ASU Men’s Hockey: Sun Devils’ practice and preparation paving success on and off the ice

(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)

Each Arizona State hockey practice is organized with the game’s critical components in mind. Passing the puck up and down the ice, skating across the entire length of the rink, aiming with accuracy, and many more.

But while there is a long list of skills and strategies to sharpen and execute, the most important aspect of hockey is the preparation and dedication to the full 60-minute effort skaters embrace each night they take the ice.

The Sun Devils use that crucial element as the driving force of an engine that has propelled the program to new heights this season and helped it achieve the goal it set out to accomplish: being the tradition.

As the only independent school at the NCAA Division-I level this season, the Sun Devils’ success story is one-of-a-kind, and a tale that fans and future recruits will remember for years to come.

In just its third full Div. I campaign, the narrative of ASU’s hockey program has unfolded into a surprising success with a mountain of milestones: a first appearance in the national polls, the country’s leading goal scorer, a top-notch goaltender, and a roster loaded with highly skilled talent.

But the awards and achievements that have made ASU a new destination on the college hockey map didn’t happen overnight.

As much as anything, it has been the team’s training, practicing, and preparation this season that has helped it take a big jump and led to this record-breaking year.

While the Sun Devils focus on perfecting passing techniques, power play entrances, and penalty-killing strategies, among other things in practice, the coaches and athletic trainers have laid down a plan to keep the players’ health and mental mindset in full stride over the course of the season.

At the helm, coach Greg Powers made a key change to the dynamics of practices this season – shorter, but with greater intensity.

“We’ve shortened practices a lot this year. We’ve kept practices, for the most part, between thirty minutes on the low end to under an hour on the high end,” Powers said. “They know what they’re going to do before they take the ice, so we can get out there and keep a really, really high pace. That’s the biggest thing…Keeping the pace at a very high level and I think we’ve done that much better this season.”

For the majority of this year’s morning skates, the Sun Devils follow a similar schedule that has found a fluid rhythm.

With the exception of five bye weeks this season, the team practices three times a week at Oceanside Ice Arena. The assistant coaches and athletic trainers regularly conduct drills to improve the strength, speed and stamina during their intense hour-long workout sessions. Associate coach Mike Field, a former assistant coach and director of scouting for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL, carries a primary role of leading the skaters throughout each practice routine and technique.

“We have a staple of drills that teach and reinforce the habits we want with guys,” Field said. “Basically, it will be the same drills all year, but not necessarily the same practice concepts each week.

“We’ll make adjustments based on how the other teams play, whether it’s good or bad. If there is something an opponent does really well, there are drills we can implement that will design the team to be prepared for anything.”

While the coaching staff focuses on all skill sets and strategies throughout practices, the players hone in on specific routines to improve the most at their position. For example, junior defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk, whose 12 goals ranks third among all NCAA defensemen, benefits from taking long shots from the point.

“I love drills where defensemen get to take point shots at practice,” the co-captain said. “It’s fun practicing getting your head up and finding the little corners of the net.”

Junior forward Johnny Walker, the Sun Devils’ and country’s leading scorer with 22 goals this year, takes a physical approach when grinding for pucks in two-on-two drills, but is most comfortable in the face-off circles, firing one-timers into the back to the net, especially when working on the team’s man-advantage unit.

“There’s always a flow to practice,” he said. “I really like anything power play related. That’s my forte and it has a more offensive approach, so it works out well for me.”

At the other end of the ice, junior goalie Joey Daccord has perhaps improved the most of any ASU player this season, leading the NCAA in wins, shutouts and saves.

However, Daccord is never worried at practice when his teammates score on him. In fact, he likes playing the “guessing game” when his teammates fire pucks at him from all angles.

“When you practice with people a lot, you know a player’s tendencies,” Daccord said. “Once you learn everyone’s habits, it makes practice different in the sense you know where they shoot most of the time. However, it’s also a guessing game when they don’t shoot at those certain spots so it can make practice more fun and challenging for me.”

Daccord has a mentor in his head coach too. During his playing days, Powers was a goaltender for ASU back when the school still competed at the ACHA club level. This season, Powers seeks out opportunities to guide Daccord in practice, though his main emphasis for his No. 1 netminder is to go out onto the ice with a positive, winning attitude.

“I make sure Joey has fun,” Powers said. “When he’s smiling and approaches every day with the intent of coming here … he’s at his best. When he plays with his personality, he’s at his best and I believe he’s grasped that. I can’t take any credit for Joey Daccord’s consistency and success.”

While the Sun Devils have built a strong foundation with consistency and a constant drive on the ice, the team’s work behind the scenes has been impactful too.

One of the key components of the Sun Devils’ men’s hockey coaching staff is strength and conditioning coach Liane Blyn, a highly-regarded strength coach and mentor with over 20 years of experience as a strength coach and athletic trainer.

“[Blyn] does a great job detailing how she wants the guys to live, eat and spend their energy,” Powers said. “That’s another huge piece to our success – having a world-class resource like her in our program has been unbelievable. The players and staff love her and does an incredible job.”

After Blyn’s first stint at ASU from 2003 to 2005 working with ASU’s football program, Blyn returned to Tempe in August 2018 to bring a new look to the strength and conditioning routine for the men’s hockey team. The results have been a resounding success.

“One of the hardest things about hockey is that dry-land training does not necessarily correlate to skating and conditioning on the ice,” she said. We look more at training energy systems, such as bike sprints and strong man-type training. The stronger you are throughout the year, the longer you are going to play and keep your power and explosiveness up… It’s all about staying powerful and making sure they have their legs on Friday and Saturday nights.”

Not only are the Sun Devils sticking with the new strength improvement schedule, but they also follow Blyn’s guidelines for keeping a well-balanced diet.

“Nutrition is a huge factor for the team, making sure they get enough protein and calories into their diet,” Blyn said.”We can look at nutritional value in how they’re eating because that’s the biggest factor into sustaining enough energy for games… Along with the nutrition, we do a lot of mobility work, like yoga and recovery in the pool.”

It’s easy to forget that, most of the time, the players’ focus is on something other than hockey. While the Sun Devils compete on weekend nights, the rest of week is dedicated to class and completing homework, an overload of responsibilities that can leave one of the most vital elements of rest and recover on the short end of the stick: sleep.

Similar to what a typical sleep schedule suggests, Blyn recommends the players to get at least 8 to 9 hours of shuteye at night to recuperate from their heavy workload.

“Sleep is one of the best recovery tools that they have,” Blyn said. “On the road, it’s easier for them to get those hours instead of being at home with more distractions… There are a lot of studies on sleep and how it mitigates and reduces the risk of injuries.”

“We honestly get more sleep on the road,” Pasichnuk said. “I usually finish my homework and then take a good nap or go to bed really early. At home, we still get really good sleep, but there is class and work you’re trying to get done, so sleep just feels better on the road.”

This feat alone is another testament to the forward-looking methods and procedures of the Sun Devils’ coaches. The staff has laid down the groundwork, but the players’ relentless grind has translated to this season’s success, which has the Sun Devils – currently No. 8 in the PairWise rankings – on the path to an NCAA Tournament bid.

“The guys work their tails off and they’ve deserved every win they’ve got this year,” Blyn said, “It takes a lot of great support from athletics to academics to great coaches and having the right mindset and right culture.

“That’s what coach Powers has bred here with his high expectations. The guys are fully bought into, like coach Powers says, ‘being the tradition’, and they are 1000% bought into that term, and this program is proving that it’s taking a big step in the right direction.”

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