Dave Dougall was once a key piece to the Arizona Icecats 1985 championship season, and now he returns to the Icecats bench as an assistant coach to head coach Leo Golembiewski.
The two games against No. 9 ASU (3-4) this weekend will be Dougall’s first appearance behind the bench for the Icecats since he did not travel with the team on their three road trips.
“”He strayed for about 19 years,”” Golembiewski said, “”but we got him back to the desert.””
Dougall has been present in Icecat practices since the beginning of the season, but now he will get a chance to see his players in real game action for the first time.
“”Its gonna be different because your used to being part of that (on the ice), but now your watching that,”” Dougall said.
The Icecats (6-1) start a challenging 10-game home stand beginning with games Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against ASU at the Tucson Convention Center, with games against ranked teams every weekend except one for the rest of the semester.
“”We can’t make the mistakes we’ve been making, because we’re not gonna get away with them like we have playing against a better team like ASU,”” junior co-captain Scott Marshall said.
The Icecats will be at full strength this weekend with the returns of sophomore defenseman Kevin West (separated shoulder) and sophomore right wing Robbie Nowinski, who did not travel with the team last week because of conflicting schedules with school.
Junior goalie Luke Edwall, who is 4-0 with a 2.52 goals against average, will be between the pipes for tonight’s game.
The Icecats will need to find a way to get past ASU goalie Kyle Bronsteen, who has a stellar 2.18 GAA in seven games.
“”They’re gonna be tough, they’re gonna skate hard, but we’re gonna take it to ’em,”” Nowinski said.
ASU forward Corey Ray leads the team with five goals and seven assists and will be a point of concentration for the Icecat defense.
“”We need to come out hard,”” Golembiewski said. “”ASU plays a lot like Western Michigan, and we need to counter that so we don’t fall behind like we did in that game.””
