The UA Icecats aim for the win column this weekend with a pair of home games against Lehigh University at the Tucson Convention Center.
The two-game set caps a busy opening week for Arizona. The Icecats dropped a pair Monday and Tuesday to ninth-ranked Arizona State.
UA, ranked No. 16 in the last American Collegiate Hockey Association poll, showed marked improvement in its second game after they were blown out in the opener. Head coach Leo Golembiewski said he wants the team to build on its play from the second night.
After filling in for freshman Jay Punksy Monday night, senior goaltender Bryan Aronchick has stopped more than 40 shots.
The team's line alterations before Tuesday's game now have brothers D.J. and Mike Pelletier on defense together, while enforcer Keith Mitchell holds the blue line for the second rotation.
Golembiewski said he is seeing some players emerge as leaders, including junior right wing Tim Wochok.
Wochok and freshman defenseman Doug Wilson lead the Icecats in points at two each. Wochock registered a goal and an assist against the Sun Devils, Wilson passed for two assists.
Also contributing offensively thus far are centers Mickey Meehan and David Cwik, both of whom have scored a goal.
Golembiewski said a key point of emphasis in UA's coming games is its mentality.
"Hockey is 75 percent psychological," he said. "It's hard to get some of the kids to understand that."
"We had a lot of questions before the season started," he said. "A lot of those questions have been answered."
Arizona hopes to have some of those factors Golembiewski called questionable resolved for tonight's showdown with Lehigh (1-4-1), a team from the ACHA's competitive Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association.
The unranked Mountain Hawks come into Tucson on a three-game losing skid, including two blowout losses last week at No. 3 Rhode Island. They are winless since their season-opening victory against No. 18 Towson.
Lehigh's key players early in the season are sophomore forwards Eric Pittman and Andrew Storer, and freshman forward Tim Donaghue.
Pittman has tallied four points on the season with a goal and three assists. Storer and Donaghue have three points each, and Donaghue has scored two goals.
Arizona has scored only three goals in the young season, but could pad that column of the stat sheet against a Lehigh defense that was given up an average of five goals per game in its first six outings.
Tonight's game gets underway at 7:30. The Icecats and Mountain Hawks resume action Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games are at the TCC.