(Photo: Reagan Smith/WCSN)
From Hailey, Idaho, freshman Morgan Benson played for U19 Team Idaho and Sun Valley Youth Hockey. She had success with both teams, winning the 2019 Rocky Mountain District Championship with U19 and the 2017 and 2018 IAHA State Tournament with SVYH.
Benson was exposed to the game of hockey through her dad. With her dad being from Minnesota, where hockey is pretty big, Morgan and her brother were introduced to the sport of hockey at a young age.
“I got into hockey when I was five, but I didn’t start playing competitively until I was 10,” Benson said. “I always played games, but I didn’t start really traveling until I was 10.”
To this day, Benson thinks of her father as her biggest inspiration. She still often goes to him for advice to better her game.
“When we played GCU, he was here watching,” Benson said. “My mom and brother were here too, but he kind of just gets on me for things I do wrong.”
In her college selection process, Benson wanted to get as far away from the snow as possible.
“I was looking for a college that had warmth because in Idaho it’s very cold,” Benson said. “Then I realized they [ASU] had a hockey team and I was like ‘this is where I’m going. That’s it.’”
Although the weather is quite different in Arizona, the hockey is alike in the fact that they are both developing girls hockey.
“It’s honestly kind of the same because in Idaho there’s not really a girls program and in Arizona, it’s just starting to pick up, so it’s pretty similar,” Benson said.
The transition for Benson hasn’t been too difficult due to her knowledge of the area and her family’s support.
“I’ve been to Phoenix before,” Benson said. My family is coming for Thanksgiving and Spring Break, so it wasn’t that big of a change.”
Playing for competitive teams also gave Benson the experience she needed before starting to play at a college level. Traveling often and playing multiple games in a weekend are skills that she has brought to ASU.
“For Team Idaho, it was a bunch of girls all over Idaho that were the better girls,” Benson said. “That was what mostly prepared me for this because that was a higher level of hockey.”
Coming into a brand new team can be intimidating. Benson seemed to gravitate to senior goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden as an immediate mentor. It is important to gain a relationship with someone that you can look up to on your team.
“Jordan, she’s just a leader,” Benson said. Being a freshman, she kind of just took me under her wing…She was the first person I really met here…She’s always the first one to say something if something goes wrong, which is really nice because you have that security that you know she’s going to say something.”
The freshman has already contributed since joining the team. Benson has two assists on the season so far. The first one was an assist on the game-winning goal to freshman Emily Kline against GCU. The other came against Concordia in an assist to sophomore Danielle Dupont for a 13-0 victory.
“The team just makes me better as a person in a way I guess,” Benson said. “They definitely make me push myself.”
Benson is happy with the hot start for the Sun Devils and has high hopes for how far this team can go.
“I think the start is great. I’ve never been on a team where we’ve had this great of a start, so I’m really happy with it…I expect us to win our districts and go to nationals.”
