(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)
“It’s an official changing of the guard, if you will,” Arizona State hockey head coach Greg Powers said. “I’ve had a Norris with me really my entire career as a head coach. I have never not had a Norris so it’s going to be bittersweet for me.”
David Norris is the lone senior who has been with the Sun Devils since its ACHA days. This Saturday marks the final time the forward will suit up for a game at Oceanside Ice Arena.
“What’s special about Oceanside is that it’s the only rink like it in Division-I hockey,” Norris said. “Teams come in here and they have no idea what they’re going to expect when they step in here. It’s a little nostalgic but I think it will be nice to play out here.”
Norris transferred to ASU from American International College after finding out the team was moving into division-I and got to experience the full transition.
“Powers had already pretty much created a culture here where it started to be a d\Division-I team,” Norris said. “Some of the players were a little bit club mentality but a lot of the guys were trying pretty hard to be on the Division-I team next year.”
(Video by Kylee Meter/WCSN)
Norris’s older brother Liam was one of those players who made the jump from club to D-I.
“Playing with my brother, that’s probably my favorite memory is getting to play with him,” Norris said.
“I’m close with the family, I’m really with his older brother who was with me for five years,” Powers said. “We’re going to miss Dave, we’re going to miss his family but they’ll always be a big part of our program and then Gage [Hough] has been a good, positive influence on our guys for a year. It’s tough to make a huge impact when you only have a year to do it.”
Hough transferred to the Sun Devil nation for graduate school from UMass-Lowell and will be finishing his time as a team player Saturday as well.
“His attitude and what he’s brought to our culture off the ice has been really positive and we’re thankful for that.” Powers said.
All season long, Powers has mentioned that Hough brought ‘a sort of peace’ to the locker room.
“I’m really old in terms of a being college hockey player,” Hough said in November. “So I really try to bring my experience and I came from a team that was pretty good in the win column so to come here, I’m trying to bring the knowledge and just kind of who I am. To be a part of that and help this program.”
Hough tries to set an example for the team but at the same time thinks ‘the younger guys got to learn for themselves.’
“The young guys, the upcoming, just this group, hopefully we get a new rink within the couple years and then I think this program can really take off and be successful,” Hough had previously said. “It will be fun to watch.”
“I just want to make sure that I left this place better than how I came in,” said Hough. “I just want to walk out the door and say ‘This is place is a better place than when I came in.’ That’s probably the number one thing on my list.”
