Coming into the Desert Hockey Classic weekend, special teams weren’t areas of concern for the Sun Devils. ASU was tied for the tenth-best penalty kill in the country and ranked 23rd on the power play.
But No. 19 Clarkson (10-6) decided to put ASU’s special teams to the test. The Golden Knights notched three power-play goals and killed off all eight of the Sun Devils’ man-advantage opportunities.
“It’s simple, our guys weren’t ready to play,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said.
The team had a holiday break prior to the tournament but Powers noted it didn’t faze his team when they came back to Arizona to prepare for the challenging tournament.