In a stark contrast to the nailbiter the night before, the speed and offensive accuracy of the 14^th-ranked Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team overwhelmed 17^th-ranked Arizona State University in a 5-0 shutout win Friday night at AZ Ice Arcadia in Phoenix. Coming on the heels of a 3-2 victory Thursday, the Lopes' weekend sweep gave them the season series over the Sun Devils, winning three of the five matchups, and catapulted GCU (14-11 overall, 9-7 WCHL) past ASU (12-13-1 overall, 8-9-1 WCHL) in the Western Collegiate Hockey League standings with four games left in the regular season schedule.

Thursday: GCU 3, ASU 2

The Sun Devils obviously remembered how they played when they swept a pair of one-goal games from the Lopes three weeks ago in Tempe, because ASU controlled the tempo of the game early on. 10 of the game's first 13 shots on goal were done by the Sun Devils, and they took advantage of the Lopes' defense early by taking a 1-0 lead within the first two minutes. The Lopes took a while to get rolling, but a Gavin Uckele power-play goal in the final 90 seconds of the first not only tied the contest, but seemed to rattle GCU's collective cages. ASU's Ryan Quast broke the 1-1 tie six minutes into the second frame, but from there, the Lopes got faster and more effective. Caden Henrikson evened the scoreboard eight minutes later, and Owen Hanson gave GCU its first lead of the weekend 11 seconds before the second intermission.

Little did anyone know that Hanson's score would be the last of the night. Both defenses woke up and stonewalled things for the remainder of the game as the teams' 19 3^rd-period shots went for naught. Even when the Devils cleared their goalie in the final two minutes, the puck never really got close to Lopes' goalie Dmytro Kubrytskyi, whose 29 saves were just enough to hand GCU its third win in its last four games.

Friday: GCU 5, ASU 0

The defensive tone was set going into Friday's finale, but that lasted until around the opening faceoff. The pregame pageantry that honored GCU's five seniors – Jacob Cummings, Kolby Donovan, Braden Husby, Michael Lewis and Cameron Neaylon – became instant motivation as the Lopes ran through the ASU defense to the tune of 11 shots on goal in the first six minutes, including goals by Husby and Triston Tabucol. Cummings' unassisted sweeper while being pulled down just feet from the goal gave the Lopes a 3-0 lead at the end of one period, and by the time Husby found the net for the second time on the night seven minutes into the second period, the Devils were fully aware this wasn't their night.

ASU couldn't find any rhythm throughout the evening, going 0-for-7 in power-play opportunities - including a 5-on-3 in the 3^rd period that yielded little. The final two Lopes' goals of the night (Husby's second score and Jack Dolan's goal with six minutes left in the game) were both on man-advantage situations, and they were two of the Lopes' 52 shots on goal (compared to 21 for ASU). Besides Husby's scores, the seniors were well-represented on the night, thanks to Cummings' goal and assist and a Donovan assist on Tabucol's score.

The Lopes' road to nationals will have to be an earned one, since the top two teams in the WCHL Standings will help GCU end the regular season. GCU heads to Salt Lake City this coming weekend for a two-game set against 2^nd-place (and 10^th-ranked) University of Utah before finishing out the regular season schedule on Friday and Saturday, February 22 and 23 hosting the 2^nd-ranked team in the nation, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Puck drop both nights is scheduled for 7PM, GCU students get in FREE with their student ID, and game tickets are available on the GCU Club Sports website.