UA, ASU battle tonight before facing off tomorrow at new Glendale Arena
It had to come down to this in the Icecats' 25th anniversary season: a battle against hated rival Arizona State in the biggest hockey arena in the state.
Winner makes the post-season, loser goes home.
No. 16 Arizona (10-9-2) opens a two-game series at No. 12 ASU (11-11-3) tonight at 8:15 at Oceanside Arena. Tomorrow, the two teams travel north to Glendale Arena, home of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, for the series finale at 1:30 p.m.
The Icecats come into the weekend likely needing a sweep to jump into the top 13 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association poll and qualify for the national tournament.
"They're big," said Icecats coach Leo Golembiewski of this weekend's games. "If you sweep Arizona State, then the rankings people have to take notice."
The UA gets a chance to kill two birds with one stone. A sweep would also likely knock the Sun Devils out of the top 13.
"Every ASU game's hard and you get up for it, especially this one, where if we sweep them they're probably not going to make nationals and we are," said sophomore defenseman Mike Pelletier.
The games have become so important that the normally vocal Golembiewski has been tight-lipped, making sure not to give the Sun Devils any quotes they could use for motivation.
"The ASU games are big, as they always are," Golembiewski said.
While the two schools come in with poorer records than in most years, they have both played well of late. The Icecats have gone 5-3-1 since starting the year 5-6-1, nearly sweeping No. 9 Weber State on the road and splitting with No. 5 Lindenwood.
"We're playing the best hockey we've played all season," Golembiewski said. "And they'll read that and they'll go, ÎOh, well we'll show Leo and the Icecats.' Well, when we get out there, with the way we're playing, they'll be in for a surprise."
ASU is coming off a sweep of Weber State in Tempe. The Sun Devils have not played a road game since visiting the UA in early December.
"It's huge ÷ it might determine our season," said sophomore defender Eric Kowalek. "We've got to sweep them in order to hopefully make nationals."
Arizona has gone 2-1-1 against the Sun Devils this season, all in Tucson.
This week, junior goalie Bryan Aronchick addressed the team on the importance of getting a sweep.
A few Icecats said they were looking forward to playing in the larger arena tomorrow.
"I'm pretty excited. It's always fun to play in an NHL arena, and it's not every day you play in one," Kowalek said.