TEMPE —
The Sports Church of Moral Victories has many devoted team followers. They revel in the perpetual “we almost did it” scenarios. They opine in quixotic terms about what might have been. They inch no closer to actual victory by claiming that their failure is somehow achievement.
Arizona State, the only Division I NCAA hockey team in Arizona, has thankfully left that congregation.
The Sun Devils vow that their fourth year of operation will be a breakthrough both in attitude and in the win column, even as they throw themselves into a schedule dominated by ranked opponents. It is the most difficult college hockey schedule in the nation.
Last weekend’s home tilts against top-ranked Ohio State was a litmus test.
No, the Sun Devils did not defeat the mighty Buckeyes in either game, won by OSU 3-2 on Friday night and 3-0 on Saturday. But ASU played like a top-25 team, and put together what I think could be their best-ever back-to-back efforts.
The woe-is-me attitude is gone, replaced by an exciting young team that screams future contender.
ASU’s team style was consistent throughout 120 minutes, and its effort level was off the charts. OSU was quicker and more experienced, so ASU wisely did not attempt to match the Buckeyes’ rink-wide puck movement. It played its own gritty, grinding style, punctuated by a defiance that any home team needs to become winners.
The Sun Devils were competitive in both games, and they pushed the Buckeyes relentlessly. It was one of the most bitterly contested early season NCAA matchups I have seen in years.
It was just plain great college hockey.
So the disappointment and anger on the faces of ASU players after each loss was not a put-on. There was no “Well, we would’ve liked to win” pleasantries or “It was an honor just to play the No. 1 team” smoke jobs.
Coach Greg Powers has planted the seeds of a championship attitude in these kids by making them believe — actually believe — that they should have won two games against the best team in college hockey.
I wouldn’t want to be the next few opponents on ASU’s schedule.
The sprouting of this new Sun Devil attitude schedules nicely to mature with the appearance of the long-awaited new home for ASU hockey. A multi-use building is in the final stages of ASU approval, and should start construction as soon as this next spring. It will sit next to Wells Fargo Arena and reportedly house the Sun Devils’ volleyball and wrestling teams.
The success of hockey in Arizona is always tied to the right home building. Just ask the NHL’s Coyotes, whose location is a perennial hand-wringing exercise. The University of Arizona hockey team, which plays in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, is similarly threatened by its arrangement at Tucson Arena.
A new, smaller building would save Wildcats hockey, and the new Tempe home should propel the Sun Devils’ hockey program into the NCAA stratosphere.
The expected 4,000-seat building could make ASU the western mecca for college hockey. The attraction of Arizona winters, in a metropolitan city, with top coaching and facilities, would tip the current U.S. hockey power structure. Eighteen-year-olds in Alberta and beyond will certainly answer the question: Why brave a North Dakota or Minnesota winter when you could win championships in Arizona?
Even without the new building, ASU has already begun to sign highly ranked recruiting classes. That Powers has attracted more than flies to Tempe with the current ice situation is a testament to his recruiting expertise. The Sun Devils’ current home, Oceanside in Tempe, is an arena only in the loosest sense. The 1974 building seats about 500 on aluminum bleachers, with space for about another 250 standing spectators. A low ceiling regularly gathers pucks, stopping play. The ice can be soft, as it appeared this past weekend when fog swirled around the surface and coated the glass.
It is polite to describe Oceanside Arena as the least impressive NCAA Division I hockey facility in the country. Opposing teams are usually more frank: They call it a dump.
I thought this might actually be an advantage for ASU last weekend. The Buckeyes play in the same arena as their basketball team. The 17,500-seat Schottenstein Center is the best venue for college hockey in the nation. So perhaps the intensity of the Buckeyes would lag when confronted with such relatively primitive surroundings in Tempe.
The game atmosphere was underwhelming, and even with a full house — many sporting Ohio State jerseys — the mood was mostly subdued. Even the small ASU student section maintained its vocal support for only short bursts at a time. The only home-ice advantage last weekend was the firm belief of the Sun Devils themselves.
Powers stared straight ahead following Saturday’s loss, a steely gaze matching his slow, deliberate statement.
“We know where we are going,” he declared. Two Sun Devils, sitting at his side, matched his glare. Together, they have started the long road to the top of the college hockey mountain.
Mark me as a true believer, too.
