The University of Arizona men’s hockey team entered the 2024–2025 season with a 16-12 record from the previous season that ended with an ACHA tournament loss to the University of Pittsburgh in the first round. After the season, the team had lost a key player in Jesse Lowell, who had registered 29 points during the season. Lowell, who was the team’s captain for two seasons, went on to play in France for Hockey Club d’Annecy.
The Wildcats started the season strong with a 4-1 record that included two wins over both ASU and San Diego State University. The hot start would fade quickly, however, as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and GCU swept Arizona to fall to 5-6 by mid-November.
Arizona finished the 2024 calendar year strong with a sweep of ASU but still stood in seventh place in the WCHL standings going into this year. The team started the year slow, going 2-4 in their first six games back to stand at a record of 10-12.
The team turned its season around with back-to-back sweeps of the University of Central Oklahoma and San Diego State, finding themselves in sixth place in the WCHL standings.
The team defeated ASU twice in the final two regular-season games and finished the regular season with 33 points. The team was able to qualify for the ACHA playoffs as the 15 seed, where they would take on the University of Oklahoma in the first round. This would be a rematch as the two teams split a series at Oklahoma earlier in the season.
The Wildcats were able to defeat Oklahoma 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs and would now take on No. 2 UNLV for another rematch. Unfortunately, the season came to an end as the team fell 6-2 in the second round of the ACHA playoffs.
Best game of the season: 3-2 win at home over Arizona State
This was the final regular season game for Arizona and put a cap on a 6-1 season record against ASU. The game would be tied going into the third period, with forward Ari Rossi scoring the first goal for the Wildcats in the first period.
An exciting third period saw defenseman Nicholas Chiocca put Arizona in front 2-1 before ASU responded with a game-tying goal. The game would reach overtime after neither team scored in the final 10 minutes.
No goals were scored in the overtime period and the game was headed to a shootout. In one of the most memorable moments in recent Arizona hockey history, forward Trystan Swiger won the game for Arizona with an eighth round shootout goal.
Key players:
The team had four players with 10 or more goals in the season, being forwards Dylan Walker, Justin Hughes and Riley Ruh, alongside the defenseman Chiocca. Walker, a junior, was able to lead the team in assists with 21 and total points with 33.
The team was able to get a big boost mid-way through the season when forward Wyatt Stefan joined the team. Stefan, an NCAA D1 Sacred Heart University commit for the 2025–2026 season, played the first half of his season for Rochester Jr. Americans in the NAHL before joining the Wildcats over the month-long break. Stefan’s dad, Patrik, was the first pick in the 1999 NHL draft by the Atlanta Thrashers. Stefan was able to post 17 points in 12 games for the Wildcats and was a huge player for the team down the stretch.
Freshman Hadyn Gould was the primary goaltender for the team, starting 23 regular season games as well as both playoff games. Gould was able to post a 15-8 record with a 0.915% save rate and a 2.75 goals against average. Gould also finished the season with three shutouts.
Best current rookies headed into next season:
Many first-year players were able to contribute significant amounts to the team this season, with Ruh and Gould leading the way.
Ruh finished his freshman season with 14 goals and 11 assists and will certainly be looked at as a core player going into next season.
Another freshman who contributed was defenseman Billy Moloney. Moloney was another mid-season addition and like Stefan, he made his limited games count, posting 6 points in 12 games.
