(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)
With Joey Daccord’s departure to the Ottawa Senators organization, Arizona State head coach Greg Powers and his staff have big shoes to fill at the starting goaltender position.
The Sun Devils are prepared to tackle the challenge with three goalies, all of whom will compete for the starting job on a weekly basis with the potential to start one week and watch on from the bench in another. ASU’s weekly options are graduate transfer Max Prawdzik, sophomore Evan DeBrouwer and freshman Justin Robbins.
“When I talked to coach Powers about coming here, I said I want a fair opportunity,” Prawdzik said. “There’s nothing determining who gets in the net other than how everybody plays, and that’s literally all you can ask for.”
Veteran NHL goaltender Eddie Lack is in the desert to help make Powers’ weekly decision a little easier.
Following the Sun Devils’ trip to Beijing in early August, Lack announced his intentions on Twitter to join ASU’s staff as a volunteer goaltending coach.
“[Lack] has been awesome, jumped in with both feet. He’s one of us and it felt like that on day one,” Powers said. “Because of his experience of where he played, he brings way more to the table than just helping our goalies… He understands what it takes. He’s going to make a huge overall impact on our program.”
Within days of walking through the doors of Oceanside Ice Arena, Lack’s impact brought forth beneficial development to the Sun Devil goaltenders competing for the starting job.
The trio have worked relentlessly at practice to compete for the nod on opening night. Over the last few weeks, Lack’s coaching advice has given each of the goaltenders the extra motivation to earn the assignment.
Prawdzik appears to be the front-runner of the competition, but the native of Andover, Massachusetts enjoys the open battle.
“I try not to push too much pressure on myself and view every day as a chance to compete. In the past, maybe it wasn’t as much of a competition because other guys were set in stone,” the graduate transfer said. “Now, it’s just so refreshing to be in an honest competition. If I’m the best goalie out there on Monday, it matters …My work is going to pay off. It’s nice to be able to enjoy the process.”
Before transferring to ASU, Prawdzik appeared in three games for the Boston University Terriers. He served as the backup to 2017 first-round draft pick Jake Oettinger, posting a 2.59 GAA and .889 save percentage in the brief stint.
However, during ASU’s trip to Beijing, the 6-foot-3 netminder earned the bulk of the work as the Sun Devils clinched the inaugural Renaissance Cup.
In the championship finale, Prawdzik saved his best performance for last, stopping 33 of 34 shots on goal to maintain a 1.96 goals against average .934 save percentage in three games.
With the short time of practicing as a team, Lack likes what he has seen in Prawdzik’s competitiveness in the crease.
“He’s always trying to get better,” Lack said. “I see a little bit of myself in him. I really like his compete level.”
During the off-season, Prawdzik had his mind set on what skill sets he needed to improve on, and Lack has been there to enhance that development with his current knowledge of the game.
“Eddie has done a good job of listening to what I was working on over the summer and continuing to develop that,” Prawdzik said. “It’s always been him trying to understand me, and then use his knowledge of the game to improve upon what I’ve already been working on. I think Eddie has really helped me stay quiet in the net.”
Although all three goalies followed unique paths to the desert, DeBrouwer is the only returning netminder from the Sun Devils last season when he served as the backup to Daccord and made his only appearance in the 6-1 loss to Cornell.
This season, DeBrouwer will compete to make his first collegiate start, he’s doing so while soaking up as much as he can from Lack’s instruction.
“[Lack] is just a well of knowledge,” the sophomore goaltender said. “He has so much experience and he’s played at the highest level. It’s been pretty amazing to pick his brain as much as I can to try and learn from him. I think I’ve calmed down in the net. Eddie has talked to me about playing deeper and more relaxed and just letting the game come to me.”
The 31-year-old coach noticed the change.
“He’s super calm in net,” Lack said. “That’s what I feel is going to translate to the rest of the team, too. He doesn’t get rattled; he tracks the puck well.”
In the 2017-2018 season, DeBrouwer, who started in goal for the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings, was named team MVP after sporting a 26-14-0-4 record, 2.24 goals against average and .920 save percentage during the regular season.
Rounding out the goaltending battle, Robbins is one of seven freshmen to join Powers’ squad for the upcoming season.
The 20-year-old carried the USHL’s Chicago Steel to the 2019 Clark Cup Championship with a 25-14-2 record, a 3.22 GAA and a .874 save percentage in 44 appearances during the regular season.
Despite his 5-foot-9, 172-pound figure, Robbins’ nimble style of goaltending stands out from the rest in Lack’s perspective.
“Super good lateral plays and tracking the puck. That’s for sure his strength,” Lack said.
But, with his smaller frame, Lack has emphasized the need for Robbins to pay close attention to the refined details of defending the crease.
“We’ve gotten deeper here, spending more one-on-one with him,” Robbins said. “Definitely pushes and really focuses on some of the little details that can really help us.”
While the three-man race may put pressure on the three goalies, Lack keeps things light at practice with a contagious sense of humor and constant words of encouragement.
“It’s funny how he really cheers you on in the net,” Prawdzik said. “When you make a save, you can hear him say, ‘Yes, yes, battle, battle!’ It’s just fun hearing him yell and cheer because he loves hockey… It’s like he’s still playing. We’re so lucky to have him.”
However, practice is not all fun and games and Lack understands that his happy-go-lucky personality presents a unique style of coaching to the team.
“There’s time for it, and there’s not time for it,” Lack said. “That’s what I’ve learned these past ten years… Not everyone will appreciate that loosey-goosey feeling or the happy guy in the locker room.”
Nevertheless, Lack’s role is to guide the goaltenders as they strive to earn the call on game day, a battle that will truly start to take shape when ASU hosts Mercyhurst University on October 5.
With Lack, Powers and the coaching staff there to teach and guide, it will be up to the three goalies and their success to determine which path ASU travels down each week of the season in pursuit of climbing the mountain toward consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
“The Joey Daccord era is done,” Powers said. “What we’re telling our goalies is to be you, don’t be Joey. Be yourself. You’re not here because we thought that you could be like Joey, you’re here because we liked what we saw in you.”
