(Photo: Reagan Smith/WCSN)
The time has finally come for ASU Women’s Hockey (10-2) to play at Oceanside Ice Arena. The University of Utah will travel to Tempe to face the Sun Devils for a two-game series.
With a 3-7 record, this is the University of Utah’s first season in the WWCHL. Sun Devils head coach Lindsey Ellis also serves as the WWCHL commissioner.
“It’s exciting in general to have a real western conference for the first time, but for us, it’s a lot bigger,” Ellis said. “They’re a Pac-12 school, our men’s teams play each other in the ACHA. It will actually be back-to-back games when we play them with the men’s.”
Although the two teams haven’t played each other yet, they were able to get a sneak peek of the team’s playing style at the Missouri Showcase back in October. The Utes have goalie Samantha White, who won “Most Outstanding Goaltender” at the showcase. They also have forward Grace Cruikshank, who has recorded 10 goals in 10 games with seven assists.
“For a first-year team, they’re developing pretty well,” Ellis said. “They have a great goaltender, we saw that in Missouri when we were able to watch them play. It should be a good series.”
Besides the excitement of playing a new team, ASU is looking more forward to finally having that home-ice advantage.
For freshmen like Abi McGee, it will be the first opportunity for family and friends to see them play at Oceanside Ice Arena.
“I’m so excited,” McGee said. “My parents are coming out. Everyone’s preparing, telling everyone, making flyers for our team. We’re all like ‘come on, let’s get some fans.’”
On the other hand, it’s bittersweet for the road trips to come to an end. ASU has had the most games on the road than any other team and has really used that time to build their team chemistry.
“Coming into ASU, they all know to play non-conference and conference games, they’re going to have to travel a lot,” Ellis said. “That’s just something that comes with our program. I think all of the traveling and bonding, they’ve bonded more than any team in the country. They’ve flown places and they’ve had a lot of bonding time. That obviously shows on the ice. No matter who they’re out on the ice with, they all connect. I’m really really excited for them to finally be able to play at home and hopefully keep the ball rolling.”
Sophomore forward Danielle Dupont also described her mixed emotions of having home games the rest of the regular season.
“It’s going fun to not have to fly for four and a half hours and then a bus for another two,” said Dupont. “But, it’s really fun whenever you get to room with different people and you learn so much about them.”
When it comes to the way that the team’s mentality, the game being home or on the road doesn’t change anything for them.
“I think we’re going to do well regardless,” Dupont said. “If these were away games I still think we would do well. We might be a little shocked that it’s five minutes from us instead of a couple of hours, but I don’t think it changes much. I think we’re still going to come out, give it our all, and hopefully win.”
Puck drop on Friday is at 5:10 p.m. and Saturday at 3:30 p.m. This series will be the last chance for the Sun Devils to play before their two-month holiday break.
