCHC.tv (subscription required).