Danny McAuliffe (shown) and the rest of ASU hockey looks to bring the heat to the Frozen Four this year. Photo courtesy of Michelle Hekle.General Manager Ken Lind says it is a business and not a sport.
It's strictly business as ASU hockey hopes to rebound from its heartbreaking loss to Oakland in last years playoffs.
“We try to lose that word... club”, Lind says. “We’re a very good hockey team with high expectations.”
The three divisions of ASU hockey are not NCAA affiliated and therefore belong to the United States Hockey League. Because the team is not NCAA recognized, the team does not qualify for the Frozen Four and gets notably less coverage than NCAA teams do.
Perhaps an even tougher drawback for the team: ASU does not give out scholarships for players on the hockey team.
Even with these setbacks, Lind set goals for himself and the team when he first came to ASU.
The first of his four goals was to return back to the playoffs, which was an easy task compared to the rest.
Graduating players was another goal that was important to Lind. He says he is proud of the team’s 3.3 grade point average and academic All-Americans.
Lind’s third goal was for the student-athletes to not have to pay tuition. The noticeable extra cost to play hockey-- approximately $3,000+ according to Lind-- is outrageous for the student-athletes. Without scholarships from the university, this would have to be all raised by the team and the community.
The fourth and final goal: bring home a championship.
“We’ve decided to take one game at a time for this season”, Lind says. “We have 10 quality freshman and expect to be strong in goal and on the blue line.”
This is certainly a team that competes and a team that expects success, even with the irregular rules it complies by.
“The chemistry of the team is key”, Lind says. “When you get into the season and it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, that’s when you know you got true teamwork.”
The team will travel this year to play Penn St., the University of British Columbia, and Oakland for a rematch of last year’s playoff upset.
The D1 hockey team opens its season against the Aggies of Texas A&M on Thursday at the Oceanide Ice Arena in Tempe.
You can reach me at etrianta@asu.edu
