The Icers were outshot, 44-26, last Friday, allowing three breakaway goals in the contest. They got things straightened out for Saturday, Icers coach Joe Battista said. In the winning effort, the Icers limited St. Clair to 24 shots.
This week's focus in practice centered on some one-on-one defensive work, emphasis on back checking, defensive-zone coverage and faceoff coverage in the defensive zone, Battista said.
"To me, it's a matter of making it a priority," Battista said. "The guys wanting to make defense a priority."
With a defensive mindset, the Icers will look to shut down their opponents, but to consistently put points on the board they will need to capitalize on scoring chances, especially on the power play.
"One thing we've always had is a good power play," senior captain Brett Wilson said. "Right now we have an average power play, and, for us, we're struggling right now.
"When you're struggling like that you just want to get back to basics and just throw the puck on net and outnumber them."
Battista has noticed that his players are sometimes looking for too many pretty passes instead of putting the puck on goal. It's just like a sign posted outside the Icers' locker room quoting The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, which reads "100 percent of shots not taken do not go in."
"What's hard about practicing the power play is our penalty kill unit knows exactly what we're trying to do," Battista said. "Our power play can sometimes get frustrated. But as I've said to them, if we can do well against our penalty kill that knows what we're trying to do, imagine what it will be like when you're playing a team that's not familiar with what we're trying to run."
Capitalizing on man-advantage opportunities and sound defense will be key against the Sun Devils who will have something to prove when entering the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
"They don't have the flashy guys and the guys that will come out and dangle you, they're just going to have three, four lines that just go hard and play a good system," Wilson said. "We just have to make sure we don't take them lightly. Anyone can come in here and beat us on any given day."
Arizona State has been a building program that Wilson categorized as part of a large middle class in the ACHA that with hard work could knock off any top team, he said. Last season the Sun Devils earned a berth in the ACHA tournament and will be looking to build on that success against the Icers and their tradition of dominance in the league.
"[They are] a program that's on the rise, and I know that they're going to be hungry to make sure to come out of here with a win," Battista said. "They know that a win against us in our building goes a long way."
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