So much for shaking off the holiday rust.

After giving up fast starts to Arizona State University both nights, the Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team came storming from behind in both halves of thetwo-game series to sweep the Sun Devils, 4-3 Friday night and 6-3 Saturday at AZ Ice Arcadia. The Lopes have now won six straight over their archrivals and upped their overall record to 9-12 (3-9 in Western Collegiate Hockey League play).

Friday: GCU 4, ASU 3

Fans settled into their AZ Ice Arcadia seats curious as to which of the two teams would overcome their idle time first, since neither squad had stepped on the ice since early December. The Sun Devils took all of 50 seconds to answer that question - thanks to Ryan Robinson's goal less than a minute into the game. It took one of the Lopes' spring newcomers to get GCU's offense awakened, and once Ukrainian import Mikhail Simchuk got rolling, the Sun Devils found few ways to stop him. Ryan Quast doubled the ASU lead midway through the 1^st period, but Simchuk got the Lopes on the board just 29 seconds later on a GCU power play. The Sun Devils scored an insurance goal eight minutes into the 2^nd period – only to have Simchuk cut the deficit again 41 seconds later. Finally, the Lopes' defense took over, shutting out the Sun Devils over the final 31 minutes of play, allowing Simchuk to tie things 17 seconds into the 3^rd period for a "hat trick" in his first game as a Lope, then he assisted on the game-winner from Gavin Uckele on a power-play goal midway through the final frame. Hunter Schmitz had assists on all of GCU's last three goals, and Lopes' goalie Jacob DeMoranville stopped all of ASU's 10 3^rd-period shots on goal en route to a 24-save night.

Friday: GCU 6, ASU 3

The déjà vu was eerie for the Sun Devils, since GCU's wake-up call happened at nearly the exact same time as Friday night. ASU's Trevor Kennedy's 2^nd goal of the night came just over eight minutes into the 2^nd period to give the seemingly re-energized Sun Devils a 3-1 edge. Re-enter Simchuk, who took a nice pass from Braden Husby to bring the Lopes back within a goal three minutes later. The Devils' lead disappeared for good a minute later as Husby found the net on assists from Ben Oakland and Ricards Landmanis. Suddenly, it was GCU using their newfound momentum for a 4-3 lead after two periods on Schmitz's first goal of the weekend with 2:26 left. Once again, the Sun Devils threatened but came up empty in the 3^rd period on 12 shots on goal. That allowed Ethan Peterson to give the Lopes an insurance goal midway through the frame, and Husby to not only clinch the win but notch his first 'hat trick' of the season with a goal with under three minutes remaining. Husby's four points on the night led the way, but Landmanis and fellow defender Shawn Spring provided two assists apiece. The other half of the Lopes' new Ukrainian connection – goalie Dmytro Kubrytskyi – posted the win in his Lopes' debut with 33 saves.

"The message was simple (coming into the series)," said Lopes' Head Coach Danny Roy. "We didn't want to use the fact that we were coming out of our break as an excuse, since ASU had the same problem. We wanted to focus more on the tempo we started building on in both games – particularly making ASU work hard in the offensive zone and keeping our special teams producing and scoring for us."

The Lopes now have a chance to increase that series winning streak to eight as the two teams change venues this coming weekend, facing off in Tempe Friday and Saturday, January 12 and 13. The Lopes' next home series happens January 26 and 27, when they take a breather from WCHL play to host the University of Oregon, who they swept in Eugene in the fall. Puck drop that Friday night is scheduled for 7PM at AZ Ice Arcadia.