After an 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 the University of Utah before a rough 2-7 stretch later in the season. After impressive sweeps over the University of Oregon, San Diego State University and ASU 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 American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament.
One big issue the Wildcats faced last season was being unable to win away from home ice.
“[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,” head coach Chad Berman said.
Last season’s captain and leading point scorer Jesse Lowell went on to play in France for the hockey team Annecy. Another big loss the team will face are goalie Niklas Seppänen and defenseman Ryan Fischer.
Goalies:
Four goalies make up the team’s goalie rotation: 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 2.57 goals against average. Gulsvig played in four games for the Wildcats last season, with a 3-0 record and a 2.11 GAA. Gould is a freshman from Columbus, Ohio and Stevenson is a freshman from Chandler, Arizona.
Forwards:
15 players currently make up this season’s 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 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,” Berman said.
Defense:
The Arizona 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, Jerrett Overland and John Shivley. Freshmen Lachlan Gibson, Chris Magovern and John Baird make up the rest of the defenseman room.
Berman said this year’s roster may achieve success in areas the previous season’s roster could not.
“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 ASU with three of them coming in the second week of the season, one in the Tucson Convention Center on Oct. 4 and two in Tempe on Oct. 6 and Oct. 12. The team’s first game, however, will be Thursday, Sept. 26 in the Tucson Convention Center against San Diego State at 6 p.m. with the women’s team playing GCU right after at 8:30 p.m.
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