College Hockey Series Preview: No. 6 Denver vs. No. 12 Arizona State

There are only four weekends of regular season college hockey left and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has saved one of its best series for the end of the season.

No. 6 Denver heads down to Tempe to face No. 12 Arizona State where both games between these two this weekend could reshape the national rankings and conference standings.

Despite their superior ranking to the Sun Devils, the Pioneers sit in fifth place in the NCHC thanks in part to Arizona State sweeping them in their previous series earlier in the season.

The Sun Devils sit at the top of the conference standings with an 11-5 record in the NCHC as Denver is 8-5-1.

With two wins the Pioneers would vault themselves back towards first place but two losses could just about seal their regular season championship hopes shut.

Taking two games against ASU is like trying to win the lottery though.

It is hard to do.

Arizona State has not lost a series since losing both games at Providence in late October and have won eight of their last 10 games since the calendar turned to 2025.

That includes a sweep of last place conference team Miami (OH) where they would outscore the RedHawks 11-2 during the road trip.

For Denver, they started the season off hot as they went on a 12 game winning streak which came to an end when the Sun Devils came to town.

That was the catalyst for their recent struggles in which the Pioneers have split every series since that point aside from a sweep of those previously mentioned RedHawks.

They will have to limit the Sun Devils' scoring opportunities if they want to break the streak as ASU is fourth in the country in goals per game as they average 3.65.

Ryan Kirwan will be the man that Denver will have to keep an eye on as his 18 goals lead Arizona State and put him sixth in the country.

But Kirwan was not too much a factor in the first series. He did not have a goal or assist in either game.

The man who hurt Denver the most in the series was Artem Shlaine who had four goals across the two games they played.

Those two and the rest of the Sun Devils look to find their way past Pioneer goaltender Matt Davis has been tough to score on this season as he has a 1.97 goals against average this year.

He did however surrender seven goals in their series with Arizona State.

Despite that, Denver has one of the best offenses and defenses in college hockey this season.

The Pioneers are averaging four goals a game and only giving up two which is second and sixth best in the nation respectively.

Sam Harris, Aidan Thompson and Carter King all have reached double digits in goals scored for the Pioneers and there are six players who have topped 20 points for the team this season.

They will certainly be a challenge for Arizona State’s defense to shut down but they were able to earlier in the season. We will see if they can do it two more times this weekend.

Puck drop from Tempe is at 9 p.m.

Chase Fisher is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ctf5198@psu.edu.