(Photo: Reagan Smith/WCSN)
Winning the first six games to kick off a season in any sport is no small feat, which makes the Arizona State Women’s Hockey team that much more intriguing this time around.
Since the program’s inaugural season in 2016, the Sun Devils have won a combined 20 games. At the rate ASU is winning at now, the team will win more games in 2019 than it has ever won in program history. There’s a lot that plays into overall team success, and the Sun Devils have no shortage of key factors that have allowed them to quickly be considered one of the hottest teams in women’s collegiate hockey.
With 18 of the 22 players on the roster being either freshmen or sophomores, the Devils have youthful energy contributing as an uncommon advantage. Through the first six games of the season, the freshmen and sophomores have contributed 49 of the total 53 total points put up by ASU.
Though they lack experience on paper, they make up for their youth with constant leadership and talent on the ice.
Sophomore Kat Jones proved after her record-breaking season last year that the Devils don’t need a team of experience to compete. Jones put up a total of 22 points (13 goals and 9 assists), which was something no player had ever done in the program’s brief history.
Jones is now the captain of this improving Sun Devil squad, but the “C” on her sweater does not define the lone sense of skill and leadership. The Devils first line of freshman Andi Main, sophomore Danielle Dupont and the aforementioned Jones has scored 42-percent of the team’s goals this season.
Of that 42-percent, Dupont has scored 58-percent of those goals. She currently stands as ASU’s leader in points with 10 and is ranked seventh in the nation in that category as well. Her athleticism and fast-paced style has been on full display to begin the season, which is why she has been able to become a consistent difference-maker every time she puts her skates on the ice.
Main has also made her mark early in her young career for the Devils.
Even though Main has yet to score her first collegiate goal, she currently leads the Sun Devils in assists with six. The young freshman from British Columbia has meshed well with her new teammates to start the season, and they are starting to take notice of how well she has been performing.
“Her speed and tenacity shows,” senior forward Erin Rawls said. “She just goes and goes and goes.”
Head coach Lindsey Ellis stressed how important the defense and goaltending has been for the Devils so far this year.
“I’m proud of the goals for, but goals against is so big this year for us in terms of goal differential,” Ellis said. “Years prior we were playing the WWCHL teams with pretty close margins or losing, now we’re starting to win and get those margins a little wider.”
Through the first six games last season, ASU was 1-5 with a +4 goal differential. This season has been a complete turnaround with an undefeated record and an astounding +23 goal differential. So as key as the offense and the scoring has been to ASU’s success, the goals against category has made the scoring stand out that much more.
Part of the credit can be attributed to the stellar play from senior netminder, Jordan Nash-Boulden.
Nash-Boulden has started four of the Devils’ six games between the pipes and has allowed just five goals. She currently has a .972 save percentage and a 1.25 goals-against average — one of the best in college hockey. Nash-Boulden has also faced a frequent amount of shots, which is what makes the start of her senior campaign even more impressive.
In each of the four games she has started, No. 31 has saved at least 40 shots. It’s also worth noting that the two other goaltenders for the Devils, sophomores Macy Eide and Landry Phelps, each have one shutout and a combined 22 saves.
The defensive core has provided a strong two-way attack as well. Although it has been inconsistent on the defensive end, ASU blueliners have scored nine times through the first six games of the season.
Freshman defenseman Abi Mcgee has been a pungent factor and is currently third on the team in scoring with four goals. Main’s British Columbian compatriot, freshman defenseman Taylor Northcott, has also tallied three goals of her own. Last season, the Devils defense combined for 22 of the 67 goals that the Devils scored. At this rate, the new and improved two-way attack is on pace to score more than last year’s 10-win team.
The Sun Devils have shown flashes of becoming a potential competitor for the national championship with their play early this season. The goal differential has been critical to their success early in the year considering they have finished each of their first three seasons with negative differentials, including a -57 in 2016. Going into the Missouri Showcase this weekend with a +23 margin and a roster full of speed and youth gives the Devils momentum for a continued historic run.
