(Photo: Reagan Smith/WCSN)
The Arizona State women’s hockey team now has 10 wins on the season, which equals the total number of victories the team had all of last season.
The Sun Devils, in their final road trip of the season, found themselves facing off against three teams in Michigan.
ASU’s first game featured a matchup against Davenport University and found themselves down early in Grand Rapids after a goal from Davenport’s Morgan Pippin in the first two minutes. It didn’t take long for an answer, as sophomore captain Kat Jones and freshman forward Andi Main both scored before the end of the first period.
The goals kept pouring in for ASU as the team scored four goals in the remaining two periods winning the game 6-1, including two more goals from Jones, resulting in her second career collegiate hat trick.
“It was just important to me because my family was there, my boyfriend was there and my boyfriend’s family was there,” Jones said about how she felt after the hat trick. “It meant a lot to me to score in front of those people who are so important in my life because they don’t get to see me play every weekend that we have.”
About two hours south of Grand Rapids was the next game against newly ranked No. 3 Adrian College who won 22 games a season ago and made the ACHA Women’s D1 National Championships.
The Sun Devils had difficulty creating shots the entire game and tallied just 16 total shots. On the other hand, Adrian ambushed senior goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden with 60 total shots and scored five goals. The Bulldogs dominated in the 5-0 victory and head coach Lindsey Ellis believed it was the lack of confidence the team showed that allowed Adrian to create numerous chances.
“They’re a very skilled team and we didn’t have the most confidence in the first period and I think going into the second period it really showed with zero goals in the second period,” Coach Ellis said. “I think just playing 60 minutes of confident hockey is super important for us against a very, very skilled team like that but they definitely had more grit than us in the first period and third.”
Freshman defenseman Abi McGee added that it was the toughest test on defense the team has faced all year.
“That was definitely our toughest game of the season,” she said. “We had to play most of our game on defense which was definitely taking a toll, I guess, on the six that we had.”
The final game of the weekend was against the University of Michigan. ASU came out strong and grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Jones and sophomore forward Danielle Dupont. It wouldn’t be the last time Jones scored either, she put two more pucks in the back of the net for her second hat trick of the weekend.
“She wanted that puck, she wanted to win,” Ellis said. “She went in there to prove a point to the entire league that we belong and clearly did that for the entire team and herself, so we were excited for her.”
The Sun Devils went on to win 5-1 as Boulden saved 41 of 42 shots faced. Adjustments were key to the offensive firepower not only against the Wolverines but against Davenport as well.
“I think everyone was just clicking, we were firing on all cylinders,” Dupont said. “Whenever something wasn’t working, we would come to the bench and talk about it and we would find different ways. If something wasn’t working offensively like we were getting stopped at the blue we would dump, chase and designate roles, stuff like that.”
Dupont’s two goals and five assists in the weekend series added to her already impressive 2019-20 season totals. She now sits tied at fourth in the country with 22 points including her team-high 12 goals, which is tied for the third-most.
“It means a lot,” Dupont said on being top five in both points and goals. “But it’s not the biggest thing, I’m just happy that the team’s doing so well and of course I’m proud to see that. I know a lot of that comes from all my linemate’s work ethic and the defense just doing amazing this year.”
Penalties were frequent as the team piled-up 14 total infractions in the three games. However, coach Ellis wasn’t concerned and credited the physicality of the other teams as the reason for the number of penalties.
“I don’t think it’s much of a concern,” she said. “It was very, very physical hockey compared to the western teams that we played. I was proud of them hanging on and playing as well as they did. I think we can obviously work on moving our feet, taking some of those penalties away but we didn’t think of it as a huge issue.”
After 12 games this season, the Devils find themselves ranked No. 12 in the first ACHA Women’s Hockey D1 rankings of the year.
“I think we can move up,” Dupont said. “We have the ability, especially after this weekend, we went in and we did a lot better than I think a lot of people thought we would. I think we’re just going to keep proving people wrong.”
The Sun Devils will wrap up the calendar year with their first home game of the season when they face the University of Utah Nov. 22-23 at Oceanside Ice Arena.
