(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
If you attend an Arizona State women’s hockey game and look for freshman forward Danielle Dupont, you might not be able to find her. She wears No. 19 for the Sun Devils, but it could be difficult to try and spot her number because chances are, she’s the fastest player on the ice.
“Not everybody has seen that speed before on their high school teams,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said.
“She’s crazy fast,” junior forward, Erin Rawls said. “Her legs are like little motors that are always going, and she has this finesse to everything she does.”
Dupont’s speed is just a piece of what she has given to a revamped ASU squad. The freshman also brings experience that is a positive boost on the ice and a motivating character off it.
“When we’re doing sprints at off-ice, she’s pushing the pace,” Ellis said. “Her coming in as a freshman and being able to have that speed and potential is huge for our program.”
Dupont, an Oklahoma City native, grew up always surrounded by hockey. Even in a city with no professional team like Oklahoma City, the freshman forward knew hockey was going to be in her future.
“My dad played hockey since he was little,” Dupont said. “He got a full-ride to a Division I school, so he was good. Then he coached for a couple years but it was actually my brother who ended up getting me into hockey. My brother wanted to try it, so I thought I’ll try it with him and ended up really loving it.”
Nothing in Oklahoma provided a hockey atmosphere that would benefit Dupont in an attempt to reach her peak potential. Before her senior year of high school, she and her family moved to a foreign setting embedded in the sport — Canada.
The move was a result of her father’s job, but also a chance to move one step closer to her goal of playing Division I hockey.
“Initially my dad went there for work, so we all had to move and I played hockey there for a year,” Dupont said. “In Oklahoma, there’s not a team at all. In Canada, there’s just so many teams, you can play two games every weekend, so that was nice.”
The experience Dupont had in Canada started with the coaching she received, giving her an advantage to the game.
“[My coach] used to go to the Calgary Flames practices and watch what they would do and then incorporate it into our practice,” she said. “That’s a tool that you’re not going to have in a lot of states.”
Being part of the travel team Ottawa Red NCWHL, Dupont finally had the opportunity to practice with her team on a consistent basis, something she did not have in Oklahoma.
“[In Oklahoma] I always had to go travel and be on the travel team, so I was just a tournament player,” Dupont said. “It was really good that I got to be in the team environment all the time.”
After a lifetime of hockey in the midwestern United States, there was a culture shock at first for Dupont, playing the sport in Canada and stepping on the ice with players that had been playing since they were born.
“It was intimidating,” she admitted. “It’s just the first time on the ice when you’re trying to gauge where you are and what you need to do. After that, you’re pretty okay with the tempo of things and the players.”
As great of a challenge as Canada was for Dupont, she has always appreciated playing in the US a little more.
“I learned more in the U.S., but that’s just because I had to learn to basically motivate myself and get myself to want to get better,” she said. “I think it was better to start out learning how to motivate myself.”
After leaving Canada with her heart set on continuing her hockey career, Dupont chose to attend ASU for one sole reason.
“I’ll be honest – I wanted to play hockey,” she said.
With the speed and talent she possesses, her teammates at ASU have belief and trust that she can contribute on a consistent basis.
“She moves the puck so well,” Rawls said. “When we’re moving out of the defensive zone, if the puck is on her stick, we’re confident it will go into the offensive zone and we are there to support her.”
It was a fast start for the ASU freshman in her opening weekend wearing maroon and gold. She scored her first career goal and is currently tied for first on the team in total points (2).
“I’ll compete all the time. I’ve got speed,” she said. “Though, I can’t use those things as well without the players on the ice. They helped me get that goal.”
