ASU men's hockey won the Ice Vegas Invitational January 6, its first tournament win as a division one program. Junior forward Louie Rowe talks about the experience, and head coach Greg Powers talks about the prospect of college hockey expanding west.
Chris Gleason - Reporter:
ASU’s hockey team has experienced lots of ups and downs since it started playing division one competition in the 2015-16 season. The club reached new heights by winning the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational.
Louie Rowe - Junior forward
It was amazing and our program has been in actually a lot of tournaments. We've been very involved with the NCAA trying to get other teams, new teams to southwest. I think getting a win there kind of just establishes us a little bit more and just leads our program in the right direction.
Chris Gleason - Reporter
The Sun Devils defeated Northern Michigan 7-3 then topped Michigan Tech 3-2 to capture the title. Northern Michigan still has 70 votes to be ranked, and Tech has made the NCAA tournament two of the last three seasons. Coach Greg Powers acknowledged he’s truly happy for the 10 players who have been with the team since it began playing at the division one level.
Greg Powers - Head coach
I think it's great. I think it's, again, those are the kids that I was really happy for is the ones that came especially in a hybrid year because that was a tough year. And when you jump into it as quickly as we did you don't know what you are going to get. And we didn't know what we were going to get with some of those kids. We had to just go get some players and play. And the ones that are still here, the ones that have done everything the right way everyday. And for them to have experienced a moment like that together was a special moment for those guys.
Chris Gleason - Reporter
He also added that wins like these should help continue the conversation to expand college hockey out west.
Greg Powers - Head coach
It's not going to happen overnight. Westward expansion is going to be a slow process, but we want to be the domino that led to it. We're going to continue to do everything right and with our eyes most importantly on growing the team.
Chris Gleason - Reporter
The Sun Devils hope their recent success will continue to draw the attention of high level recruits and fill the student section. Reporting for State Press, I’m Chris Gleason.
Reach the reporter at ccgleaso@asu.edu or follow @realchrisgleas1 on Twitter.
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