It was a successful, but far from flawless road trip as the Clan braved the desert heat to play three out-of-conference games down in Arizona.
The trip started with a hard-fought, nighttime battle in Tucson against the #14 Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats struck first, putting the Clan behind early for the third game in a row. But after the initial blow, the Clan came back and led for the rest of the game. The Wildcats nearly matched the Clan goal for goal, but were always one step behind.
Four Clan players scored multiple points led by Ward Spencer with four (two goals, two assists). Goaltender Darren Zwack stood tall between the pipes, stopping 15 of 22 shots in the Clan’s 8–7 win.
The Clan then made their way to Glendale to take on the #1 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. SFU matched the Devils early but couldn’t stand the searing temperatures as the home team shut the door on the Clan, holding the high-scoring squad to just five goals on the day.
The Sun Devil’s own high-powered offence, led by junior Dan Davis (seven goals) and senior Logan Quinn (two goals, four assists), picked the Clan defence apart, out shooting them 53–32 over 60 minutes, routing the Clan 18-5.
After the thumping from the day before, the Clan came back to Glendale with a vengeance to take on the unranked Illinois Fighting Illini in a neutral site game. From the first whistle it was all Clan, all the time, with leading scorer Kirkby continuing his dominant season with four goals and two assists. Spencer (two goals, three assists) and Sam Clare (two goals, two assists) also had big nights.
The offence kept the Illini goaltender busy, ripping 30 shots on net. Backing up the high-powered offence was a stout Clan defence, a complete 180-degree flip from the day before, holding the Illini to just seven shots on the game, with both Zwack and Jeremy Lasher splitting time in net, allowing only two goals apiece to make the final score 11–4 in favour of the Clan.
With these results the Clan improve their record to 5-0 in the conference and 9-2 on the season, remaining at #10 in the rankings for another week. The Clan tone it down for the rest of the season with just one game a week until playoffs. Their next home game will be on April 5 against 0–8 Portland State on Terry Fox Field.
