ASU hockey begins its first full Division I season on Friday.
After posting a disappointing record in last year’s hybrid campaign, the Sun Devils are back with a squad that plans to be competitive. They’ll test that revamped group in Friday’s season opener at No. 9 Notre Dame.
“There’s a reason they’re a top 10 team, and they’re probably better than a top ten team, to be honest,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “They might be the toughest opponent that we play all year, so we’re starting out with a bang.”
But facing Notre Dame isn’t the only tall order on ASU’s upcoming slate. Of ASU’s 20 collegiate opponents in this season, five are in the top 10 in NCAA preseason rankings.
The Sun Devils played some of college hockey’s powerhouses last year as well, but finished 5-22-2 in a schedule with both Division I and club opponents.
Now, ASU leans on a year of experience and an incoming group of recruits. Redshirt sophomore forward Dylan Hollman, the team captain, was asked what he thought would be different about this season from last.
“A lot of stuff, (like) our attitude in practice,” he said. “I think we take a lot more of a professional approach. Everybody’s a year older. We have a lot more experience on our lineup. So I think a lot of things that guys picked up on last year that we can improve on have really translated so far in practice, and we’ve improved tremendously as a group.”
What will that group look like?
Forwards
When asked after Tuesday’s practice who would play on ASU’s top line of forwards to start the season, Powers said that a grouping of Hollman, freshman Brett Gruber and redshirt sophomore Louie Rowe is a line “that we’re really excited about.”
Hollman figures to be the top-line center and captain in his first season of game action with the Sun Devils. He played just one game in his freshman year at UMass-Lowell before suffering a season-ending injury, and he redshirted last year after transferring to ASU.
“He just needs to be consistent,” Powers said. “He needs to be a 200-foot player, he needs to be good in every zone and lead by example that way. That’s why he’s wearing the ‘C’ is because he’s just that. His detail is really good, and he takes pride in being good in every zone. That’s why he’s probably our best all-around guy.”
A new-look group of forwards will take the ice after the Sun Devils were shut out nine times in the 2015-16 season. On Monday, Powers said the Sun Devils have improved offensively since last year.
“I think we’re going to have the ability to score this year, last year we didn’t at all,” he said.
Powers pointed to his offseason additions as one reason why his team could put more points on the board and said his young group from a year ago struggled to keep up with the speed and structure of Division I hockey.
“Our depth up front is the strength of our team, and we’ve got a lot of options,” he said.
Defense
The Sun Devils return six defensemen from last year and welcome recruits Brinson Pasichnuk and Jakob Stridsberg.
“The two guys that we added are both going to be instrumental,” Powers said. “Brinson Pasichnuk is an incredible all-around player. He plays very intense; he’s just a good player. He might be our best player, and he’s just a freshman and he’s the youngest guy on the team.”
Pasichnuk played in this summer’s development camp with the Minnesota Wild and is an alum of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Bonnyville Pontiacs.
Meanwhile, Stridsberg is from Jonkoping, Sweden and most recently played for the NAHL’s Fairbanks Ice Dogs.
“(He) has come in and really impressed everybody as well,” Powers said of Stridsberg. “He’s a good puck-moving D-man, a good heavy shot. He’ll be good on the power play for us as well.”
Powers answered in the affirmative when queried on whether he’d call Stridsberg an “offensive defenseman.”
“I’d say he’s a little bit more offensive, yeah,” he said. “The way he skates and moves the puck and shoots it, I think that’s his strength. But he’s certainly not a defensive liability. He’s good in our D-zone, too.”
Goaltending
Last year, senior defenseman Jordan Young said after the Desert Hockey Classic that then-freshman goaltender Ryland Pashovitz performed “unbelievable” and was “the best player on the team.”
Now, Pashovitz will not be making the team’s season-opening road trip to South Bend, Indiana. Instead, it will be freshman Joey Daccord and senior Robert Levin.
“Pash is fine,” Powers said. “Pash is a great player, I think he came in and there were three guys that were really good. There’s only one net, right? And right now, when you look at the competition over the last month and a half, between all three, he would admit that both Rob and Joey consistently out-played him.”
Daccord said it’d be “really cool” if he were rewarded with the starting nod on Friday night and is looking toward his first college road trip.
“I’m really excited about it, really looking forward to it,” he said. “Growing up in New England where it’s a really big college hockey market, I’m just looking forward to that first game, and it’s finally here. I’m really excited about it.”
But Powers said that Daccord’s place in front of Pashovitz on the current depth chart could change later on.
“It’s a long season, and we’re going to need Ryland Pashovitz before it’s all said and done,” Powers said. “He knows that, so he’s going to stay back, work on some things and we’ll see how it unfolds.”
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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