ASU Women’s Hockey: Lady Devils excited for fresh start in second season

(Photo: Ellie Simpson/WCSN)

In a sport dominated by men, the players of the Arizona State women’s club hockey team are out to prove themselves as they enter their second full season as a program.

The Devils kicked off their inaugural season with some struggles, losing the first 13 games to start, but closed the regular season nicely with two wins over Denver near the end, the first two victories in program history.

Now, with a full year of experience under their belts, the team is excited to start game action after spending a little over a month practicing. With a roster of mostly familiar faces and a few newcomers, the team chemistry has already begun to improve as they look forward to the 2017-18 season. For head coach Lindsey Ellis, the group of returners that she has is crucial to build up the program.

“They’re an awesome core,” she said after practice on Tuesday. “They have so much passion and to be able to start an inaugural season with that group and to be able to build off of it is exactly what we need.”

For the team’s head coach, the momentum gained at the end of their inaugural campaign, with 5-3 and 2-1 wins over Denver, allowed them to ride momentum into the playoffs but also helped raise their expectations for the program’s sophomore season.

“It’s definitely momentum, that momentum moved into the playoffs last year, especially against Lindenwood,” Ellis noted. “Moving into this year, we have high expectations now, so we’ll definitely build momentum off of that, but also implement the new things we’ve been working on.”

The team’s goal is to finish with an even win-loss record and receive a bid for the Western Women’s Collegiate Hockey League playoffs. For the team, having a year of experience makes their goal of .500 more realistic and the transition much easier than it otherwise would be.

“We know what to expect, what needs to happen and what we need to do,” captain KC McGinley commented after practice. “We have something to go off of now, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be improving.”

Improvement will be a main focus for the Sun Devils this year, from faceoffs to crashing the net and starting strong overall.

Senior Dannika Borges will serve as an assistant captain for the second straight year and as one of the captains that Ellis describes as vocal, is excited to make the most of her last semester as a Sun Devil. Borges, who led the team last season in points with 11 and assists at six, also scored five goals on the season, including three in the team’s final five games. While she also led the team in penalty minutes with 66, Borges is looking forward to continuing where she left off.

“I ended on a high note, minus all the penalties”, she admitted. “I just want to keep it going and keep winning and hopefully we can get more wins on the season this year.”

Momentum from the end of the season will help the Devils in the 2017-18 season, but the experience will go the longest in helping program’s improvement and allow them to take the ice with more confidence.

“Now that I have that experience, just going into games with more confidence, everybody knows how well we can play, we work together,” sophomore goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden said. “We’re using that to our advantage and shake off the nerves and feel more comfortable.”

With the team riding a bit of momentum from the end of their inaugural season and taking their experience to heart, the girls at ASU plan to shake off the nerves, have fun and stay competitive against another new program in Grand Canyon University, their opponent this weekend.

Looking forward to a fresh start, the season for ASU women’s hockey officially kicks off Friday, September 22 as the Sun Devils host GCU for two games. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at 6:30 on Saturday.

Nicholas Badders is a contributor to the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. You can reach him on Twitter @BadderUpSports.

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