By Shawn Moran, Sun Devil Athletics' Feature Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Four years ago, four young hockey players blindly committed to a college hockey program that had never participated in an NCAA Division I game. All they had was a motto and a direction from the new head coach.
"Be the tradition."
The group was comprised of a gold medalist, a physical defenseman eventually turned forward, a transfer, and a local walk-on. It was then, in the fall of 2015, when the "Founding Fathers" of Sun Devil Hockey moved to Tempe.
"What we've defined our culture to be is leave the program better than when you found it," said head coach Greg Powers. "These seniors -- they're the ones that made it through. We brought in a lot of kids in that first hybrid year not knowing who was going to make it through, who might get over recruited, and who would be a long term fit because of how fast we jumped into it. These are the guys we knew we could build around."
Alternate captain Anthony Croston just wants to play hockey. And win. Growing up just down the road where he attended Pinnacle High School, Croston was determined to keep his hockey career alive as long as possible. After a few years playing junior hockey, Croston decided to walk-on to the Sun Devils brand-new Division I hockey team.
Fast forward to the present day, Croston will be playing in his 123rd and 124th games this weekend -- the only player in program history to reach over 100 games wearing the Maroon & Gold -- with an 'A' on his chest as an alternate captain and on scholarship. During his four year career, he's missed just two games with one coming due to a one-game NCAA mandated suspension and the other to a family emergency.
"It's really special to play all four years here and be able to tell people I kind of started this," Croston said. "Just to see how it's grown, all the stuff we've gone through, all the ups-and-downs, it's special to see it moving in the right direction."
On the verge of making their first ever NCAA tournament appearance, the Sun Devils have come a long way from their first Division I game.
On October 9, 2015, the Sun Devils opened up against Alaska Anchorage in the first Division I game in program history. With 3:14 remaining in the second period, Jack Rowe made history with a wrist shot past the Seawolves' goalie for the first-ever Division I goal.
He ranks it among the top moments in his hockey career, which includes winning a gold medal at the Five Nations Tournament in Switzerland while playing for Team USA Select 17 Team in 2010.
"It's something that I'm so proud of and I'm lucky and fortunate to be able to take that with me and remember that for the rest of my life," Rowe said. "It's something that was very special at the time, but I don't think at the time I realized just how much I would appreciate it now. Having your stamp on something like that is pretty special."
Another special moment happened earlier this season when Jake Clifford scored the game-winning overtime goal against Princeton on his birthday -- and the head coach's birthday.
"That is poetic justice is what happened out there with Cliff," said Powers that night after the victory. "It's his birthday today and he's been a tremendous program builder for us. He's been through a lot of ups and downs as we've grown, and for him to have this big moment on his birthday in his senior year is a good moment for him."
After joining ASU as a defenseman, Clifford began to see his minutes on the ice dwindling. Because he still felt he could contribute, Clifford approached the coaching staff about a position change.
"I just wanted to contribute and be a good teammate," Clifford said. "I wanted to contribute in any role that I could."
Since that conversation, Clifford has played in 61 of 64 games over the last two seasons as a member of the fourth line, which Powers leans on heavily against some of the top lines in the country.
While his Sun Devil career features just three years on the ice with a Pitchfork on his chest, redshirt senior Dylan Hollman has been with the program since day one. After suffering an injury in a practice during his first year at UMass-Lowell, Hollman reaggravated it during an exhibition which put him out for half the season. After returning without a spot in the lineup, Hollman reached out to Powers about transferring and help grow a new program in the desert.
With four years packed full of painful losses and sprinkled with hard-fought upsets, one of the moments that some refer to as a turning point was when the program captured their first tournament win at the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational last season among a field with powerhouse Boston College and storied programs receiving votes in the polls in Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech.
"This has been the first year where we haven't been underdogs for a lot of the games," Hollman said. "But going into that tournament, we were the underdog and being able to win the first college hockey tournament in Las Vegas was pretty sweet."
Winning a different kind of tournament game is now potentially on the docket this season. If the Sun Devils were to make the NCAA tournament this season, it would be a giant leap forward for a program still in its infancy -- and would be the first independent program to make the tournament as an at-large team since Alaska Anchorage in 1992.
To the seniors who have battled through the one-sided losses and the tough times, it would be the icing on the cake.
"It would mean the world to me," Clifford said. "Seeing how far we've come, all the games we've lost. It would just mean the world to me and it would set the tone for this program and getting that winning culture is what we need. I think we're going to get it done."
While it is exciting to look forward to the potential of a future NCAA tournament appearance, the seniors are making sure their teammates are taking it one game at a time. With four games remaining in the regular season, every win, or loss, will matter greatly.
"We just need to look at these next four games right now, and hopefully, if we take care of business, we can get there," senior defenseman Jakob Stridsberg said.
Stridsberg, who came to ASU with three years of eligibility in 2016-17, has been a staple on the back end for the Sun Devils growth, playing in every game his "freshman" season and all but two last season. In his first collegiate season, he led all Sun Devil defensemen in goals (9) and points (17).
While each of them left their impact on the ice, all five led by example in the classroom. All four of the four-year seniors will leave with an undergraduate degree as well as a masters degree, while Stridsberg will earn his undergrad early in just three years.
While lots of young players scoffed at the idea of helping build a program up from the ground up, these few faced the challenge head-on and have accumulated as many wins against Division I opponents this season (19) as they did against in their first three years combined. They'll get a chance to break that Friday night.
With the "Founding Fathers" of Sun Devil Hockey set to play out their last home games in the Maroon and Gold this weekend against American International, their story and legacy still has blank pages left to be filled.
From being a walk-on to being named an alternate captain, Croston seemed to know what his co-founders were thinking when reflecting on their time as Sun Devils.
"To me, there's no better place to play Division I hockey."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Four years ago, four young hockey players blindly committed to a college hockey program that had never participated in an NCAA Division I game. All they had was a motto and a direction from the new head coach.
"Be the tradition."
The group was comprised of a gold medalist, a physical defenseman eventually turned forward, a transfer, and a local walk-on. It was then, in the fall of 2015, when the "Founding Fathers" of Sun Devil Hockey moved to Tempe.
"What we've defined our culture to be is leave the program better than when you found it," said head coach Greg Powers. "These seniors -- they're the ones that made it through. We brought in a lot of kids in that first hybrid year not knowing who was going to make it through, who might get over recruited, and who would be a long term fit because of how fast we jumped into it. These are the guys we knew we could build around."
Alternate captain Anthony Croston just wants to play hockey. And win. Growing up just down the road where he attended Pinnacle High School, Croston was determined to keep his hockey career alive as long as possible. After a few years playing junior hockey, Croston decided to walk-on to the Sun Devils brand-new Division I hockey team.
Fast forward to the present day, Croston will be playing in his 123rd and 124th games this weekend -- the only player in program history to reach over 100 games wearing the Maroon & Gold -- with an 'A' on his chest as an alternate captain and on scholarship. During his four year career, he's missed just two games with one coming due to a one-game NCAA mandated suspension and the other to a family emergency.
"It's really special to play all four years here and be able to tell people I kind of started this," Croston said. "Just to see how it's grown, all the stuff we've gone through, all the ups-and-downs, it's special to see it moving in the right direction."
On the verge of making their first ever NCAA tournament appearance, the Sun Devils have come a long way from their first Division I game.
On October 9, 2015, the Sun Devils opened up against Alaska Anchorage in the first Division I game in program history. With 3:14 remaining in the second period, Jack Rowe made history with a wrist shot past the Seawolves' goalie for the first-ever Division I goal.
He ranks it among the top moments in his hockey career, which includes winning a gold medal at the Five Nations Tournament in Switzerland while playing for Team USA Select 17 Team in 2010.
"It's something that I'm so proud of and I'm lucky and fortunate to be able to take that with me and remember that for the rest of my life," Rowe said. "It's something that was very special at the time, but I don't think at the time I realized just how much I would appreciate it now. Having your stamp on something like that is pretty special."
Another special moment happened earlier this season when Jake Clifford scored the game-winning overtime goal against Princeton on his birthday -- and the head coach's birthday.
"That is poetic justice is what happened out there with Cliff," said Powers that night after the victory. "It's his birthday today and he's been a tremendous program builder for us. He's been through a lot of ups and downs as we've grown, and for him to have this big moment on his birthday in his senior year is a good moment for him."
After joining ASU as a defenseman, Clifford began to see his minutes on the ice dwindling. Because he still felt he could contribute, Clifford approached the coaching staff about a position change.
"I just wanted to contribute and be a good teammate," Clifford said. "I wanted to contribute in any role that I could."
Since that conversation, Clifford has played in 61 of 64 games over the last two seasons as a member of the fourth line, which Powers leans on heavily against some of the top lines in the country.
While his Sun Devil career features just three years on the ice with a Pitchfork on his chest, redshirt senior Dylan Hollman has been with the program since day one. After suffering an injury in a practice during his first year at UMass-Lowell, Hollman reaggravated it during an exhibition which put him out for half the season. After returning without a spot in the lineup, Hollman reached out to Powers about transferring and help grow a new program in the desert.
With four years packed full of painful losses and sprinkled with hard-fought upsets, one of the moments that some refer to as a turning point was when the program captured their first tournament win at the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational last season among a field with powerhouse Boston College and storied programs receiving votes in the polls in Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech.
"This has been the first year where we haven't been underdogs for a lot of the games," Hollman said. "But going into that tournament, we were the underdog and being able to win the first college hockey tournament in Las Vegas was pretty sweet."
Winning a different kind of tournament game is now potentially on the docket this season. If the Sun Devils were to make the NCAA tournament this season, it would be a giant leap forward for a program still in its infancy -- and would be the first independent program to make the tournament as an at-large team since Alaska Anchorage in 1992.
To the seniors who have battled through the one-sided losses and the tough times, it would be the icing on the cake.
"It would mean the world to me," Clifford said. "Seeing how far we've come, all the games we've lost. It would just mean the world to me and it would set the tone for this program and getting that winning culture is what we need. I think we're going to get it done."
While it is exciting to look forward to the potential of a future NCAA tournament appearance, the seniors are making sure their teammates are taking it one game at a time. With four games remaining in the regular season, every win, or loss, will matter greatly.
"We just need to look at these next four games right now, and hopefully, if we take care of business, we can get there," senior defenseman Jakob Stridsberg said.
Stridsberg, who came to ASU with three years of eligibility in 2016-17, has been a staple on the back end for the Sun Devils growth, playing in every game his "freshman" season and all but two last season. In his first collegiate season, he led all Sun Devil defensemen in goals (9) and points (17).
While each of them left their impact on the ice, all five led by example in the classroom. All four of the four-year seniors will leave with an undergraduate degree as well as a masters degree, while Stridsberg will earn his undergrad early in just three years.
While lots of young players scoffed at the idea of helping build a program up from the ground up, these few faced the challenge head-on and have accumulated as many wins against Division I opponents this season (19) as they did against in their first three years combined. They'll get a chance to break that Friday night.
With the "Founding Fathers" of Sun Devil Hockey set to play out their last home games in the Maroon and Gold this weekend against American International, their story and legacy still has blank pages left to be filled.
From being a walk-on to being named an alternate captain, Croston seemed to know what his co-founders were thinking when reflecting on their time as Sun Devils.
"To me, there's no better place to play Division I hockey."