ASU Women’s Hockey: Ellis excited for return to Miami

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Lindsey Ellis, a native of Peoria, recorded a hat trick on senior night as a Miami Redhawk in 2015.

This weekend, Ellis, who is now the head coach of the Arizona State women’s hockey team, takes her team to Ohio to face her alma mater, Miami, for the first time as a coach. The Sun Devils play two games in Oxford, Ohio against the two-time defending national champs, then one in Columbus against Ohio State, the team she scored the senior night hat trick against.

Ellis’ journey back to the valley began a year before what she describes as a “crazy game.” Her Redhawks went on to win the 2014 ACHA D1 women’s national championship, the first in program history.

“We just kept winning during the regular season and it just kept rolling into the playoffs for the CCWHA,” Ellis said. “When I look back, I don’t remember the games. I just remember how we all felt and who was around me.”

It was that same year ASU won the D1 ACHA men’s national championship. This motivated Ellis to create an opportunity she didn’t have –  collegiate hockey for women on the West Coast, specifically in Arizona.

“ASU winning was 70 percent of the reason why we wanted to bring women’s hockey to ASU,” Ellis said. “I was on the bus to Delaware, we were on the way to the rink that ASU was playing in and I was just hoping we could get there in time to watch it.”

After winning the national championship with Miami, Ellis began building a program in Tempe. Already pursing a sports management major, she added a coaching major and began building the West Coast’s first collegiate hockey program for women.

Now, the program is in its second season and has made dramatic strides in its short time.

Her team won only two games last season but his year they have won seven with three to play.

A jump in performance is not something foreign to Ellis. Her freshman season as a Redhawk was Miami’s first season at the ACHA level. When they won their first national championship, the ACHA program was just three years old.

Whether such a leap is in the future for ASU is yet to be seen, but the impact of playing for a quickly growing program like the one Ellis was a part of in college has helped her in Tempe.

Still staying in contact with her old head coach, Ellis has a good understanding of how to build a program, how to recruit and how to stay competitive in a team’s infant years.

“I based ASU’s program pretty much off the model we went off of (at Miami),” Ellis said. “We want to get competitive very quickly.”

Ellis is used to the underdog story. So is one of ASU’s assistant coaches, Kaley Marino. She also played collegiate hockey with a young program at St. Norbert College.

“We’re very used to new programs and having to build it from scratch,” Ellis said. “We even came from Arizona … We have a plan and we’re working towards it.”

“Obviously Miami is built to win championships and that’s what we want to do at ASU. We want to build a championship-caliber program. (Miami) is a top, competitive team in the nation, we’re doing everything in our power to do that right now and I think our large recruiting class says that so we’re just excited for the development of the program.”

Ellis cannot help but break a smile when talking about going back to Miami.

“I’m almost at a lost for words,” Ellis said. “I’m so excited to go back and show (the ASU team) where I played my college career.”

Ellis, whose family lives in the area, will be in attendance along with several of her old teammates, some of whom plan to wear maroon and gold instead of Redhawk red.

For teams not in the WWCHL, there is little way to prepare for ASU’s style of play. To a certain degree, ASU will have an advantage while in Ohio; as teams who have not seen them play in person or on video are not aware of the strengths and potential of the Sun Devils.

“I’m excited for KC (McGinley) to rip a few from the point,” Ellis joked. “I’m really excited for them to be able to show who they are as hockey players to get us on the hockey map.

The players are aware there is a challenge, especially as a younger program. But they’re also aware of how big their first win over a ranked opponent would be, especially a school so close to Ellis’ heart.

“They have girls that have been playing together for four years, we have girls who have been playing together for two or one,” alternate captain Dannika Borges said. “We’re a very new team so if we came out and beat them … That’d be amazing.”

The scheduling worked out well. There was only room for one nonconference series on the road. Conveniently, Miami was free and Ellis set up a return to her old stomping grounds. Her old roommate is the team’s assistant coach and a few of the seniors on the team are girls she played with in 2015, her final season at Miami.

While Miami was unable to repeat their 2014 success in 2015, Ellis was the only graduating senior and the Redhawks went on to win back-to-back national championships in 2016 and 2017.

While winning would be ideal, producing goals and bringing 60 minutes of energy will be key in allowing ASU to stay competitive against possibly their toughest opponent yet. The team’s hockey has grown cleaner as the season has gone on, which allows the Sun Devils to play a simpler game.

Nearly all teams know who Miami is, but few know about ASU. This, combined with Ellis’ experience playing Redhawk hockey, puts the Devils a step above the rest when it comes to taking the ice at Goggin Ice Center.

Goggin Ice Center is a world-class rink, one of many factors that played in Ellis’ decision to play at Miami. With a new arena for ASU on the horizons, she is excited to show her team what the program has to look forward to, not only in facilities but atmosphere.

After ASU and Miami finish the final game of their weekend series, Ellis will be bringing her Sun Devil team back to the arena later in the day to watch the NCAA men’s team host No. 3 St. Cloud State.

“They don’t get to see college hockey in a college arena that often,” Ellis said. “For them to be able to see that environment, the different chants that will hopefully be at ASU one day that are at every single college rink across the country. I hope they can see what they can build because right now I don’t think they realize their potential yet.”

While the team is still learning what it is capable of, the Sun Devils are well aware of the meaning behind the upcoming games.

“It’s going to be exciting,” goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden said. “I know it means a lot to coach to go back there and I think it would mean a lot to her to take us in there as a program and show us as something she can be proud of.”

Ellis has prepped the team for the weekend, specifically the ones against Miami.

For the players, it’s a chance to make their coach proud, with the chance to win their first game over a ranked opponent while on one of their hottest stretches of the season.

For Ellis, it’s a chance to reconnect with old friends and teammates, while furthering the growth of women’s hockey in the desert.

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