After a up and down 2023-2024 season that concluded with a first round tournament loss to the University of Pittsburgh, Arizona hockey will try to find more consistency this upcoming season.
The Wildcats started last season 4-1 with an impressive series sweep over Utah before a rough 2-7 stretch later in the season. After impressive sweeps of Oregon, San Diego State and Arizona State at home, the team finished the season with a record of 15-15. The Wildcats then lost 5-2 to University of Pittsburgh in the first round of the ACHA National Tournament.
One big issue the ‘Cats faced last season was being unable to win away from home ice. Head Coach Chad Berman said “[We] got to win on the road, it took us awhile to win road games last year, I think that was a part of our competitive immaturity that we were going through and hopefully we have learned those lessons.”
Last season’s captain and leading point scorer Jesse Lowell went on to play in France for the hockey team Annecy. Another big losses the team will face are goalie Niklas Seppänen and defenseman Ryan Fischer.
Goalies:
Four goalies make up the team’s goalie rotation for this years team, TJ Demeulenaere, Haydn Gould, Nate Gulsvig and Adam Stevenson. Demeulenaere, a Sophomore appeared in 12 regular season games last season, going 5-5 with a .928 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average(GAA). Gulsvig played in 4 games for the Cats last season, with a 3-0 record and a 2.11 GAA. Gould is a freshman from Columbus, Ohio and Steveneson is a freshman from Chandler, Arizona.
Forwards:
15 players currently make up this seasons forward core with 11 of the 15 being returners from last year. Senior Tyler Shetland was second behind Lowell on the team in points last season with 13 goals and 14 assists. Junior Dylan Walker and Senior Sam Myers are also returning after posting 25 and 24 points last season respectfully. Sophomores Trystan Swiger and Ari Rossi were two players Coach Berman identified as ones he was excited to see take a leap this upcoming season. “Both of them immediately have passed the eye test. When we hit campus noticeably [Swiger] put on 15 pounds, I don’t know exactly what Rossi did, he looks like he might have trimmed down on added muscle. So I’m hoping that’s a great sign of their commitment to being great,” said Coach Berman.
Defense:
The defense is highlighted by Senior Nicholas Chiocca who had 15 points in 17 games last season. Jacob Kozden, Luke Busby and Hunter Hodgson are all also returners who will look to take a step forward after the loss of Fischer, Jerret Overland and John Shivley. Freshmen Lachlan Gibson, Chris Magovern and John Baird make up the rest of the defenseman room.
Coach Berman said he likes this year’s roster more, compared to the previous season. “We’ve upgraded in some areas that we were lacking last year. I feel like we not only filled some holes, but improved some areas of our depth chart. So we feel like we’ve got a really balanced, strong team,” Berman said.
Key Games:
The team will have seven matchups against Arizona State with three of them coming in the second week of the season, one at the Tucson Convention Center on October 4th and two at Tempe on October 6th and 12th. The teams first game, however, will be Thursday September 26th at the Tucson Convention Center against San Diego State at 6:00 pm with the women’s team playing Grand Canyon right after at 8:30 pm.
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