(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Many would say Arizona State University is not a hockey school.
But not all would.
The list of teams that represent the Sun Devils grows every year, but the hockey programs, whom one can argue are still inexperienced, are budding into a positive direction for the future.
The ASU women’s club hockey program has experienced success not much different than that of the men’s NCAA team.
The Devils’ NCAA team is in its second full season of existence at that level. The same can be said for the women who represent the school at the ACHA level.
Back in January, the NCAA men reached a program goal, winning the Ice Vegas Invitational, their first tournament win.
This weekend, the women’s club team check off a program first as well, as the team recently received their first bid to the Division I Western Women’s Collegiate Hockey League playoffs in Fremont, Nebraska, which takes place this weekend.
“I think at the beginning of the season, we didn’t totally know what everybody was capable of,” goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden said. “Once we came in and started beating some teams, especially teams in our conference and kind of putting good games together, I think everybody wanted to continually set the bar higher.”
The Sun Devils finished the 2017-2018 regular season 8-13-1, six wins improved from their inaugural season.
During this season’s process to get into playoffs, ASU played local rival Grand Canyon five times. Their season began with GCU and ended the first half of the season against them as well.
In those matches ASU beat GCU three out of the five, tying the very first game between the two programs, 1-1.
The Sun Devils also played an offensive-heavy series against Denver, winning both games during senior weekend. Even with the happy moments for all the wins, there are always some equally disappointing moments as well for the Devils.
The program had a difficult time facing Assiniboine College, Colorado State and Miami University. But, all three teams helped the program, building them for their games this weekend.
Besides those six wins, the team has nearly doubled the number of goals scored as well, they’ve score 44 compared to 26 last year.
“We definitely stepped up on offense this year. That was something we really struggled with last year,” Nash-Boulden said. “We’ve really had that play clicking in the offensive zone, we’ve been better in the neutral zone this year, last year we had some troubles breaking it out and turning it over.”
The top three players who earned points for the Sun Devils are seniors. Forward Amber Galles along with defensemen KC McGinley and Dannika Borges.
Galles and McGinley tied with a season total of 19 points, while Borges follows with 14. Not only did the seniors lead the team with points, two of the three leading goal scorers are seniors as well.
Galles leads the team with 12 goals, trailing behind her is Borges with eight and then freshman Catherine Jones with seven.
These point scorers have been a contributing factor in helping the team reach their goals.
Entering the 2017-2018 season, there were two goals in mind for the team: Finish with a record around .500 and make it into playoffs.
Besides receiving their first bid for the WWCHL playoffs, the blooming program has reached another milestone — ASU is ranked as the No. 15 women’s team in the D1 American Collegiate Hockey Association after receiving votes five weeks in a row and in 11 of the first 13 weeks of rankings.
A six win increase from their season and a playoff bid? An even greater accomplishment for the program isn’t one that comes to the forefront of the mind when thinking about the team.
A usual hockey team consists of at least 20 players, but all season long, ASU skated anywhere from 10 to 12 players depending on the game.
“The hard work they put in, being able to skate with 10 skaters for most of the season, every single game is a large feat and we realize that,” head coach Lindsey Ellis said. “So, we just have to take a step back and appreciate how far we have gotten with such a small roster.”
Their game day roster featured 12 skaters just twice, their first two games of the season. They played 12 games with 11 skaters and eight times, they skated just 10 women.
With such a short bench, Nash-Boulden was a large component in the success of this Sun Devil program.
“I’ve had a lot more confidence in my ability to make riskier moves this year just because I know Jordan is always there,” senior captain KC McGinley said. “I thank her more than anything out there. She’s amazing, I have full confidence in Jordan.”
McGinley praises how Nash-Boulden has carried the team on her back the past two years, saving 852 shots just this season alone, giving her a save percentage of .923.
In the WWCHL playoffs, the program will face No. 4 Lindenwood-Belleville and No. 13 Midland University, both teams ASU has seen already this season.
Ellis believes the low point of this season for the program was back in mid-November when they faced Midland in a two-game series in Tempe.
“The middle of the season is always really tough, everybody has midterms, it’s a really busy time and I think we were really mentally exhausted as well as physically exhausted going into that Midland series,” Ellis said. “I think after that (series) we realized we could’ve won those games and they shouldn’t have been the scores that they were, and I think that was the turning point in the season.”
The series ended with Midland defeating ASU 5-1 and 4-2, but the Sun Devils have a chance for revenge against one of the country’s top scorers, Isabelle Uhl Chmeil, who scored four goals in the three games the two teams have played.
ASU has also played Lindenwood-Belleville, back in the WWCHL showcase in Boulder, Colorado, a game the Sun Devils lost 6-1.
After this year the program can only continue in a higher direction no matter the results of this weekend in Fremont.
