Think again as it’s the home of a nationally ranked college hockey team.

That would be the Arizona State Sun Devils, which Northern Michigan University will be visiting this weekend in the second of back-to-back nonconference road series against nationally ranked teams.

After opening the season by tying and losing a pair of high-scoring games at No. 17 Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, the Wildcats now go to Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, to face an ASU team ranked No. 18 in the USCHO.com poll and No. 19 in the USA Hockey rankings.

That’s because the Sun Devils opened their campaign by sweeping a nationally ranked team, No. 15/13 Merrimack, 1-0 in overtime and 4-2 at their arena last weekend. It’s Arizona State’s first national ranking since December 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic year when the Devils played all road games against Big 10 opponents.

Northern Michigan University’s Josh Zinger works with the puck near the blue line during a game last season at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. He earned a CCHA weekly award on Monday for his performance at Minnesota-Duluth last weekend. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Northern itself is receiving votes in the both national polls, ranked 26th and a tie for 26th just outside their top-20 listings.

Both Friday’s and Saturday’s games face off at 9 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Fans can also follow the Wildcats @NMUHockey on X (formerly Twitter) to get updates throughout at all times. In addition, visiting the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and going to the hockey team’s schedule reveals links for live statistics, live video, live audio and game notes.

NMU has only played the relatively new ASU program once, losing 7-3 on Jan. 5, 2018, at the Ice Vegas Invitational tournament in Las Vegas. The Sun Devils’ program, at least as an NCAA Division I program, began in the 2015-16 season.

Northern head coach Grant Potulny, whose tenure dates back almost as far to the 2017-18 season in Marquette, said his team needs to be prepared for a battle this weekend.

“The thing I told (the guys) yesterday is this is a business trip, not a vacation,” he said in an NMU Sports Information release previewing the series. “That being said, there is a lot of excitement about this trip.”

There already should be plenty of excitement despite the Wildcats not winning last weekend, forging a 5-5 overtime tie in the opener and losing 8-5 in the finale on Saturday at Duluth.

If for no other reason than redshirt freshman Tanner Latsch earning not one, but two CCHA weekly awards after he began his college playing career by scoring five goals and registering an assist, including what was initially termed a natural hat trick but was interrupted by a Duluth goal on Friday night.

Latsch was named both CCHA Forward of the Week and CCHA Rookie of the Week for a performance that has him leading the nation both in overall goals and also his four power play goals. In addition, his six points ranks fifth nationally.

He was the second Wildcat to ever record a hat trick in his debut, following Jeff Pyle’s feat performed way back on Oct. 27, 1978.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Wildcats made it a hat trick of league awards when sophomore Josh Zinger, a Preseason All-CCHA Team pick, was named CCHA Defenseman of the Week after he notched four assists during the series.

His four points ranks him in a tie for ninth nationally among defenseman with only one of those players not having played more games than NMU.

Team captain Andre Ghantous, also a Preseason All-CCHA Teamer, got in on the scoring, too, joining Latsch with six points with his breakdown being two goals and four assists. He’s part of the fifth-place tie nationally in points along with Latsch, while his four assists are tied for third.

In his career 25 games played in October, Ghantous has six goals and 20 assists for 26 points, second in assists and points in this month among active skaters. He also leads all active skaters in the country in career goals with 46, assists with 84 and points with 130.

Other Wildcats who registered points in both games, thus carrying two-game point streaks, are Kristof Papp with a goal and two assists and Artem Shlaine and Rylan Van Unen each with two assists.

NMU’s Michael Van Unen concentrated on defense, apparently, as his nine blocked shots is the most nationally among players with just two games played and five behind the national leader.

Team-wise, Northern’s five goals per game is tied for fifth in the country, its six power play goals are third, power play percentage of 33.3% is tied for sixth and its 54.9% on faceoffs is 11th.

For ASU, their seniors led the way vs. Merrimack as Brian Chambers had three assists, Matthew Kopperud two goals and an assist, Lukas Sillinger a goal and an assist, and Tim Lovell two assists.

Sophomore goalie TJ Semptimphelter had a 0.98 goals against average and .968 saves percentage with a shutout and 61 saves over both games.

ASU struggled on its power play, scoring at just 14.3% on 2 of 14, which might bode well for an NMU penalty killing unit that gave up a slew of man-advantage goals last weekend.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.