Arizona State Sun Devils women's ice hockey
The Arizona State Sun Devils Women's Ice Hockey team represents Arizona State University (ASU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League (WWCHL). The team has continuously grown stronger since being founded ahead of the 2016–17 season, subsequently with the rise of the Arizona State men's ice hockey team to the NCAA D1 level.
Lindsey Ellis has been the team's coach in each of the program's four years of existence, having grown up in nearby Peoria and coming back to Arizona to start the program after a successful career at Miami University that included an ACHA National Championship in 2014.
| Arizona State Sun Devils women's ice hockey | |
|---|---|
| University | Arizona State University |
| Conference | Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League |
| Head coach | Lindsey Ellis 4th season, 32–44–2 |
| Assistant coaches | Kaley Marino, Amber Galles, Mariah Trupp |
| Captain(s) | Kat Jones |
| Alternate captain(s) | Jordan Nash-Boulden, Molly Potter, Danielle Dupont |
| Arena | Oceanside Ice Arena Tempe, Arizona |
| Colors | Maroon and Gold |
History
2016–17
Arizona State University announced the addition of women's club ice hockey in August 2015, with play scheduled to begin the following season in August 2016.[1] The team would play its home games at Oceanside Ice Arena, the same venue as the men's team and just miles from campus. Arizona native Lindsey Ellis would serve as the head coach. Ellis played four years of club hockey at Miami University and was an alternate captain for two seasons. In her junior season, 2013/14, Ellis and Miami won the national title, the same year ASU's D1 men's ACHA team won the title, prompting the wheels to be put in motion for a women's team at ASU.[2]
The team's inaugural leadership group was made up of captain KC McGinley and alternate captains Dannika Borges, Amber Galles and Taylor England.
ASU played its first season with a thin roster and a road-heavy schedule, with the first game in ASU's history taking place on Friday, October 7 in Boulder, a 5-1 loss to the University of Colorado. The first goal in program history was scored by Erin Raws 14:08 into the first period on an assist from Dannika Borges.
Over the remainder of the regular season, the Sun Devils faced Colorado State University, Midland University, Lindenwood-Belleville, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin. While all of these games resulted in losses, the Midland games were close, both at scores of 3-1. After a 0-12 start, ASU's first wins as a program finally took place February 4, a 5-3 victory over the University of Denver that included its first ever hat trick, a three-goal effort from junior Amber Galles.
After ending the season with a 2-1 win over Denver, ASU prepped for the WWCHL tournament, having earned a bid by being the host team. All three games of the postseason tournament were losses, 4-0 to Lindenwood, 5-4 to Colorado State and 5-4 to Midland. The team finished 2-15 and placed seventh in their eight-team conference.
2017–18
After a challenging inaugural season that saw the Sun Devils go 2-15, the 2017/18 campaign was a season marked with significant improvement. While the roster was not any larger, with 10-12 skaters in any given game, the returners contributed more points than the previous season with key contributions from newcomers as well.
Goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden was the lone net-minder for ASU all year long, playing 1,499 minutes and facing 1,000 shots for a save percentage of .921. The team brought in a freshman class of three players, highlighted by Catherine Jones, who scored seven goals with seven assists for 14 points, good for 4th on the team.
The season began with two games against Grand Canyon University, marking the first meetings between the two teams in GCU's inaugural campaign. While the season's opener resulted in a tie[3], the Sun Devils stormed back the next night to take a 4-1 victory[4]. Finishing off a stretch of six straight home games to open the season, the Devils dropped two games to Colorado[5], then two over Colorado State, ASU's first two wins over the CSU Rams in history.[6]
After the wins over CSU, the team hit a rough patch, dropping six straight games between the WWCHL Showcase in Colorado and two home losses and Midland. One of these loses was a 1-0 shutout at the hands of GCU, marking the Lopes' first win not only over ASU but as a program.[7] Arizona State rebounded against GCU in December, ending 2017 on a strong note, beating GCU twice on the road with a 3-0 victory December 8 that was both Nash-Boulden's and the program's first shutouts.[8]
ASU wrapped up its home-heavy regular season with two victories over Denver[9], clinching a berth to the WWCHL playoffs to be held at the end of February in Fremont, Nebraska. Before the postseason began, the Sun Devils hit the road for a non-conference weekend in Ohio, playing two games against head coach Lindsey Ellis' alma mater, Miami University and one against Ohio State.
Ahead of the postseason, Arizona State was ranked for the first time in program history, coming in at No. 15 in the ACHA weekly rankings for women's division 1.[10] The season ended in Nebraska at Sidner Ice Arena, where the Sun Devils lost to Lindenwood-Belleville and Midland in the WWCHL tournament.[11] The Sun Devils finished the season 8-15-1, the program's best mark and a conference record of 7-10-1 that positioned them fifth of the nine teams in the WWCHL.
2018–19
Arizona State's 2018/19 season was drastically different from seasons past, with the program's first large recruiting class and for the first time in team history, a full roster of 21 players.[12] For the first four weeks of the season, the Sun Devils hovered between 12 and 14 in the ACHA rankings before dropping out for several weeks and reappearing at No. 15 later in the season.
For the second straight year, ASU began the season against Grand Canyon, continuing a cross-town rivalry that developed the previous season with a series split.[13] With two games under her team's belt, head coach Lindsey Ellis chose to name four alternate captains, having waited until after the season began. Of the four, two were unique selections in the college hockey landscape, in a goaltender (Jordan Nash-Boulden) and a freshman (Kat Jones).[14]
The Sun Devils then spent two weekends away from home, participating in the WWCHL showcase against Denver and Midland, in Colorado and a showcase in Springfield, Missouri with games against Concordia Ann Arbor, Aquinas and McKendree. For the first time in program history, ASU tied Midland, drawing 4-4 in overtime for its first non-loss against the Warriors. In Missouri, the Devils went 2-1, with their only loss coming to McKendree, a 5-0 deficit on Saturday, October 27. In the October 25th game against CUAA, freshman forward Kat Jones recorded the second hat trick in program history, scoring three goals in the 8-1 win.[15] The next six games were a stretch against the three Colorado teams. ASU split a home series with Colorado State, lost two to Colorado and beat Denver twice before coming back home to split a home-and-home series with GCU.
When the calendar flipped to 2019, the Sun Devils wrapped up December with two losses to Minnesota[16], before taking a week off and bouncing back strong to wrap up the regular season with a sweep of GCU at home. On February 8, Kat Jones won the game with a shorthanded goal in overtime, the lone tally in a 1-0 victory.[17]
To wrap up the season, ASU hosted the WWCHL conference tournament in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Golden Knights' City National Arena. After a 3-1 loss to Colorado on February 22[18], the closest margin eever between the two teams, the Devils responded on February 23 with their first ever playoff win, a 4-0 victory over GCU to send the team into the semifinals for the first time in program history.[19] While the season ended with a 3-0 loss to Midland late in the evening on the 23rd, the game not only marked the deepest playoff run in program history, but their 10-12-1 finish (.457 winning percentage) was the best in the young team's three seasons. 8-11-1 in conference play during the regular season was good for 3rd of the six teams in the WWCHL.
2019–20
The 2019/20 season is currently ongoing.
Record vs Opponents
| School | Games | Overall | Home | Road | GF | GA |
| Adrian College | 1 | 0-1-0 | 0-0-0 | 0-1-0 | 0 | 5 |
| Aquinas College | 2 | 2-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 8 | 4 |
| Assiniboine College (D2) | 3 | 0-3-0 | 0-3-0 | 0-0-0 | 12 | 3 |
| Colorado State University | 9 | 4-5-0 | 2-2-0 | 2-3-0 | 33 | 32 |
| Concordia University Ann Arbor | 2 | 2-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 21 | 1 |
| Davenport University | 1 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 6 | 1 |
| Grand Canyon University | 14 | 9-4-1 | 5-0-1 | 4-4-0 | 38 | 19 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 5 | 0-5-0 | 0-1-0 | 0-4-0 | 3 | 25 |
| McKendree University | 2 | 0-2-0 | 0-2-0 | 0-0-0 | 1 | 10 |
| Miami University | 2 | 0-2-0 | 0-0-0 | 0-2-0 | 1 | 14 |
| Midland University | 10 | 0-9-1 | 0-5-1 | 0-4-0 | 16 | 37 |
| Ohio State University | 1 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 4 | 2 |
| University of Colorado | 7 | 0-7-0 | 0-2-0 | 0-5-0 | 11 | 40 |
| University of Denver | 9 | 9-1-0 | 4-1-0 | 4-0-0 | 40 | 15 |
| University of Michigan | 1 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 5 | 1 |
| University of Minnesota | 5 | 0-5-0 | 0-3-0 | 0-2-0 | 3 | 30 |
| University of Utah | 2 | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 17 | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | 2 | 0-2-0 | 0-1-0 | 0-1-0 | 3 | 7 |
Season by season results
| Year | Coach | W | L | T | Conference | Conf. W | Conf. L | Conf. T | Finish | Conference Tournament | ACHA Tournament |
| 2019-20 | Lindsey Ellis | 12 | 2 | 0 | WWCHL | 8 | 0 | 0 | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 2018-19 | Lindsey Ellis | 10 | 12 | 1 | WWCHL | 8 | 11 | 1 | 3rd | Lost First Round vs. Colorado (3–1) Won First Round vs. Grand Canyon (4-0) Lost Semifinals vs. Midland (3-0) |
Did not qualify |
| 2017-18 | Lindsey Ellis | 8 | 15 | 1 | WWCHL | 7 | 10 | 1 | 5th | Lost First Round vs. Lindenwood (3-0) Lost First Round vs. Midland (5-1) |
Did not qualify |
| 2016–17 | Lindsey Ellis | 2 | 15 | 0 | WWCHL | 2 | 15 | 0 | 7th | Lost First Round vs. Lindenwood (4-0) Lost First Round vs. Colorado State (5-4) Lost Consolation vs. Midland (5–4) |
Did not qualify |
Program records
Career scoring leaders
| Name | Years | Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Kat Jones | 2018-Present | 37 | 30 | 17 | 47 |
| Danielle Dupont | 2018-Present | 37 | 19 | 22 | 41 |
| KC McGinley | 2016-2019 | 64 | 13 | 18 | 31 |
| Amber Galles | 2016-2018 | 41 | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Dannika Borges | 2016-2018 | 41 | 13 | 13 | 26 |
- Games: Molly Potter, 2016-Present (78)
- Goals: Kat Jones, 2018-Present (30)
- Assists: Danielle Dupont, 2018-Present (22)
- Points: Kat Jones, 2018-Present (47)
- Power Play Goals: Kat Jones, 2018-Present (8)
- Shorthanded Goals: Kat Jones, 2018-Present (2)
- Game-Winning Goals: Kat Jones 2018-Present (6)
- Penalty Minutes: Dannika Borges, 2016-2018 (122)
Single season scoring leaders
| Name | Season | Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Danielle Dupont | 2019/20 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 25 |
| Kat Jones | 2019/20 | 14 | 17 | 8 | 25 |
| Kat Jones | 2018/19 | 23 | 13 | 9 | 22 |
| Amber Galles | 2017/18 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 19 |
| KC McGinley | 2017/18 | 24 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
- Games: 10 Tied, 2017/18 (24)
- Goals: Kat Jones, 2019/20 (17)
- Assists: KC McGinley, 2017/18 (13)
- Points: Kat Jones & Danielle Dupont, 2019/20 (25)
- Power Play Goals: Kat Jones, 2019/20 (6)
- Shorthanded Goals: Kat Jones, 2018/19 (2)
- Penalty Minutes: Dannika Borges, 2016/17 (66)
Single game scoring leaders
- Goals: Danielle Dupont, September 28, 2019 @ Colorado State (4)
- Assists: Alyssa Ayers, November 3, 2018 vs. Colorado State (4)
- Points: Danielle Dupont, September 28, 2019 @ Colorado State (5)
- Power Play Goals: Kat Jones, November 23, 2019 vs. Utah (2)
- Shorthanded Goals: 4 Tied (1)
- Penalty Minutes: Dannika Borges, February 5, 2017 vs. Denver (10)
ACHA Ranking History
The top eight teams in the final ACHA ranking of the season receive an invitation to the ACHA National Tournament. In the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons, the ACHA tabulated rankings each week during the season and issued them on Tuesdays following weekends including games. Beginning in 2018–19, the ACHA switched to an entirely computerized system with again weekly rankings being released, albeit not always on Tuesdays.
| Year | Ranking | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | |||||||
| 2019–20 | 12 | 13 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–19 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017–18 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 15 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 2016–17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical Notes
Goaltenders
Four goalies have played for ASU Women's Hockey, though Jordan Nash-Boulden has seen over 80% of the program's minutes.
| Name | Years | Games Played (Record) | Minutes | Saves | Save Pct. | GAA | Shutouts |
| Jordan Nash-Boulden | 2016–present | 65 (27-35-2) | 3923:37 | 2357 | .919 | 3.18 | 4 |
| Brianna Hersom | 2016/17 | 7 (0-6-0) | 353:06 | 296 | .911 | 4.93 | 0 |
| Macy Eide | 2018–presents | 6 (3-3-0) | 360:00 | 185 | .916 | 2.83 | 2 |
| Landry Phelps | 2018–present | 2 (2-0-0) | 120:00 | 24 | .923 | 1.00 | 1 |
Hat Tricks
Arizona State women’s hockey has seen six hat tricks recorded in program history, four of them coming during the 2019/20 season.
- Amber Galles: Saturday, February 4, 2017 vs. Denver (3 Goals)
- Kat Jones: Thursday, October 28, 2018 vs. Concordia-Ann Arbor (3 Goals)
- Danielle Dupont: Saturday, September 29, 2019 at Colorado State (4 Goals)
- Kat Jones: Friday, November 8, 2019 vs. Davenport (3 Goals)
- Kat Jones: Sunday, November 10, 2019 vs. Michigan (3 Goals)
- Malak Rabuk: Saturday, November 23, 2019 vs. Utah (3 Goals)
Conference Honors
Includes WWCHL all-conference from 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
First Team All-WWCHL
- KC McGinley (Defense) - 2016/17
- KC McGinley (Defense) - 2017/18
- Jordan Nash-Boulden (Goalie) - 2017/18
- Alyssa Ayers (Forward) - 2018/19