After coming away with the win in their season opener, the
Wildcats will hit the ice against in-state rival ASU.
Arizona is coming off a well-fought match against GCU that
was dominated by penalties and action after the whistle. The Wildcats were
successful when they weren’t afraid to use their bodies to push GCU around.
Mid-way into the second period against GCU, starting goaltender Austin Wilson was pulled and replaced by freshman Anthony Ciurro. Wilson did not appear to be injured as he remained on the bench for the remainder of the game. With more experience under his belt, Wilson is the likely choice for starter Saturday night.
On the offensive side of the game, Arizona will be looking towards some of their recruits to step up. One recruit to keep an eye on is Max Meyer.
In the game against GCU, freshman Meyer tallied his first goal as a Wildcat. He spent two years in junior hockey with the Yellowstone Quake and feels that his time there has really helped him develop as a player.”There’s gonna be a little bit of rust in the first game but we [line mates and Meyer] clicked pretty well for the first game. We got some good chemistry out there so we’re just going to build off of this and hopefully keep it rolling,” Meyer said.
The Wildcats will skate onto the ice once again Saturday, Sept. 30 taking on ASU. Arizona State is 3-2 on the season after match-ups against
GCU, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Northern Alberta Insitute of
Technology.
Through five games Arizona State’s leading scorer is Jake
Savona with 8 points (5,3). Savona played on the Division II team at ASU for
the 2015-16 season and had 54 points (23,31) in 28 games.
ASU peppered NAIT with shots on goal with 43 shots through
60 in their last game and will try and dominate the game against Arizona in the
same way. The Sun Devils will be looking to start the game off quickly and
with a bite to get Arizona off their game.
Regardless of whether Arizona lets ASU frustrate them or
not, whoever is in net will be a major key to the game and they will have to
perform at a high level in order for the Wildcats to come out with another win.
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center
and will be the last home game there until Thursday, Oct. 26.
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