(Photo: Reagan Smith/WCSN)
What things are better than scoring a hat trick? How about two hat tricks in three days? But what is even better than scoring two hat tricks over the course of a weekend? Try scoring two hat tricks in front of family and friends on for size.
For ASU Women’s Hockey sophomore captain Kat Jones, that was her reality over the past weekend.
In attendance for the ASU’s 6-1 runaway victory over Davenport University were Jones’s family, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s family.
“It meant a lot to me to score in front of those people who are so important in my life,” Jones said. “They don’t get to see me play every weekend that we have.”
Just two days later, Jones would score her second hat trick in a 5-1 rout over the University of Michigan.
Of course, much like any person going to see their family for the first time in a long while, there was more to it than just the excitement of seeing family and friends. With it came an aura of peace that allowed Jones to stay locked into the games.
“It’s hard because I get really nervous,” Jones said. “Because I don’t want to screw up or play bad. But this weekend was different, for some reason… I think it was because everyone I love was in place. And it was like, ‘Wow, everything is right in the world.’”
Jones’s “Kat Tricks” as the team has since dubbed them, have not just been Jones’s own hard work coming to fruition. In fact, Jones would be the first to tell anyone that her historic weekend would not have been possible without the support of her linemates and everyone that she shares the ice with.
“The people that I’m playing with put it there for me,” Jones said. “Good shots from the point, good backdoor passes, good rebounds. That’s all there is to it.”
Jones also recalled two of her goals against Michigan coming only because players like sophomore Sheridan Gloyd and freshman Abi McGee had either taken a shot that allowed a rebound or had set Jones up perfectly.
“[Scoring] had to with other people, it wasn’t just me,” Jones said. “I share that excitement (scoring the hat tricks) with other people.”
Through just 12 games this season, Jones has already matched her goal-scoring total of last season of 13 and is only three points shy of her total point total of last year, with seven games to go on the season. Jones is averaging 1.58 points per game.
At the end of the day, the stats paint a pretty picture, but it is just noise at the end of the day. After all, Jones dons the “C” for a reason.
“I just want to do everything that I can to make to make sure that this program goes really far,” Jones said. “I do what I think is best, and lead in a way that I think is best. I think it’s working…I think we’re doing ok.”
If 10-2 and a No.12 national ranking is just “ok” for the captain, ASU has an incredibly bright future ahead with her at the helm.
