February 20, 2024 • 47 mins
Join the voice of Sun Devil Hockey Tyler Paley and Sun Devil Hockey Head Coach Greg Powers as they preview the upcoming Alaska trip for the Sun Devils and what this team can accomplish the remainder of the season.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
You're listening to Hell Frozen Over withSun Devil head Hockey coach Greg Powers live
from Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers on FoxSports nine ten and the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome to the course light first periodof Hell Frozen Over now alongside Coach Powers,
the voice of Sun Devil Hockey TylerPalley. The regular season is officially
(00:24):
winding down and Sun Devil Hockey findsitself riding the tournament bubble, currently sitting
at nineteenth in the pairwise rankings withsix games left to play. They'll need
to continue to win and hope someother teams lend a helping hand. But
tournament aside, the Sun Devils stillhave another goal in mind that's completely within
their power. Set a new programrecord for wins in a season and hit
(00:44):
that coveted twenty five victory mark tochart the path forward. Hi, everybody,
Welcome into season two, episode tenof Hell Frozen Over Live tonight from
Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers in Arcadia forthe next hour here on Fox Sports nine
ten and streaming on the iHeartRadio App. I'm Tyler Paley, the radio play
by play broadcaster of Sun Devil Hockey. Happy to have you along as we
discuss the team's latest news and notesand get you ready for yet another week
(01:08):
of college hockey. Joining me tonightevery show this year are Arizona State head
coach Greg Powers and my broadcast partnerAlex Coyle. Gentlemen, good to see
you coach. Another weekend without games, chance to rest and recover. I
trust as you guys head into thefinal three series. How was the break
for you? If you even gotone? How was the break for the
guys? The break was good.I had our daughter came in town and
(01:30):
from Pittsburgh. She builts out thereand plays hockey out there, so we
spent the weekend with her, andit was nice, nice weekend off.
The guys needed it. We hadsome guys banged up that played through some
injuries against them last series, andso the week off was really good for
them. And we feel good goinginto Fairbanks pretty much fully healthy. That's
great. That's great news, andwe're gonna preview a lot about that Fairbanks
(01:52):
team. In fact, Fairbanks willfeature will be featured a whole lot in
this show, because the Nanooks wereyour last opponent also your next opponent,
so let's start with the series theycould played two weekends ago. Game one
very close, but it really neverfelt like, at least for me,
that Arizona State was was in trouble. One goal in the first, one
(02:13):
in the second. That was reallyall the offense you needed because of Gibson
Homer's fantastic performance and ended up beinghis first collegiate shutout. Fairbanks did have
some chances, particularly a ton onthat five minute major in the second period,
but Gibby stood strong. How grittya win was that it was good,
It was a really good win.Gibby was just in complete control of
(02:35):
that game, you know, reallythe whole weekend, and he just he
was so steady and solid, andhe made tough saves look easy and he
made easy ones look easier. Soit was it was just what the doctor
ordered for us to to kind ofget the guy's confidence back up and play
a little bit looser. And itwas nice to get to get both wins,
but that that was a good one, you know, to just shut
(02:55):
them out and have Gibbey play sowell was great. And that second game,
three or four goals were power playgoals. The other one was an
empty netter. Of course, thatwas really one of the things that kind
of struggled for a little bit,but it was had to have been great
to finally see the results in scoringthose goals. Well, you guys did
last weekend? Yeah, no,for sure. I mean you always want
to be grade five on five,but I mean a really good recipe to
(03:16):
win hockey games is to have agreat power play, a really good penalty
kill, and good goaltending, andwe had all three. Fairbanks was really
good five on five. They playedwell all weekend, but our power play
was tremendous and Gibby made the saveswhen he needed to, and we beat
him on special teams. And again, when you can do that, you're
(03:37):
gonna win a lot of games.And it's a big reason why we're one
of only five twenty win teams becausewe have a really good power play and
a big part of that and wesaw it with him coming back over the
last couple of weekends. Is isty Jackson right? I mean, having
him back in the lineup, contributingwith two points on Friday, two more
on Saturday. What kind of aboost does he provide this team? And
(03:58):
will he provide this team down thejust a huge shot in the arm to
get him back. I mean,you can't be deep enough on any team.
You can't be deep enough down themiddle. It's really you have to
build your team, you know,from the middle and in the back end.
And you know when you lose sucha talented kid that competes so hard.
He's obviously a small kid, buthe just competes and he works and
(04:20):
he skates and he's got such ahigh IQ. He makes a difference.
He controls the game generally when he'son the ice, and he does it
even more when his brother's with himin healthy So we're really excited that they're
both going to be back for theirfifth year next year. But he was
a huge plot. I mean,getting four points out of that last weekend.
And I don't know if he's ifhe's not back, I don't know
(04:41):
if we win. Yeah, youknow, like he made that big of
an impact. Matthew Copper continues torack up those power play goals now on
his career. In Division one history, he's tied sixth all time in power
play scoring. He just seems toalways be open and find space. Of
course, he gives a lot ofcredit to guys Lucas Cillinger and tim Level
for that and and just what makeshim so good to find that space.
(05:04):
And I feel like he's gonna beable to find more space with the Olympic
sheet coming up this weekend. Yeah, no, that's what I mean.
I think they're going to be gluedto him, right, So, you
know, he was effective and scoredsome big goals against him and to cops
credit, you know, I mean, everybody keys in on him like they
do you know, Vegkin when theyplay the Capitals in the NHL, and
and so you know, they cheatto him. And you know, when
(05:27):
you have other weapons like Silly andTimmy that that are they're you know,
up top and running the other halfwall, it's it's tough to defend,
you know. And and they're allreally smart players. And and you know
the other guy that doesn't probably getenough credit is is Hicksy does a great
job with those guys running the powerplay. So they've been great. You
know. We we've kind of interchangedwho's on the net front and in the
(05:48):
middle there throughout the year based oninjury, but the three main stays are
three leading point getters, and andthere's a reason why our power plays,
I think third in the country,and it's mainly because of those three guys.
Well, I'm always so fascinated whenwe see a power play. I
mean, Alex and I were chucklinga couple of weekends ago because when you
see Cop that wide open on acouple of his scoring chances, it's just
(06:11):
so interesting to me, because youknow how Lethally is, but you bring
up a great point. It's like, you know, when you got Silly
out there, whether it's Charlie Shadeor Chambo Grats when he's healthy. I
mean, it's tough to lock downeveryone, right, it's five on four
for a reason. I'm just alwaysso intrigued as to why anybody would give
Cop space when they know exactly whathis move is. Sometimes you don't have
a choice, you know. Imean, I mean, when there's movement
(06:31):
on a power play and good retrievalsdown low and you're you're getting second and
third chance opportunities, you get thekillers moving around, you know, and
they can lose track of a guy, and that's what Silly and Timmy do
so well. They're active and theymove and with that motion comes confusion,
and then people become open and startto find seams over to cop and that's
(06:54):
when good things happen. Look asis required of us, I think,
you know, we want to zoomout big picture here for a moment.
When we sat here two weeks ago, ASU was at nineteenth in the pair
wise tonight you're at nineteenth in thepairway eighteenth, TI eighteenth nobody who's counting?
Though? Who's counting? All right? Tie for eighteenth wins at this
point don't really help a ton Losseswill hurt a lot. What is your
(07:16):
mindset as you sit here and tryto jump four or five or six spots
in the next three weeks before conferencetournaments? Speak, Yeah, all we
can do is play the schedule infront of us. It's all we've done
all year, you know. Imean, the two years we did qualify,
the computer seemed to really like us. This year it doesn't, you
know. And a lot of thatis because of our home heavy schedule,
you know. And but we werenot going to turn down twenty six home
(07:40):
games to really Kristen Mullet Arena,with all the travel that our program's done
over the course of eight years,playing the twenty six home games, if
I had to do it over again. I'd do it all over again.
Yeah, you know. And we'reright there within striking distance. That's all
you can ask. It is sohard to get in as an independent,
and and people I think this isthis is a season indicative of how hard
(08:03):
it is to the general you know, you know fan base out there to
to to see. I mean,you know, we can end up having
twenty five, twenty six wins andnot get in. Yeah, you know,
and and and that probably will bethe most in the history of college
hockey. I don't know for afact, but I guarantee it's up there.
So we're just gonna play the gamesin front of us and continue to
(08:24):
try and chip away and and havethe best win total in the history of
our program. That's what we're focusedon. That's what we can control,
and that's what our goal is.You know, the situation coming in as
an independent, you understand how hardit is to make a tournament because you
have the other goals you guys cameinto this season. How important are those
to keep it keep guys motivated.Even if you know, come the final
(08:46):
six games of the season, itdoesn't look great to still have the goal
of reaching sur past twenty. Nowyou're going for the program record. Yeah.
I mean, nobody can take awayfrom these kids how how well they've
they've played, you know, andand I mean they're twenty six and six,
and that's that's one of the topfive records in the country. It's
not like we played a week schedule, you know. I mean it sometimes
(09:11):
as an independent you have to playwhoever will play you two great programs.
For example, that we're projected tobe top fifteen teams, we're Merrimack and
Northern Michigan, who we started thisseason against four and oh and for whatever
reason, injuries, whatever, they'rejust their seasons haven't gone the way they
had planned, you know. Sowhen you when you you can't predict who's
(09:31):
gonna be really good. When youhave to play an independent schedule, it's
not like you're in a conference whereyou know, five to six teams in
the NCC are gonna be top twentyevery year, or you know five to
six teams in the Big ten aregonna be top twenty year hockeys. As
an independent, it's a crap shoot, you know, And sometimes you get
rewarded and sometimes you don't. Butwe're not We're not gonna gonna bitch about
(09:52):
the system if it doesn't work outor cry, you know, Wolf,
it is what it is. Youknow, we've had a the good season.
We're proud of our guys and andat the end of the day,
we had a three goal lead atMiami, we believe, we had a
three goal lead at home against Denverto sweep and we didn't finish it off.
We tied in and went a home. We lost Augustan at home.
(10:13):
If we don't get in, thoseare gonna be the four games that we
look at. And that's that's that'son us, that's on us. Hindsight's
twenty twenty. But but you're right, excuse me, this, uh,
this season's not a lost one becausethere's been a lot that you guys have
accomplished and gotten over the hump andyou know, really proved to any remaining
doubters that this is a team thatshould be taken you know, legitimately that
(10:35):
twenty five win mark. Can youput in perspective what that would mean to
the school, to the program.It's further proof of you know, desert
hockey thriving. Yeah, I thinkit just validates everything that we've worked for
for so long, you know,and and tournament or no tournament. You
know, twenty five wins is veryhard to do in college hockey, So
you know, to get to thatmark would be incredible. It's gonna be
(10:58):
hard to eclipse. You know,don't see it happen very often, But
these guys really want it that thisteam really wants to be the team that
sets the win total record for ourprogram in our early history, and it's
the first thing that they really wantto accomplish. And whatever else happens happens.
(11:18):
I want to switch gears a bitbecause I've had a couple of people
ask me about this, and it'sbeen a while since I've brought it up.
But recruiting for future seasons, Iknow, there's only so much you
can say. I know, thetransfer portal is important to you, and
of course opens up here in acouple of months, But how is recruiting
going in the most general of terms, and what can you tell us on
(11:39):
that front. It's never been better, it's never gone it's never gone even
close to the level that it's atright now. When you bring in Dana
Borgius and Albi O'Connell two incredible recruiters. Albi's known as arguably the best recruiter
in college hockey. He's been onthe road probably three fourths of the season,
really going out and hammering the recruitingtrail and being in rinks. And
(12:01):
we have some really, really highend kids coming in next year. We
have some incredibly high end kids thatare projected to be first second round NHL
picks that are two three years away. So the recruiting is at an all
time high. And that's what happenswhen you have a facility you have the
success that we've had. This teamhas really reinstituted and rebuilt a great culture
(12:24):
the kids want to be a partof. And then we go into the
league. We go into the leaguenext year, and that was kind of
the last checkbox we needed to checkoff. And it's done and we're ready
to take huge steps. Yeah,it's like a proof of concept that you
have now. So that's great.One more before we let you take a
break here, I want to talkmore in depth about the goaltending situation in
(12:45):
the third period, but I'd beremiss not to bring up our guests tonight.
Coming up next, it's TJ SemptemFelter. He's been your guy for
two years now, and nobody wantedto see him struggle, of course,
but we know we've all been thereat one point or another. What's been
your message to TJ and how confidentare you in him as we sit here
tonight. Well, I mean Idon't waver with him at all. I
(13:05):
mean it's I have faith in himto a fault, you know, and
because I know what he can do, and I've seen what he can do,
and I know what he will continueto do. You have to have
depth at every position. And that'sall that we're seeing right now is is
TJ had a three game kind ofmoment where he wasn't at his peak.
And we have an unbelievable kid inGibson Homer that's very capable as well.
(13:28):
And people forget that Gibson was wason the National Development Program, so he
was considered in his birth year oneof the top two goalies in the in
the United States. So it's notlike you know, it's we have two
really high end goalies, you know, and and and that's what people are
seeing. It's a good problem tohave. Nobody should be worried about TJ.
(13:50):
TJ is fine, he'll be back. We wouldn't be where we are
without him, you know. Andyou look at like Colorado College what they're
doing right now. The game thathe stole up there defines what he can
be when he's great, and you'regoing to see a lot more about it.
Yeah, him, no question.He'll be a big component for the
Sun Devil success down the stretch.Really along with everybody in front of him.
We're really down to crunch time herewith everything on the line. Coach
(14:13):
Powers is going to take a breakand he'll be back to preview the next
test up in Fairbanks in the thirdperiod. Up next, though, Sun
Devil goaltender TJ. Simptom Felter joinsHealth Frozen Over for the first time this
season to talk about the Devil's yearoverall and how he's making an impact both
on and off the ice. Ourconversation right after this quick break on the
Mountain America credit Union Sun Devil RadioNetwork wire. Based on eligibility, what
(14:35):
a time offer offer can change orbe withdrawn at anytime you're listening to Hell
Frozen Over with Sun Devil head hockeycoach Greg Powers. Let's start the busy
Hard Seltzer. Second Period. I'mFox Sports nine to ten and the iHeartRadio
app. Thanks for sticking with us. Second period of health Frozen over our
hour long show talking all things SunDevil hockey. We're live every other Tuesday
(14:58):
this season from Cold Beer and Cheeseburgersin the Arcadia location. It's right near
fortieth Street in Indian School. Ifyou're not here tonight, we do have
our final show of the season,Alex Coyle. Can you believe it?
Our final show two weeks from today, Tuesday, March fifth, six pm.
You can come grab some delicious foodand talk college hockey with us,
or perhaps some baseball. What doyou say, well, Tyler, I'm
(15:20):
not going to call it the finalshow yet. I mean, if we
make the tournament, you never knowone the bonus not done yet, all
right, let me get to TJ'sintro here, all right, because look,
sometimes I think it's fair to saywe can lose the forest in the
trees. When a team drives oversome speed bumps, as the Sun Devils
did in January, you start wonderingwhat's changed from earlier in the season.
(15:41):
But look, when you step back, you realize the overall results in performance
from these guys has been nothing shortof impressive, and a huge part of
that success this year has been becauseof the Sun Devil's backstop TJ. Simpton
Felter, who joins us Live nowon Help Frozen Over. Been waiting all
season to have you on, myfriend, and apparently burger or the chicken
sandwich you ordered was too hard toturn down tonight. Huh. Yeah,
(16:03):
I'm happy to be here. Thankyou for having me on. Yeah,
we're We're excited to have you.So let's just start with this. How
are you? I mean, like, no beating around the bush? Last
few series you played in Cornell Augustana, they were tough. Take us inside
your mindset then versus now and howyou're doing. Yeah, I'm doing well.
I think like kind of my theway that I approach the game is
just it's it's a constant pursuit ofperfection. And I think when you look
(16:26):
at it that way, it's likethere's there's no game that you play where
it's perfect right. Every time yougo out there, mistakes are gonna happen,
you know, execution, And Ithink what's important is when you just
when you get down to the basicsof it. It's are you working hard,
are you preparing? And that's whatsets you up for success, and
you know there's times that it's notgoing to go your way. I mean,
you look at any professional athlete,any athlete in general, right,
(16:47):
it's that you're never gonna have astretch of constant games forever where you know
you're perfect and you're on the topof your game. And for me,
I think it's just been a greatlearning experience and and learning how to kind
of get through ruts and and upsand down of a season. And you
know, like you said, it'sa long season, right, so you
know there's gonna be ups and downs, and I think I think our team's
handled well just to fight through itand continue to find success. So what's
(17:11):
your relationship like with Gibson Homer,Because one of the coolest things this year
and talking to him was you know, how the work ethic that he would
have in practice and how he viewedeach thing as preparing him for when he
does get that opportunity, but alsolearning from you and watching you play now
that he's getting his three game stretchright now currently to to you know,
(17:32):
be the goaltender. What's your relationship, Like and what are you learning from
him? Yeah, we we havea great relationship. I think you know
one thing that I said to himwhen he got his first start even back,
and I said, I, youknow, I remember my first start
when I was at Kept playing infront of mullet in front of those fans
against Colgate, Like it's such anincredible atmosphere. And my message to him
was to just you know, havefun with it. And I think even
(17:53):
when I look back to my timeat Northeastern, it's like I was so
excited to get in the net andget that opportunity and play my first Division
one game. So you know,I couldn't be happier for him. And
it's clear, like he talks about, he works hard and you know he's
a great competitor and that's what's greatfor this team, right, I mean,
he makes our players better by havingdepth in this position and working hard,
(18:14):
and I think he's done a greatjob kind of while I'm figuring my
thing out, So and speaking ofthat, like, how how are you
getting right? I mean, howhow have you kind of you know,
changed your mindset, if at allto kind of get back into the TJ.
We know and love and who justshut out Colorado College, you know,
did all these things. I mean, coach was just talking about it,
like that's that's the TJ we've grownto know. And perhaps it's you
(18:36):
know, a flaw of ours tokind of set that standard for you.
But but like you know, youkind of outperformed everybody, and now it's
like we just kind of expecting thatdied out. No no, no,
I love that standard. Honestly,keep keep raising it too as I get
older here. But I think what'simportant is it's not necessarily what you should
change, but kind of what youcould focus on and just get back to.
(18:56):
And I think a huge piece that'skind of enabled me to have this
success that I have is just kindof my like blue collar, hard working
mentality. And you know, Ithink whenever you find your yourself in times
of you know, things aren't goingyour way, just really all you can
control is getting back to working hard, preparing and doing all the little things
that you know enabled me to havesuccess in the first place. And our
team, and I think also anotherbig piece of it is I'm fortunate to
(19:19):
have a great support staff. Imean, Coach Powers was just talking about
it about his faith in me andhis belief in me. I'm fortunate to
have, you know, goalie,coaches and other members of the staff that
really believe in me and things thatI'm doing. So when you have a
support staff like that behind you,you know, these these little ruts or
whatever, they don't they don't seemlike a great big deal, and it's
just important to push through it.And I know I will. You know,
(19:41):
I talked off the top about kindof losing the forest in the trees
right now. I know you holdyourself to such a high standard in every
game, but are you proud ofwhat you and your teammates have accomplished so
far this season? I think Ithink proud is definitely a good word.
I mean, we're not satisfied toany extent. Obviously, you know,
we're still in the hunt for thetournament, and you know we're right outside,
(20:03):
we're right there. I mean,we take care of business and that's
really all you can do and controlthe things you can control. But you
know, I think you look backon the season and we're you know,
we have a chance to potentially setlike a win record at ASU, which
is incredible. We won the DesertClassic, we won the Adirondack. I
mean, to get two championships andone season is great. I mean our
(20:23):
goal all year has been three,and we're still in pursuit of that.
So, you know, I thinkwhen you look back, even just from
this point, there's been a lotof great things that we can just continue
to build on and use as momentumas we go into this final six game
push here for the national Championship.Overall, all the accolades that you just
mentioned, the wins, a tonof winning this year, the two trophies,
(20:45):
you and a bunch really most ofthe guys are always smiling out there
in practice and having a good time. How fun has this season been with
how much winning you guys have done. Yeah, I think there's definitely a
different atmosphere in the locker room thisyear. I think winning kind of just
it breeds confidence and swaggering and success. And I think you can look at
it the other way, where thatconfidence, swagger and success just continues to
(21:07):
breathe winning. So, you know, I think it's just been great.
And you look at a lot ofthe guys that we brought in, including
the staff, including guys that webrought in from transfer including guys that we
brought in as freshmen, Like,they've just been great additions to continue to
build the culture to kind of wherewe know this this place can be.
And I've just been really happy tobe a part of it and glad that,
you know, I've been able totake a role and a piece and
(21:29):
kind of everything we've accomplished and continueto accomplish. I want to talk about
this upcoming weekend. How excited areyou to travel to Fairbanks, Alaska in
the middle of February. Yeah,somebody was just telling me today in the
locker room that it's like it's notgoing to be as cold as it had
been the past few weeks. ButI'm honestly I've I've hacked the layers.
Yeah, I've only ever been toAlaska though last year the last two times
(21:49):
that we went on trips. Sofor me, I always like to kind
of check off places and yeah,you know, say the world that I've
but it's it's a neat spot.I mean, there's not many places where
you can walk outside and see amove. Sir. Do we get to
see that we get to our firsttime going up there? What what do
we need to prepare for what dowe need to get ready with. Well,
definitely try to check out the northernlights. I mean they're beautiful.
(22:11):
Yeah, they're excited. You canlook up you know when you can go
and see them. But I meanI went out for a walk and I
saw a moose almost kill walk rightfrom you. Stay at like a good
distance. I hear. They're dangers, they're huge. Yeah. Oh yeah,
they kind of scare me. Butuh yeah, I definitely checked them
out. Okay, check out themoose. Found a good sushi spot to
an anchorage. So okay, yeahage, all right, we still got a
(22:33):
couple of weeks. We'll have togo over restaurant recommendations coming up. Overall,
team mindset right now, heading intothe last six games, you know,
you still have a chance, albeitI think it's fair to say a
long shot, but you have achance to make the tournament and and also
to get to that twenty five winmark. What is the mindset right now
in that locker room? Yeah,I mean, obviously, just one game
at a time. Right, Sowe touched on a little bit in the
(22:56):
in the previous question, but it'sjust so important to to kind of take
things one step at a time.There's so much that's out of our control
throughout the entire course of the season, and that's you know, injuries,
who beat too whatever. And Ithink it's just important to take it one
game at a time and control thethings you can control. I mean,
you look at Alaska last year.They had a fantastic season and they just
(23:17):
you know, things just didn't gotheir way. And I think if we
just continue to work hard to getthe wins and the successes that we need
to set us ourselves up for success, then you know what happens will happen.
But at least we know we dideverything we can in our power.
And like you said, I mean, you know there's a chance, right,
that's all you need, all youneed. Yeah, And one of
the most fun things from the hockeyperspective this season. It has all the
(23:38):
always mattered. Now Tyler probably disagreeswith me, but the shootouts this year.
You guys haven't lost in a shootoutsix for six and wins. How
fun is that as a goaltender.Yeah, I mean you asked any of
the guys that Mike Tiao stay outafter practice and just play shootouts and like
guys come down on breakaways, andthey like to try things. And I
think it's great too because they getthe bounce ideas off of me what they
(23:59):
think can I think it helps themget better, It helps me get better.
But yeah, I think it isa shame. I mean, obviously
it would be nice to get somepoints from those and you know they have
gone our way, and I thinknext year joining a conference it'll be great.
I mean, you look at thosesix shootout wins. Those are additional
points that we'll get and will besuper helpful next year in a conference.
So it helped you get a trophy. I kept telling Tyler at some point
(24:21):
this season, they're gonna matter matter. Yeah, right, it did.
It did. We only got likea minute left here, but I did
want to get this question in becauseI think it's important. I want to
talk about some of your efforts inthe community. I know there were you
were just out a few weekends agowith the Make a Wish Foundation. There
was also that Team Impact event thatthat came to Mullet against Fairbanks. Tell
(24:42):
us about those experiences, what theytaught you, what you learned from them.
Yeah, I was super excited whenI found out that I got to
attend that opportunity. It's it's awesome. I mean, you get to go
somewhere and and gificate the opportunity ofa lifetime. And yeah, even just
having the various people that we workwith through Team Impact and make a wish.
(25:02):
I mean, obviously for Team Impact, there are various kids on the
bench that we got to come overand just make their day. And it
kind of just reminds you to takea step back and perspective. Right,
Like, we're living out these kids'dreams and all they want to be is
around us and see how we interact, and it's great to be a part
of that. And you know,I hope I get to do more stuff
like that in the future. AndI know Jackson and Owen both had incredible
(25:23):
experiences with our guys and we're happyto be a part of that and help
out. Yeah, it was socool. I watched the video, saw
the photos. It was just socool. It's so awesome for you to
get out there. Last one foryou, it's about hockey any off season
plans yet, I know you stillgot games. I know you know you're
still in the middle of the semester, but you know, if you're thinking
(25:44):
that far ahead, I know youhad a very eventful offseason as far as
training this past one. Any plansfor this coming off season and you know,
hopefully returning to Tempe. Yeah,exactly. My plans are very similar
to last year. You know,I'll probably go home for a month or
two here and then get right backto training with Ane Blynn, who's you
know, a world class strength yea. So we're so fortunate to have her
as a resource and everything that shebrings to the table in that locker room,
(26:07):
and you know, very similar tomy plans last year. I'm also
really excited I'll be graduating this springgratulation. I'm really excited to kind of
get everything squared away from my master'sdegree next year. That's been a goal
of mine ever since I was evena freshman at Northeastern. So I'm looking
forward to that, and I believewe have everything squared away for that next
year with W. P. Carrey. So I was gonna ask, okay,
(26:29):
MBA, Yeah, I believe it'sthe Masters of Science and Finance.
Okay, very nice. Yeah,It's obviously something I'm really interested in and
I'm really excited about that. That'sawesome. Congratulations, good luck always a
pleasure talking to you, Appreciate youand go in joy some food. Thank
you, guys, thanks for havingJason all right. He remains goaltender number
one both on and off the ice. Won't be long before TJ is back
(26:51):
between the pipes, but in themeantime, focused on being the best teammate
he can be. All right.When we return to Help Frozen Over on
this Tuesday night, Coach Powers isback to talk about tackling the Nanooks of
Alaska Fairbanks again this weekend and reflecton his travels up to Fairbanks over the
years. Third period, right afterthis short break on the Mountain America Credit
Union Sun Devil Radio Network, it'sour uncommon commitment to customer service at Pacific
(27:14):
Office dot com. The problem solved. If you're listening to Hell Frozen Over
with Sundevil head hockey Coach Greg Powers, this is the Do Sakis third period
of Hell Frozen Over on Fox Sportsnine ten and the Iheartsradio. While back
in Arcadia. Third period, you'relistening to Hell Frozen Over live tonight on
the Mountain America Credit Union Sun DevilRadio Network. From cold Beers and Cheeseburgers,
(27:40):
good time to remind you mark yourcalendars. Our final show of the
season is on Tuesday, March fifth, six pm. You can come grab
a burger and hang out with CoachPowers and our Sun Devil Hockey guests.
So we're on the radio. We'reon Facebook Live as well. And I
did want to read a comment herefrom John who says three game losing streak,
ASU tell super Fan Wendy to bequiet. Somebody complained about her,
(28:03):
but we all love her. Sparkyalways stops by and hugs her. I
think he is mixing up losing andwinning streak, isn't he. I don't
know. I don't know super fanWendy. I don't know when they told
Superfan Wendy to be quiet. YeahI did. That's the screamer in the
corner. Yeah, bringing the heat. I actually met her at the under
the Mullet thing that we did,and she was a really great lady.
(28:25):
Yeah, like I didn't I haveWell, we love the passion. Scream
all you want now, I'm withyou. I'm with you, and we
got to make that plays loud andproud and uh decked out in maroon and
gold. All right, I'm screamingin the Booth. Yeah, we know,
Alex, we know, all right, coach, before we dive back
into hockey, Uh did want toask you because we're so fortunate to be
back to baseball and softball season.It's upon us. Sun Devil Baseball and
(28:49):
Willie Bloomquist got off to a greatstart last weekend, two and one in
their opening series. Softball is underwaywith that crazy tournament schedule we all know
and love. I know you lovesports. I know you love the Sun
Devils. Any predictions this year forbaseball and softball, you know, I
mean they're both off the good startsobviously. I think you know, obviously
what what baseball just did against areally good Santa Clara team, you know,
(29:12):
in this close to sweep and hejust didn't quite have the arms to
get through the weekend. But Ithink they're gonna have a good year.
They're massing, the bats are therethere, the bats are there early,
which is huge. So tonight andthis series against Kansas State will be a
big one. They're a really goodbig twelve team that I think they're you
know, obviously we're going to seea lot more of and then what Megan's
doing with softball, They just hada huge renovation of their their facility,
(29:34):
so she's going to continue to recruitand get better players. If anybody hasn't
met her, been around her,she's a really passionate coach. She's infectious,
she's really good with with her players, and she's going to get this
thing coming too. So I'm excitedto get out to Farrington and then support
her and her team, and andspend a lot of time out at Muni
supporting the boys that that are gonnahave a big season for baseball. Have
(29:56):
you been to the softball facility sinceI haven't seen I've seen the upgrade.
No, I want to go.I want to go check it out though.
It looks really cool. Yeah,it looks awesome. All right,
back to your team, Uh do, as we always do, want to
get an injury report. So wouldyou say Tyler Gratton's back to one hundred
percent yet? And and you alsomentioned some other kind of bumps and bruises.
What's what's kind of the health status? Right? I think Tyler is
(30:17):
as close as he will be forthe remainder of the season. Right,
He's gonna he's good enough and healthyenough where he makes an impact for us.
Because he's just such a great leaderand and and so impactful when he's
in the lineup. So we're didthe The injury happened at a good time
where we had a couple of weeksbuilt in to give him some rest,
and so I think he'll be ata level that he hasn't been at since
(30:38):
it happened this weekend, which isgood. I think. Really the only
the only guy where we're probably notgoing to bring up there due to injury
is Ryan Alexander, so you know, he's probably out for just one series.
But other than that, where we'rewe're fully healthy and and we have
enough we think to go up thereand have success. The trip up to
Alaska, Tyler and I will makeyour we'll be making our first journey up
(31:02):
there. What should we be readyfor? How many layers should we pack?
I don't think you can pack enoughlayers, But yeah, I mean
it's just be ready to it's it'sit's essentially going to Siberia, no man.
And but you know, it's areally cool hockey community, great venue.
They have really good fans that arepassionate about Nanacocky and we we have
(31:26):
so much respect for the program youknow, and and what coach Largein has
done, you know, to buildit back up to the point where where
it is is really impressive. Didyou see the intro video when it was
all the rage or have they changedthat? It's always been the top gun
them. Yeah, it's awesome.It's the best thing ever. We need
something. They play it on thejumbo Tron, they the Carlson Center.
(31:51):
That'll be fun, all right.So look after after the performance Gibson Homer
put on against Fairbanks two weekends togo, have you made a decision as
to whether he will start on Friday? I know, you take things one
game at a time, So let'slet's talk about Friday. Have you made
that decision? Yeah, I meanhe's gonna he's gonna stay in Friday and
we'll see how it goes, youknow. I mean he's earned that,
and I mean you got a guythat's playing like he is and and just
(32:15):
swept the team that we're going upto play again. He should be in,
you know, And so we'll seehow Friday goes and go from there.
But he's earned that, and hhe'll he'll be in the net Friday.
He got his first collegiate shutout onthe Friday in that series. How
cool was that to see him,you know, finally get that extra reward
for all the work he's put.It was really good. We felt like
(32:36):
he probably should have got it againstLindon Wood the week before when they call
that a good goal at the endof the game. But you know,
he was just sharp. Like Isaid, he was in complete control at
no point really either night when wegot that two goal lead in both games
that I think he was going togive up the lead. Like, he
was just in control of both games, and especially Friday. So he has
(32:59):
the confidence in the trust of everybody, as does TJ. So fans will
see him again at some point,and we believe in both of them,
and we know we can win withboth of them because we have I remember
asking you at the beginning of theyear, like, is this a good
problem to have? And you said, it's not a problem at all.
You know, you won't apologize forhaving two very able goaltenders. There's nothing
(33:22):
worse than not having depth at everyposition, you know, and you know,
I mean he felt it last yearwhen we were down to eight healthy
forwards that had a call before fromthe club team to just have nine for
the last five games. So whenyou have depth and you're fairly healthy at
this point of the season, it'sa luxury. It's what you recruit,
(33:43):
it's how you build a team anda roster because you want depth and because
of the nature of being an independentand our season, we have really good
hockey players that fans haven't seen thatmuch of, like David Haimovich and Matthew
Romer and Cole Helm and Anthony Akieley. You know, there's a lot of
really good players that just haven't reallygotten their opportunity because we've been white knuckling
(34:06):
for a month and a half,you know, in the back half of
the year where we're in a mustwin scenario pretty much every night because of
where we are in the pairwise.So you know, we love this is
a great group. We have fungoing to the rink every day, and
it's sad because when we have sixleft with this group, we just want
them to enjoy these six games togetherbecause they've been just an absolute blast to
(34:28):
be around every day. Yeah,they've earned it. As for Fairbanks,
you play them this time on theroad. I think it's fair to say
that Arizona State is definitely the moreskilled team this year, but Alaska is
not willing to go down quietly,as we learned a few weeks ago.
Is there anything we saw or yousaw from them rather that you'd like to
capitalize on or improve upon heading intotheir home turf. They play everybody tough.
(34:51):
It doesn't matter who they play.They play everybody tough, whether it's
going to Saint Cloud and splitting,going to Michigan Tech and winning and winning
and overtime to really tough places toplay. They went to North Dakota,
they probably should have split at NorthDakota. They they outplayed him in one
of those games, and they playedwell enough to win those games last last
weekend that you know, our ourspecial teams were just that good and our
(35:13):
goalie was that good. So they'rethey're they're a pain in the ass.
They play the right way, they'realways above pucks. They're really good when
they established a four check. They'reone of the best teams we've played all
year. Off the puck. Youknow, they're they're very bought into how
he wants them to play and theirstructure and and they know they have to
play that way to have success.And that's why they have success. The
(35:36):
size of the ice up there.Is it officially an Olympic size? Shit?
How does that change the game?Oh? I mean we're a good
skating team with a lot of skills, so we're you know, we don't
we don't mind it. We storehistorically have been pretty good on Olympic sheets
because of how we're built, youknow. So we have a lot of
skill. And when you give guyslike Timmy and Lucas Cyllinger and Ty Jackson
(35:59):
a little bit more time and spaceto make plays, that's a good thing
for us. Yeah, that's gonnabe fun to watch. We have seen
them in open ice, and onlygood things happen. Historically, ASU has
traveled to Fairbanks three times, right, for six total games. I know
you have some memories, including thebus debacle back in twenty nineteen. Aside
(36:19):
from that gem, do you haveany memories that stand out from traveling up
there. You know, the generalrule of thumb when we've gone to Fairbanks,
because we've always gone in the middleof the winter, is item go
outside unless it's on the bus,and off the bus to the rink.
So you're walking around seeing any moose, No, no moose no moose,
and we'll take you out. It'sa business trip in every way going and
(36:43):
going up there, So we're justgonna go up there and try and get
two wins then come back all inall, Coach, as we wrap up
with you here tonight, what isyour mindset your message to your team that
still wants to play for something andlook, at the risk of being cliche,
they want to be the tradition inyou know, your final year as
an independent team down this home stretch. Well, they've already done that.
(37:05):
You know, no matter what happensin the final six games, this group
of kids have already done that.They've fulfilled the whole mantra of be the
tradition. They're gonna be a teamthat we talk about for a long time.
One that really helped us re establishthe direction that we know that this
thing's going. You know, it'sit's been a tough ghost since COVID.
I mean it. That did affectour program more than most. You know,
(37:29):
it forced us to go live ina hotel for four months and and
and play an all road season,which I'm glad we did. But as
a young program, you had alot to kind of reinforce after a season
like that, and these guys reallyhelped us do that in every way.
So they've already, you know,have so much to be proud of,
and now it's just enjoying every dayand finishing the job right. Like we
(37:52):
we believe we're the best team leftin every six games and all six games
that we play, and if thisgroup plays with their potential, then we're
going to have a hell of awin lost total at the end of the
year and we'll see where it getsus. Well. Hell is literally freezing
over this weekend, Coach Greg Powerson this Tuesday night, Coach, thanks
for your time, safe travels upto Alaska. We'll see up there and
(38:13):
talk to you on Friday, sir. Thanks guys, Thanks coach. All
right, when we return on thisTuesday night, Alex Coyle and I discussed
some of our observations from that Fairbanksseries and what the Sun Devils are playing
for here in the final three seriesof the season. Stick with us help
frozen over back in just a fewminutes on the Mountain America Credit Union Sun
Devil Radio Network nine ten and theiHeartRadio wop Bank and Cold Bears and Cheeseburgers
(38:35):
in Arcadia for overtime on Hell FrozenOver, Tyler Palley, joined by my
broadcast partner on the Mountain America,Credit Union Sun Devil Radio Network, Alex
Coyle, as we get you setfor Arizona State's upcoming series Up in the
Last Frontier, Alex, the dayhas finally come. The long anticipated weight
is over. We are headed upto Alaska, just outside the Arctic Circle.
(38:58):
I hope you have your park getpacked because at last check we're seeing
lows in the negative tempts. Yeah, it's a it's pretty cold up there.
But I got a question for you, what like what constitutes parka?
That's just showing a lot about me, but like, what like what's the
difference between of parka and a normaljacket? Man? I I don't actually
know the answer to that. Withyou. I think it's like, is
it just like a thicker jacket something? Yeah, you know it's funny.
(39:23):
I'm my my friend Jamie, youknow her. She was she was very
concerned that I was heading up toFairbanks, and she was like looking on
Amazon for all these things, Likegenuinely she thought, like I have this
image of everybody in Fairbanks being notpeople but snow men. I don't know
why I have that image, butnevertheless, she wanted me to get this
heated scarf. And I'm not abig like, I don't want to be
(39:43):
hot. I want to be warm. Does that make sense? Like I
don't want anything like heating me.I just want layers. That makes sense?
Okay? Yeah, Like it's beenso long since I've even really experienced
snow. Yeah, I was justweekend, Yes, it was. It
was nice. Yeah, I guesswe shoul he shows your off weekend.
Yeah, before we go up toAlaska to go to cold you will learn
(40:05):
one day that marriage has sacrifices andthat you know, sometimes the wife wins.
But well, we'll leave it atthat. All right, let's talk
about listen, don't worry, he'snever listening to this show. Let's talk
about the Fairbanks series. Two weeksago. To me, it felt like
good old fashioned sun Devil hockey,right, I mean they were firing on
all cylinders. Special teams was rockingand rolling, goaltending was lights out,
(40:29):
and they really unapologetically played their ownstyle of hockey again. And that's the
cliche that we heard all season long, like we're gonna win the game if
we play Sun Devil hockey like andfor a bit they were like, Okay,
what's what's the Sun Devil hockey versionof this team right that we're going
to see? And now that weknow what that version of Sun Devil hockey
is, they played that way andit was good to see everything that struggled
(40:52):
for a three game stretch there getback to where it was. I mean,
the power play was nearly perfect onthe weekend. The one time they
didn't score on the power play inthe first game was to kill off the
rest of the game and they wereI believe three for four in game two
and they didn't allow a power playgoal. So you can't really get much
better than that on the special teams. And then Gibbie, I mean,
(41:12):
he was phenomenal getting his first careershutout, which was awesome and it was
cool to ask him about that todayand how he felt from there. Yeah,
well here from Gibbee on Friday night'spregame show. So looking forward to
that. You know, I thinkit's it got lost on me a little
bit, but it shouldn't. Thefact that Alaska is not a team to
be taken lightly. I mean,this is not a bad team. Now.
(41:34):
They were right in the middle twentiesas far as pairwise ranking heading into
this series. They were riding thatyou know, twenty twenty one twenty two
area for a large portion of theseason. That is not something that we
should take lightly at all. Thisis a good hockey team and you just
heard coach Power seeing their praises likethis is a team that could very well
beat Arizona State and and you knowhas every intention of doing so on their
(41:57):
home terry. Yeah, I meanwith how you know, the structure that
they have, and they have aninteresting dynamic with a lot of times they're
practicing on an Olympic sheet and thenwhen they go on the road, they
got to play in the normal confinesof the college or NHL sized rink,
and so that's a little bit differenton how they play. They got a
couple of guys that can really skateand that's gonna open things up for them
(42:17):
on that Olympic sheet. So thatshould be interesting. And you know,
I think they're gonna be really hungrytoo, because they played back home last
week and weekend against LU They droppedthe first game, so a three game
losing streak there, fought back inone in the second game, which I
believe they played on Sunday, andso they're gonna be hungry, wanting revenge
of course for what happened two weekendsago here, but also to you know,
(42:39):
end the season on a high notefor them as well. Speaking of
vengeance, because it's interesting you broughtthat up, did you feel like the
Devils played with with revenge on theirmind from last year? Was this really
more about getting a couple of bigwins when they needed them most. I
think it was more about the gettingbig wins when they needed the most,
because you know, She's team wasso different now. You know, in
(43:02):
that final second pregame speech, doyou think coach Powers mentioned that? Probably,
Yeah, one more thing that's hetold you all week, Oh we're
not going to worry about it,and then he's gonna use that to motivate
his team right before they take theice. So you know, there could
have been a little bit of that, but I think it was more of,
you know, the better team,the more skilled team, just go
out there and take care of businesson home ice. You know, I
don't think we can drive this pointhome enough. The fact that Fairbanks is
(43:25):
not a bad team. I thinktheir record is deceiving. They're like ten
thirteen and two. I believe theyplay hard, they can score, they
can defend. Sun Devils didn't takethem lightly, which was really good to
see and really important to see.But I also think, as I was
thinking about this, you kind ofhave to taper your confidence right especially heading
into their territory. Now it's aplace you didn't have any success last year
(43:47):
and you have you know, hadseveral losses over the years. Yeah,
that's for sure. And Alastya's thirteenthirteen and two. They're at thirty in
the pair wise after that three gamelosing streak. Of course, that didn't
help, especially losing when at hometo LU. They're pretty much an exact
team where Merrimac is, and weknow how highly touted and how you know,
(44:07):
coach really gave them a lot ofprops the beginning of the season,
perhaps of a team they were.So they're gonna have to be ready if
their issue is and you know alot of people asked the media today about
the travel and how that's gonna affectthings, and Tyler Granton gave a great
answer, like we're going up Wednesday, we play Friday. If we're not
ready, that's on us. Yeah, no, it's it's a great point.
(44:28):
I mean, you you have thatkind of built in and you understand,
like, look, this is thisis a team that is going to
travel quite a bit next season.This is a team that is used to
travel, as Coach Powers discussed,not only the COVID year, but look,
we're the we're the furthest West teamaside from the Alaska school, so
we're we're used to traveling, youknow, pretty far distances. But yeah,
I mean with layovers and such toget up to Fairbanks. It's it's
(44:49):
got to play, you know,a factor. All right, let's let's
do what we always do. Let'szoom out for a minute. ASU's chances
at a tournament run seem to bedwindling. There's no point in beating around
the bush about that. But whatchoice do you have give up? I
mean, of course, not likethat. That wasn't the only goal this
season, and a twenty five wincampaign is by no means out of the
question, and frankly is by nomeans a consolation prize, right, And
(45:12):
I think if you know they CoachPowers mentioned there that they believe they're the
better team final six games, theyare and if they win those six games,
you take an NHL style thirty sixand six. Yeah, like you
win. We only did six losingpostgame shows. Yeah, like that's that's
a tremendous season. You win twotrophies. The highlights that we saw like
(45:35):
records broken this season, tim levelbreaking, defensemen scoring records, and you
know, with ten games left inthe season, you see where copprud is,
you know, continuing to climb theranks in the all time power play
goal scoring record, like he verywell, he should be on pace for
top four all time by season's endin that category. And who knows,
with the next year of eligibility left, if he comes back next year,
(45:59):
you know it would take his bestseason at paraply going to break the overall
record. Isn't that wild to thinkabout? Like this? That would be
awesome. We are witnessing history infront of our eyes. On a personal
note, I did some research andI could not find a time when an
Arizona state broadcast hit the airwaves fromthe state of Alaska. I could be
(46:20):
wrong. Sean Crestman can check meon this. He's thinking long and hard,
but he can't think of anything either. But I can't find any record
of it. And so for whateverit's worth, I think it's pretty awesome.
The fans of this team will getto tune in for free to hear
the Maroon and Gold call this weekFox Sports nine ten or the iHeartMedia apps
online all that kind of stuff.And you know, thinking, you know,
I would think that there would besome Hawaii in there as well,
(46:43):
with a couple of male invitationals inthe past, so you know, theoretically,
with universities in all other fifty states, possibly could be that fiftieth state.
We'll have to go back deep intothat history, ye see if they've
gone to Idaho or Montana, butyou know, digging into the archives.
All right. We're back in actionthis weekend from the Carlson Center in Fairbanks,
Alaska against the Nanooks. Alex andI have the hometown broadcast and you
(47:05):
can follow along with us here onthe Mountain America Credit Union Sun Devil Radio
Network. Pregame on Friday and Saturdayeight thirty pm with a nine pm puck
drop local time, So stay upwith us for some independent hockey after dark.
That'll wrap things up for us.Thanks tonight to Sun Deevil hockey head
coach Greg Powers and goaltender TJ.Simptom Felter for joining us. Special thanks
(47:27):
to our radio operations manager, producer, engineer and good friend Sean Crespin and
his fantastic team behind the scenes,and Chris Schubert back in the studio.
Of course, Paige Schackolett and herSun Devil Athletic staff deserve a shout out
as well. We'll see a Friday, February twenty third, eight thirty ASU
and Alaska in Fairbanks. Thanks fortuning in, everybody, I'm Tyler Paley.
Good night,
You're listening to Hell Frozen Over withSun Devil head Hockey coach Greg Powers live
from Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers on FoxSports nine ten and the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome to the course light first periodof Hell Frozen Over now alongside Coach Powers,
the voice of Sun Devil Hockey TylerPalley. The regular season is officially
(00:24):
winding down and Sun Devil Hockey findsitself riding the tournament bubble, currently sitting
at nineteenth in the pairwise rankings withsix games left to play. They'll need
to continue to win and hope someother teams lend a helping hand. But
tournament aside, the Sun Devils stillhave another goal in mind that's completely within
their power. Set a new programrecord for wins in a season and hit
(00:44):
that coveted twenty five victory mark tochart the path forward. Hi, everybody,
Welcome into season two, episode tenof Hell Frozen Over Live tonight from
Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers in Arcadia forthe next hour here on Fox Sports nine
ten and streaming on the iHeartRadio App. I'm Tyler Paley, the radio play
by play broadcaster of Sun Devil Hockey. Happy to have you along as we
discuss the team's latest news and notesand get you ready for yet another week
(01:08):
of college hockey. Joining me tonightevery show this year are Arizona State head
coach Greg Powers and my broadcast partnerAlex Coyle. Gentlemen, good to see
you coach. Another weekend without games, chance to rest and recover. I
trust as you guys head into thefinal three series. How was the break
for you? If you even gotone? How was the break for the
guys? The break was good.I had our daughter came in town and
(01:30):
from Pittsburgh. She builts out thereand plays hockey out there, so we
spent the weekend with her, andit was nice, nice weekend off.
The guys needed it. We hadsome guys banged up that played through some
injuries against them last series, andso the week off was really good for
them. And we feel good goinginto Fairbanks pretty much fully healthy. That's
great. That's great news, andwe're gonna preview a lot about that Fairbanks
(01:52):
team. In fact, Fairbanks willfeature will be featured a whole lot in
this show, because the Nanooks wereyour last opponent also your next opponent,
so let's start with the series theycould played two weekends ago. Game one
very close, but it really neverfelt like, at least for me,
that Arizona State was was in trouble. One goal in the first, one
(02:13):
in the second. That was reallyall the offense you needed because of Gibson
Homer's fantastic performance and ended up beinghis first collegiate shutout. Fairbanks did have
some chances, particularly a ton onthat five minute major in the second period,
but Gibby stood strong. How grittya win was that it was good,
It was a really good win.Gibby was just in complete control of
(02:35):
that game, you know, reallythe whole weekend, and he just he
was so steady and solid, andhe made tough saves look easy and he
made easy ones look easier. Soit was it was just what the doctor
ordered for us to to kind ofget the guy's confidence back up and play
a little bit looser. And itwas nice to get to get both wins,
but that that was a good one, you know, to just shut
(02:55):
them out and have Gibbey play sowell was great. And that second game,
three or four goals were power playgoals. The other one was an
empty netter. Of course, thatwas really one of the things that kind
of struggled for a little bit,but it was had to have been great
to finally see the results in scoringthose goals. Well, you guys did
last weekend? Yeah, no,for sure. I mean you always want
to be grade five on five,but I mean a really good recipe to
(03:16):
win hockey games is to have agreat power play, a really good penalty
kill, and good goaltending, andwe had all three. Fairbanks was really
good five on five. They playedwell all weekend, but our power play
was tremendous and Gibby made the saveswhen he needed to, and we beat
him on special teams. And again, when you can do that, you're
(03:37):
gonna win a lot of games.And it's a big reason why we're one
of only five twenty win teams becausewe have a really good power play and
a big part of that and wesaw it with him coming back over the
last couple of weekends. Is isty Jackson right? I mean, having
him back in the lineup, contributingwith two points on Friday, two more
on Saturday. What kind of aboost does he provide this team? And
(03:58):
will he provide this team down thejust a huge shot in the arm to
get him back. I mean,you can't be deep enough on any team.
You can't be deep enough down themiddle. It's really you have to
build your team, you know,from the middle and in the back end.
And you know when you lose sucha talented kid that competes so hard.
He's obviously a small kid, buthe just competes and he works and
(04:20):
he skates and he's got such ahigh IQ. He makes a difference.
He controls the game generally when he'son the ice, and he does it
even more when his brother's with himin healthy So we're really excited that they're
both going to be back for theirfifth year next year. But he was
a huge plot. I mean,getting four points out of that last weekend.
And I don't know if he's ifhe's not back, I don't know
(04:41):
if we win. Yeah, youknow, like he made that big of
an impact. Matthew Copper continues torack up those power play goals now on
his career. In Division one history, he's tied sixth all time in power
play scoring. He just seems toalways be open and find space. Of
course, he gives a lot ofcredit to guys Lucas Cillinger and tim Level
for that and and just what makeshim so good to find that space.
(05:04):
And I feel like he's gonna beable to find more space with the Olympic
sheet coming up this weekend. Yeah, no, that's what I mean.
I think they're going to be gluedto him, right, So, you
know, he was effective and scoredsome big goals against him and to cops
credit, you know, I mean, everybody keys in on him like they
do you know, Vegkin when theyplay the Capitals in the NHL, and
and so you know, they cheatto him. And you know, when
(05:27):
you have other weapons like Silly andTimmy that that are they're you know,
up top and running the other halfwall, it's it's tough to defend,
you know. And and they're allreally smart players. And and you know
the other guy that doesn't probably getenough credit is is Hicksy does a great
job with those guys running the powerplay. So they've been great. You
know. We we've kind of interchangedwho's on the net front and in the
(05:48):
middle there throughout the year based oninjury, but the three main stays are
three leading point getters, and andthere's a reason why our power plays,
I think third in the country,and it's mainly because of those three guys.
Well, I'm always so fascinated whenwe see a power play. I
mean, Alex and I were chucklinga couple of weekends ago because when you
see Cop that wide open on acouple of his scoring chances, it's just
(06:11):
so interesting to me, because youknow how Lethally is, but you bring
up a great point. It's like, you know, when you got Silly
out there, whether it's Charlie Shadeor Chambo Grats when he's healthy. I
mean, it's tough to lock downeveryone, right, it's five on four
for a reason. I'm just alwaysso intrigued as to why anybody would give
Cop space when they know exactly whathis move is. Sometimes you don't have
a choice, you know. Imean, I mean, when there's movement
(06:31):
on a power play and good retrievalsdown low and you're you're getting second and
third chance opportunities, you get thekillers moving around, you know, and
they can lose track of a guy, and that's what Silly and Timmy do
so well. They're active and theymove and with that motion comes confusion,
and then people become open and startto find seams over to cop and that's
(06:54):
when good things happen. Look asis required of us, I think,
you know, we want to zoomout big picture here for a moment.
When we sat here two weeks ago, ASU was at nineteenth in the pair
wise tonight you're at nineteenth in thepairway eighteenth, TI eighteenth nobody who's counting?
Though? Who's counting? All right? Tie for eighteenth wins at this
point don't really help a ton Losseswill hurt a lot. What is your
(07:16):
mindset as you sit here and tryto jump four or five or six spots
in the next three weeks before conferencetournaments? Speak, Yeah, all we
can do is play the schedule infront of us. It's all we've done
all year, you know. Imean, the two years we did qualify,
the computer seemed to really like us. This year it doesn't, you
know. And a lot of thatis because of our home heavy schedule,
you know. And but we werenot going to turn down twenty six home
(07:40):
games to really Kristen Mullet Arena,with all the travel that our program's done
over the course of eight years,playing the twenty six home games, if
I had to do it over again. I'd do it all over again.
Yeah, you know. And we'reright there within striking distance. That's all
you can ask. It is sohard to get in as an independent,
and and people I think this isthis is a season indicative of how hard
(08:03):
it is to the general you know, you know fan base out there to
to to see. I mean,you know, we can end up having
twenty five, twenty six wins andnot get in. Yeah, you know,
and and and that probably will bethe most in the history of college
hockey. I don't know for afact, but I guarantee it's up there.
So we're just gonna play the gamesin front of us and continue to
(08:24):
try and chip away and and havethe best win total in the history of
our program. That's what we're focusedon. That's what we can control,
and that's what our goal is.You know, the situation coming in as
an independent, you understand how hardit is to make a tournament because you
have the other goals you guys cameinto this season. How important are those
to keep it keep guys motivated.Even if you know, come the final
(08:46):
six games of the season, itdoesn't look great to still have the goal
of reaching sur past twenty. Nowyou're going for the program record. Yeah.
I mean, nobody can take awayfrom these kids how how well they've
they've played, you know, andand I mean they're twenty six and six,
and that's that's one of the topfive records in the country. It's
not like we played a week schedule, you know. I mean it sometimes
(09:11):
as an independent you have to playwhoever will play you two great programs.
For example, that we're projected tobe top fifteen teams, we're Merrimack and
Northern Michigan, who we started thisseason against four and oh and for whatever
reason, injuries, whatever, they'rejust their seasons haven't gone the way they
had planned, you know. Sowhen you when you you can't predict who's
(09:31):
gonna be really good. When youhave to play an independent schedule, it's
not like you're in a conference whereyou know, five to six teams in
the NCC are gonna be top twentyevery year, or you know five to
six teams in the Big ten aregonna be top twenty year hockeys. As
an independent, it's a crap shoot, you know, And sometimes you get
rewarded and sometimes you don't. Butwe're not We're not gonna gonna bitch about
(09:52):
the system if it doesn't work outor cry, you know, Wolf,
it is what it is. Youknow, we've had a the good season.
We're proud of our guys and andat the end of the day,
we had a three goal lead atMiami, we believe, we had a
three goal lead at home against Denverto sweep and we didn't finish it off.
We tied in and went a home. We lost Augustan at home.
(10:13):
If we don't get in, thoseare gonna be the four games that we
look at. And that's that's that'son us, that's on us. Hindsight's
twenty twenty. But but you're right, excuse me, this, uh,
this season's not a lost one becausethere's been a lot that you guys have
accomplished and gotten over the hump andyou know, really proved to any remaining
doubters that this is a team thatshould be taken you know, legitimately that
(10:35):
twenty five win mark. Can youput in perspective what that would mean to
the school, to the program.It's further proof of you know, desert
hockey thriving. Yeah, I thinkit just validates everything that we've worked for
for so long, you know,and and tournament or no tournament. You
know, twenty five wins is veryhard to do in college hockey, So
you know, to get to thatmark would be incredible. It's gonna be
(10:58):
hard to eclipse. You know,don't see it happen very often, But
these guys really want it that thisteam really wants to be the team that
sets the win total record for ourprogram in our early history, and it's
the first thing that they really wantto accomplish. And whatever else happens happens.
(11:18):
I want to switch gears a bitbecause I've had a couple of people
ask me about this, and it'sbeen a while since I've brought it up.
But recruiting for future seasons, Iknow, there's only so much you
can say. I know, thetransfer portal is important to you, and
of course opens up here in acouple of months, But how is recruiting
going in the most general of terms, and what can you tell us on
(11:39):
that front. It's never been better, it's never gone it's never gone even
close to the level that it's atright now. When you bring in Dana
Borgius and Albi O'Connell two incredible recruiters. Albi's known as arguably the best recruiter
in college hockey. He's been onthe road probably three fourths of the season,
really going out and hammering the recruitingtrail and being in rinks. And
(12:01):
we have some really, really highend kids coming in next year. We
have some incredibly high end kids thatare projected to be first second round NHL
picks that are two three years away. So the recruiting is at an all
time high. And that's what happenswhen you have a facility you have the
success that we've had. This teamhas really reinstituted and rebuilt a great culture
(12:24):
the kids want to be a partof. And then we go into the
league. We go into the leaguenext year, and that was kind of
the last checkbox we needed to checkoff. And it's done and we're ready
to take huge steps. Yeah,it's like a proof of concept that you
have now. So that's great.One more before we let you take a
break here, I want to talkmore in depth about the goaltending situation in
(12:45):
the third period, but I'd beremiss not to bring up our guests tonight.
Coming up next, it's TJ SemptemFelter. He's been your guy for
two years now, and nobody wantedto see him struggle, of course,
but we know we've all been thereat one point or another. What's been
your message to TJ and how confidentare you in him as we sit here
tonight. Well, I mean Idon't waver with him at all. I
(13:05):
mean it's I have faith in himto a fault, you know, and
because I know what he can do, and I've seen what he can do,
and I know what he will continueto do. You have to have
depth at every position. And that'sall that we're seeing right now is is
TJ had a three game kind ofmoment where he wasn't at his peak.
And we have an unbelievable kid inGibson Homer that's very capable as well.
(13:28):
And people forget that Gibson was wason the National Development Program, so he
was considered in his birth year oneof the top two goalies in the in
the United States. So it's notlike you know, it's we have two
really high end goalies, you know, and and and that's what people are
seeing. It's a good problem tohave. Nobody should be worried about TJ.
(13:50):
TJ is fine, he'll be back. We wouldn't be where we are
without him, you know. Andyou look at like Colorado College what they're
doing right now. The game thathe stole up there defines what he can
be when he's great, and you'regoing to see a lot more about it.
Yeah, him, no question.He'll be a big component for the
Sun Devil success down the stretch.Really along with everybody in front of him.
We're really down to crunch time herewith everything on the line. Coach
(14:13):
Powers is going to take a breakand he'll be back to preview the next
test up in Fairbanks in the thirdperiod. Up next, though, Sun
Devil goaltender TJ. Simptom Felter joinsHealth Frozen Over for the first time this
season to talk about the Devil's yearoverall and how he's making an impact both
on and off the ice. Ourconversation right after this quick break on the
Mountain America credit Union Sun Devil RadioNetwork wire. Based on eligibility, what
(14:35):
a time offer offer can change orbe withdrawn at anytime you're listening to Hell
Frozen Over with Sun Devil head hockeycoach Greg Powers. Let's start the busy
Hard Seltzer. Second Period. I'mFox Sports nine to ten and the iHeartRadio
app. Thanks for sticking with us. Second period of health Frozen over our
hour long show talking all things SunDevil hockey. We're live every other Tuesday
(14:58):
this season from Cold Beer and Cheeseburgersin the Arcadia location. It's right near
fortieth Street in Indian School. Ifyou're not here tonight, we do have
our final show of the season,Alex Coyle. Can you believe it?
Our final show two weeks from today, Tuesday, March fifth, six pm.
You can come grab some delicious foodand talk college hockey with us,
or perhaps some baseball. What doyou say, well, Tyler, I'm
(15:20):
not going to call it the finalshow yet. I mean, if we
make the tournament, you never knowone the bonus not done yet, all
right, let me get to TJ'sintro here, all right, because look,
sometimes I think it's fair to saywe can lose the forest in the
trees. When a team drives oversome speed bumps, as the Sun Devils
did in January, you start wonderingwhat's changed from earlier in the season.
(15:41):
But look, when you step back, you realize the overall results in performance
from these guys has been nothing shortof impressive, and a huge part of
that success this year has been becauseof the Sun Devil's backstop TJ. Simpton
Felter, who joins us Live nowon Help Frozen Over. Been waiting all
season to have you on, myfriend, and apparently burger or the chicken
sandwich you ordered was too hard toturn down tonight. Huh. Yeah,
(16:03):
I'm happy to be here. Thankyou for having me on. Yeah,
we're We're excited to have you.So let's just start with this. How
are you? I mean, like, no beating around the bush? Last
few series you played in Cornell Augustana, they were tough. Take us inside
your mindset then versus now and howyou're doing. Yeah, I'm doing well.
I think like kind of my theway that I approach the game is
just it's it's a constant pursuit ofperfection. And I think when you look
(16:26):
at it that way, it's likethere's there's no game that you play where
it's perfect right. Every time yougo out there, mistakes are gonna happen,
you know, execution, And Ithink what's important is when you just
when you get down to the basicsof it. It's are you working hard,
are you preparing? And that's whatsets you up for success, and
you know there's times that it's notgoing to go your way. I mean,
you look at any professional athlete,any athlete in general, right,
(16:47):
it's that you're never gonna have astretch of constant games forever where you know
you're perfect and you're on the topof your game. And for me,
I think it's just been a greatlearning experience and and learning how to kind
of get through ruts and and upsand down of a season. And you
know, like you said, it'sa long season, right, so you
know there's gonna be ups and downs, and I think I think our team's
handled well just to fight through itand continue to find success. So what's
(17:11):
your relationship like with Gibson Homer,Because one of the coolest things this year
and talking to him was you know, how the work ethic that he would
have in practice and how he viewedeach thing as preparing him for when he
does get that opportunity, but alsolearning from you and watching you play now
that he's getting his three game stretchright now currently to to you know,
(17:32):
be the goaltender. What's your relationship, Like and what are you learning from
him? Yeah, we we havea great relationship. I think you know
one thing that I said to himwhen he got his first start even back,
and I said, I, youknow, I remember my first start
when I was at Kept playing infront of mullet in front of those fans
against Colgate, Like it's such anincredible atmosphere. And my message to him
was to just you know, havefun with it. And I think even
(17:53):
when I look back to my timeat Northeastern, it's like I was so
excited to get in the net andget that opportunity and play my first Division
one game. So you know,I couldn't be happier for him. And
it's clear, like he talks about, he works hard and you know he's
a great competitor and that's what's greatfor this team, right, I mean,
he makes our players better by havingdepth in this position and working hard,
(18:14):
and I think he's done a greatjob kind of while I'm figuring my
thing out, So and speaking ofthat, like, how how are you
getting right? I mean, howhow have you kind of you know,
changed your mindset, if at allto kind of get back into the TJ.
We know and love and who justshut out Colorado College, you know,
did all these things. I mean, coach was just talking about it,
like that's that's the TJ we've grownto know. And perhaps it's you
(18:36):
know, a flaw of ours tokind of set that standard for you.
But but like you know, youkind of outperformed everybody, and now it's
like we just kind of expecting thatdied out. No no, no,
I love that standard. Honestly,keep keep raising it too as I get
older here. But I think what'simportant is it's not necessarily what you should
change, but kind of what youcould focus on and just get back to.
(18:56):
And I think a huge piece that'skind of enabled me to have this
success that I have is just kindof my like blue collar, hard working
mentality. And you know, Ithink whenever you find your yourself in times
of you know, things aren't goingyour way, just really all you can
control is getting back to working hard, preparing and doing all the little things
that you know enabled me to havesuccess in the first place. And our
team, and I think also anotherbig piece of it is I'm fortunate to
(19:19):
have a great support staff. Imean, Coach Powers was just talking about
it about his faith in me andhis belief in me. I'm fortunate to
have, you know, goalie,coaches and other members of the staff that
really believe in me and things thatI'm doing. So when you have a
support staff like that behind you,you know, these these little ruts or
whatever, they don't they don't seemlike a great big deal, and it's
just important to push through it.And I know I will. You know,
(19:41):
I talked off the top about kindof losing the forest in the trees
right now. I know you holdyourself to such a high standard in every
game, but are you proud ofwhat you and your teammates have accomplished so
far this season? I think Ithink proud is definitely a good word.
I mean, we're not satisfied toany extent. Obviously, you know,
we're still in the hunt for thetournament, and you know we're right outside,
(20:03):
we're right there. I mean,we take care of business and that's
really all you can do and controlthe things you can control. But you
know, I think you look backon the season and we're you know,
we have a chance to potentially setlike a win record at ASU, which
is incredible. We won the DesertClassic, we won the Adirondack. I
mean, to get two championships andone season is great. I mean our
(20:23):
goal all year has been three,and we're still in pursuit of that.
So, you know, I thinkwhen you look back, even just from
this point, there's been a lotof great things that we can just continue
to build on and use as momentumas we go into this final six game
push here for the national Championship.Overall, all the accolades that you just
mentioned, the wins, a tonof winning this year, the two trophies,
(20:45):
you and a bunch really most ofthe guys are always smiling out there
in practice and having a good time. How fun has this season been with
how much winning you guys have done. Yeah, I think there's definitely a
different atmosphere in the locker room thisyear. I think winning kind of just
it breeds confidence and swaggering and success. And I think you can look at
it the other way, where thatconfidence, swagger and success just continues to
(21:07):
breathe winning. So, you know, I think it's just been great.
And you look at a lot ofthe guys that we brought in, including
the staff, including guys that webrought in from transfer including guys that we
brought in as freshmen, Like,they've just been great additions to continue to
build the culture to kind of wherewe know this this place can be.
And I've just been really happy tobe a part of it and glad that,
you know, I've been able totake a role and a piece and
(21:29):
kind of everything we've accomplished and continueto accomplish. I want to talk about
this upcoming weekend. How excited areyou to travel to Fairbanks, Alaska in
the middle of February. Yeah,somebody was just telling me today in the
locker room that it's like it's notgoing to be as cold as it had
been the past few weeks. ButI'm honestly I've I've hacked the layers.
Yeah, I've only ever been toAlaska though last year the last two times
(21:49):
that we went on trips. Sofor me, I always like to kind
of check off places and yeah,you know, say the world that I've
but it's it's a neat spot.I mean, there's not many places where
you can walk outside and see amove. Sir. Do we get to
see that we get to our firsttime going up there? What what do
we need to prepare for what dowe need to get ready with. Well,
definitely try to check out the northernlights. I mean they're beautiful.
(22:11):
Yeah, they're excited. You canlook up you know when you can go
and see them. But I meanI went out for a walk and I
saw a moose almost kill walk rightfrom you. Stay at like a good
distance. I hear. They're dangers, they're huge. Yeah. Oh yeah,
they kind of scare me. Butuh yeah, I definitely checked them
out. Okay, check out themoose. Found a good sushi spot to
an anchorage. So okay, yeahage, all right, we still got a
(22:33):
couple of weeks. We'll have togo over restaurant recommendations coming up. Overall,
team mindset right now, heading intothe last six games, you know,
you still have a chance, albeitI think it's fair to say a
long shot, but you have achance to make the tournament and and also
to get to that twenty five winmark. What is the mindset right now
in that locker room? Yeah,I mean, obviously, just one game
at a time. Right, Sowe touched on a little bit in the
(22:56):
in the previous question, but it'sjust so important to to kind of take
things one step at a time.There's so much that's out of our control
throughout the entire course of the season, and that's you know, injuries,
who beat too whatever. And Ithink it's just important to take it one
game at a time and control thethings you can control. I mean,
you look at Alaska last year.They had a fantastic season and they just
(23:17):
you know, things just didn't gotheir way. And I think if we
just continue to work hard to getthe wins and the successes that we need
to set us ourselves up for success, then you know what happens will happen.
But at least we know we dideverything we can in our power.
And like you said, I mean, you know there's a chance, right,
that's all you need, all youneed. Yeah, And one of
the most fun things from the hockeyperspective this season. It has all the
(23:38):
always mattered. Now Tyler probably disagreeswith me, but the shootouts this year.
You guys haven't lost in a shootoutsix for six and wins. How
fun is that as a goaltender.Yeah, I mean you asked any of
the guys that Mike Tiao stay outafter practice and just play shootouts and like
guys come down on breakaways, andthey like to try things. And I
think it's great too because they getthe bounce ideas off of me what they
(23:59):
think can I think it helps themget better, It helps me get better.
But yeah, I think it isa shame. I mean, obviously
it would be nice to get somepoints from those and you know they have
gone our way, and I thinknext year joining a conference it'll be great.
I mean, you look at thosesix shootout wins. Those are additional
points that we'll get and will besuper helpful next year in a conference.
So it helped you get a trophy. I kept telling Tyler at some point
(24:21):
this season, they're gonna matter matter. Yeah, right, it did.
It did. We only got likea minute left here, but I did
want to get this question in becauseI think it's important. I want to
talk about some of your efforts inthe community. I know there were you
were just out a few weekends agowith the Make a Wish Foundation. There
was also that Team Impact event thatthat came to Mullet against Fairbanks. Tell
(24:42):
us about those experiences, what theytaught you, what you learned from them.
Yeah, I was super excited whenI found out that I got to
attend that opportunity. It's it's awesome. I mean, you get to go
somewhere and and gificate the opportunity ofa lifetime. And yeah, even just
having the various people that we workwith through Team Impact and make a wish.
(25:02):
I mean, obviously for Team Impact, there are various kids on the
bench that we got to come overand just make their day. And it
kind of just reminds you to takea step back and perspective. Right,
Like, we're living out these kids'dreams and all they want to be is
around us and see how we interact, and it's great to be a part
of that. And you know,I hope I get to do more stuff
like that in the future. AndI know Jackson and Owen both had incredible
(25:23):
experiences with our guys and we're happyto be a part of that and help
out. Yeah, it was socool. I watched the video, saw
the photos. It was just socool. It's so awesome for you to
get out there. Last one foryou, it's about hockey any off season
plans yet, I know you stillgot games. I know you know you're
still in the middle of the semester, but you know, if you're thinking
(25:44):
that far ahead, I know youhad a very eventful offseason as far as
training this past one. Any plansfor this coming off season and you know,
hopefully returning to Tempe. Yeah,exactly. My plans are very similar
to last year. You know,I'll probably go home for a month or
two here and then get right backto training with Ane Blynn, who's you
know, a world class strength yea. So we're so fortunate to have her
as a resource and everything that shebrings to the table in that locker room,
(26:07):
and you know, very similar tomy plans last year. I'm also
really excited I'll be graduating this springgratulation. I'm really excited to kind of
get everything squared away from my master'sdegree next year. That's been a goal
of mine ever since I was evena freshman at Northeastern. So I'm looking
forward to that, and I believewe have everything squared away for that next
year with W. P. Carrey. So I was gonna ask, okay,
(26:29):
MBA, Yeah, I believe it'sthe Masters of Science and Finance.
Okay, very nice. Yeah,It's obviously something I'm really interested in and
I'm really excited about that. That'sawesome. Congratulations, good luck always a
pleasure talking to you, Appreciate youand go in joy some food. Thank
you, guys, thanks for havingJason all right. He remains goaltender number
one both on and off the ice. Won't be long before TJ is back
(26:51):
between the pipes, but in themeantime, focused on being the best teammate
he can be. All right.When we return to Help Frozen Over on
this Tuesday night, Coach Powers isback to talk about tackling the Nanooks of
Alaska Fairbanks again this weekend and reflecton his travels up to Fairbanks over the
years. Third period, right afterthis short break on the Mountain America Credit
Union Sun Devil Radio Network, it'sour uncommon commitment to customer service at Pacific
(27:14):
Office dot com. The problem solved. If you're listening to Hell Frozen Over
with Sundevil head hockey Coach Greg Powers, this is the Do Sakis third period
of Hell Frozen Over on Fox Sportsnine ten and the Iheartsradio. While back
in Arcadia. Third period, you'relistening to Hell Frozen Over live tonight on
the Mountain America Credit Union Sun DevilRadio Network. From cold Beers and Cheeseburgers,
(27:40):
good time to remind you mark yourcalendars. Our final show of the
season is on Tuesday, March fifth, six pm. You can come grab
a burger and hang out with CoachPowers and our Sun Devil Hockey guests.
So we're on the radio. We'reon Facebook Live as well. And I
did want to read a comment herefrom John who says three game losing streak,
ASU tell super Fan Wendy to bequiet. Somebody complained about her,
(28:03):
but we all love her. Sparkyalways stops by and hugs her. I
think he is mixing up losing andwinning streak, isn't he. I don't
know. I don't know super fanWendy. I don't know when they told
Superfan Wendy to be quiet. YeahI did. That's the screamer in the
corner. Yeah, bringing the heat. I actually met her at the under
the Mullet thing that we did,and she was a really great lady.
(28:25):
Yeah, like I didn't I haveWell, we love the passion. Scream
all you want now, I'm withyou. I'm with you, and we
got to make that plays loud andproud and uh decked out in maroon and
gold. All right, I'm screamingin the Booth. Yeah, we know,
Alex, we know, all right, coach, before we dive back
into hockey, Uh did want toask you because we're so fortunate to be
back to baseball and softball season.It's upon us. Sun Devil Baseball and
(28:49):
Willie Bloomquist got off to a greatstart last weekend, two and one in
their opening series. Softball is underwaywith that crazy tournament schedule we all know
and love. I know you lovesports. I know you love the Sun
Devils. Any predictions this year forbaseball and softball, you know, I
mean they're both off the good startsobviously. I think you know, obviously
what what baseball just did against areally good Santa Clara team, you know,
(29:12):
in this close to sweep and hejust didn't quite have the arms to
get through the weekend. But Ithink they're gonna have a good year.
They're massing, the bats are therethere, the bats are there early,
which is huge. So tonight andthis series against Kansas State will be a
big one. They're a really goodbig twelve team that I think they're you
know, obviously we're going to seea lot more of and then what Megan's
doing with softball, They just hada huge renovation of their their facility,
(29:34):
so she's going to continue to recruitand get better players. If anybody hasn't
met her, been around her,she's a really passionate coach. She's infectious,
she's really good with with her players, and she's going to get this
thing coming too. So I'm excitedto get out to Farrington and then support
her and her team, and andspend a lot of time out at Muni
supporting the boys that that are gonnahave a big season for baseball. Have
(29:56):
you been to the softball facility sinceI haven't seen I've seen the upgrade.
No, I want to go.I want to go check it out though.
It looks really cool. Yeah,it looks awesome. All right,
back to your team, Uh do, as we always do, want to
get an injury report. So wouldyou say Tyler Gratton's back to one hundred
percent yet? And and you alsomentioned some other kind of bumps and bruises.
What's what's kind of the health status? Right? I think Tyler is
(30:17):
as close as he will be forthe remainder of the season. Right,
He's gonna he's good enough and healthyenough where he makes an impact for us.
Because he's just such a great leaderand and and so impactful when he's
in the lineup. So we're didthe The injury happened at a good time
where we had a couple of weeksbuilt in to give him some rest,
and so I think he'll be ata level that he hasn't been at since
(30:38):
it happened this weekend, which isgood. I think. Really the only
the only guy where we're probably notgoing to bring up there due to injury
is Ryan Alexander, so you know, he's probably out for just one series.
But other than that, where we'rewe're fully healthy and and we have
enough we think to go up thereand have success. The trip up to
Alaska, Tyler and I will makeyour we'll be making our first journey up
(31:02):
there. What should we be readyfor? How many layers should we pack?
I don't think you can pack enoughlayers, But yeah, I mean
it's just be ready to it's it'sit's essentially going to Siberia, no man.
And but you know, it's areally cool hockey community, great venue.
They have really good fans that arepassionate about Nanacocky and we we have
(31:26):
so much respect for the program youknow, and and what coach Largein has
done, you know, to buildit back up to the point where where
it is is really impressive. Didyou see the intro video when it was
all the rage or have they changedthat? It's always been the top gun
them. Yeah, it's awesome.It's the best thing ever. We need
something. They play it on thejumbo Tron, they the Carlson Center.
(31:51):
That'll be fun, all right.So look after after the performance Gibson Homer
put on against Fairbanks two weekends togo, have you made a decision as
to whether he will start on Friday? I know, you take things one
game at a time, So let'slet's talk about Friday. Have you made
that decision? Yeah, I meanhe's gonna he's gonna stay in Friday and
we'll see how it goes, youknow. I mean he's earned that,
and I mean you got a guythat's playing like he is and and just
(32:15):
swept the team that we're going upto play again. He should be in,
you know, And so we'll seehow Friday goes and go from there.
But he's earned that, and hhe'll he'll be in the net Friday.
He got his first collegiate shutout onthe Friday in that series. How
cool was that to see him,you know, finally get that extra reward
for all the work he's put.It was really good. We felt like
(32:36):
he probably should have got it againstLindon Wood the week before when they call
that a good goal at the endof the game. But you know,
he was just sharp. Like Isaid, he was in complete control at
no point really either night when wegot that two goal lead in both games
that I think he was going togive up the lead. Like, he
was just in control of both games, and especially Friday. So he has
(32:59):
the confidence in the trust of everybody, as does TJ. So fans will
see him again at some point,and we believe in both of them,
and we know we can win withboth of them because we have I remember
asking you at the beginning of theyear, like, is this a good
problem to have? And you said, it's not a problem at all.
You know, you won't apologize forhaving two very able goaltenders. There's nothing
(33:22):
worse than not having depth at everyposition, you know, and you know,
I mean he felt it last yearwhen we were down to eight healthy
forwards that had a call before fromthe club team to just have nine for
the last five games. So whenyou have depth and you're fairly healthy at
this point of the season, it'sa luxury. It's what you recruit,
(33:43):
it's how you build a team anda roster because you want depth and because
of the nature of being an independentand our season, we have really good
hockey players that fans haven't seen thatmuch of, like David Haimovich and Matthew
Romer and Cole Helm and Anthony Akieley. You know, there's a lot of
really good players that just haven't reallygotten their opportunity because we've been white knuckling
(34:06):
for a month and a half,you know, in the back half of
the year where we're in a mustwin scenario pretty much every night because of
where we are in the pairwise.So you know, we love this is
a great group. We have fungoing to the rink every day, and
it's sad because when we have sixleft with this group, we just want
them to enjoy these six games togetherbecause they've been just an absolute blast to
(34:28):
be around every day. Yeah,they've earned it. As for Fairbanks,
you play them this time on theroad. I think it's fair to say
that Arizona State is definitely the moreskilled team this year, but Alaska is
not willing to go down quietly,as we learned a few weeks ago.
Is there anything we saw or yousaw from them rather that you'd like to
capitalize on or improve upon heading intotheir home turf. They play everybody tough.
(34:51):
It doesn't matter who they play.They play everybody tough, whether it's
going to Saint Cloud and splitting,going to Michigan Tech and winning and winning
and overtime to really tough places toplay. They went to North Dakota,
they probably should have split at NorthDakota. They they outplayed him in one
of those games, and they playedwell enough to win those games last last
weekend that you know, our ourspecial teams were just that good and our
(35:13):
goalie was that good. So they'rethey're they're a pain in the ass.
They play the right way, they'realways above pucks. They're really good when
they established a four check. They'reone of the best teams we've played all
year. Off the puck. Youknow, they're they're very bought into how
he wants them to play and theirstructure and and they know they have to
play that way to have success.And that's why they have success. The
(35:36):
size of the ice up there.Is it officially an Olympic size? Shit?
How does that change the game?Oh? I mean we're a good
skating team with a lot of skills, so we're you know, we don't
we don't mind it. We storehistorically have been pretty good on Olympic sheets
because of how we're built, youknow. So we have a lot of
skill. And when you give guyslike Timmy and Lucas Cyllinger and Ty Jackson
(35:59):
a little bit more time and spaceto make plays, that's a good thing
for us. Yeah, that's gonnabe fun to watch. We have seen
them in open ice, and onlygood things happen. Historically, ASU has
traveled to Fairbanks three times, right, for six total games. I know
you have some memories, including thebus debacle back in twenty nineteen. Aside
(36:19):
from that gem, do you haveany memories that stand out from traveling up
there. You know, the generalrule of thumb when we've gone to Fairbanks,
because we've always gone in the middleof the winter, is item go
outside unless it's on the bus,and off the bus to the rink.
So you're walking around seeing any moose, No, no moose no moose,
and we'll take you out. It'sa business trip in every way going and
(36:43):
going up there, So we're justgonna go up there and try and get
two wins then come back all inall, Coach, as we wrap up
with you here tonight, what isyour mindset your message to your team that
still wants to play for something andlook, at the risk of being cliche,
they want to be the tradition inyou know, your final year as
an independent team down this home stretch. Well, they've already done that.
(37:05):
You know, no matter what happensin the final six games, this group
of kids have already done that.They've fulfilled the whole mantra of be the
tradition. They're gonna be a teamthat we talk about for a long time.
One that really helped us re establishthe direction that we know that this
thing's going. You know, it'sit's been a tough ghost since COVID.
I mean it. That did affectour program more than most. You know,
(37:29):
it forced us to go live ina hotel for four months and and
and play an all road season,which I'm glad we did. But as
a young program, you had alot to kind of reinforce after a season
like that, and these guys reallyhelped us do that in every way.
So they've already, you know,have so much to be proud of,
and now it's just enjoying every dayand finishing the job right. Like we
(37:52):
we believe we're the best team leftin every six games and all six games
that we play, and if thisgroup plays with their potential, then we're
going to have a hell of awin lost total at the end of the
year and we'll see where it getsus. Well. Hell is literally freezing
over this weekend, Coach Greg Powerson this Tuesday night, Coach, thanks
for your time, safe travels upto Alaska. We'll see up there and
(38:13):
talk to you on Friday, sir. Thanks guys, Thanks coach. All
right, when we return on thisTuesday night, Alex Coyle and I discussed
some of our observations from that Fairbanksseries and what the Sun Devils are playing
for here in the final three seriesof the season. Stick with us help
frozen over back in just a fewminutes on the Mountain America Credit Union Sun
Devil Radio Network nine ten and theiHeartRadio wop Bank and Cold Bears and Cheeseburgers
(38:35):
in Arcadia for overtime on Hell FrozenOver, Tyler Palley, joined by my
broadcast partner on the Mountain America,Credit Union Sun Devil Radio Network, Alex
Coyle, as we get you setfor Arizona State's upcoming series Up in the
Last Frontier, Alex, the dayhas finally come. The long anticipated weight
is over. We are headed upto Alaska, just outside the Arctic Circle.
(38:58):
I hope you have your park getpacked because at last check we're seeing
lows in the negative tempts. Yeah, it's a it's pretty cold up there.
But I got a question for you, what like what constitutes parka?
That's just showing a lot about me, but like, what like what's the
difference between of parka and a normaljacket? Man? I I don't actually
know the answer to that. Withyou. I think it's like, is
it just like a thicker jacket something? Yeah, you know it's funny.
(39:23):
I'm my my friend Jamie, youknow her. She was she was very
concerned that I was heading up toFairbanks, and she was like looking on
Amazon for all these things, Likegenuinely she thought, like I have this
image of everybody in Fairbanks being notpeople but snow men. I don't know
why I have that image, butnevertheless, she wanted me to get this
heated scarf. And I'm not abig like, I don't want to be
(39:43):
hot. I want to be warm. Does that make sense? Like I
don't want anything like heating me.I just want layers. That makes sense?
Okay? Yeah, Like it's beenso long since I've even really experienced
snow. Yeah, I was justweekend, Yes, it was. It
was nice. Yeah, I guesswe shoul he shows your off weekend.
Yeah, before we go up toAlaska to go to cold you will learn
(40:05):
one day that marriage has sacrifices andthat you know, sometimes the wife wins.
But well, we'll leave it atthat. All right, let's talk
about listen, don't worry, he'snever listening to this show. Let's talk
about the Fairbanks series. Two weeksago. To me, it felt like
good old fashioned sun Devil hockey,right, I mean they were firing on
all cylinders. Special teams was rockingand rolling, goaltending was lights out,
(40:29):
and they really unapologetically played their ownstyle of hockey again. And that's the
cliche that we heard all season long, like we're gonna win the game if
we play Sun Devil hockey like andfor a bit they were like, Okay,
what's what's the Sun Devil hockey versionof this team right that we're going
to see? And now that weknow what that version of Sun Devil hockey
is, they played that way andit was good to see everything that struggled
(40:52):
for a three game stretch there getback to where it was. I mean,
the power play was nearly perfect onthe weekend. The one time they
didn't score on the power play inthe first game was to kill off the
rest of the game and they wereI believe three for four in game two
and they didn't allow a power playgoal. So you can't really get much
better than that on the special teams. And then Gibbie, I mean,
(41:12):
he was phenomenal getting his first careershutout, which was awesome and it was
cool to ask him about that todayand how he felt from there. Yeah,
well here from Gibbee on Friday night'spregame show. So looking forward to
that. You know, I thinkit's it got lost on me a little
bit, but it shouldn't. Thefact that Alaska is not a team to
be taken lightly. I mean,this is not a bad team. Now.
(41:34):
They were right in the middle twentiesas far as pairwise ranking heading into
this series. They were riding thatyou know, twenty twenty one twenty two
area for a large portion of theseason. That is not something that we
should take lightly at all. Thisis a good hockey team and you just
heard coach Power seeing their praises likethis is a team that could very well
beat Arizona State and and you knowhas every intention of doing so on their
(41:57):
home terry. Yeah, I meanwith how you know, the structure that
they have, and they have aninteresting dynamic with a lot of times they're
practicing on an Olympic sheet and thenwhen they go on the road, they
got to play in the normal confinesof the college or NHL sized rink,
and so that's a little bit differenton how they play. They got a
couple of guys that can really skateand that's gonna open things up for them
(42:17):
on that Olympic sheet. So thatshould be interesting. And you know,
I think they're gonna be really hungrytoo, because they played back home last
week and weekend against LU They droppedthe first game, so a three game
losing streak there, fought back inone in the second game, which I
believe they played on Sunday, andso they're gonna be hungry, wanting revenge
of course for what happened two weekendsago here, but also to you know,
(42:39):
end the season on a high notefor them as well. Speaking of
vengeance, because it's interesting you broughtthat up, did you feel like the
Devils played with with revenge on theirmind from last year? Was this really
more about getting a couple of bigwins when they needed them most. I
think it was more about the gettingbig wins when they needed the most,
because you know, She's team wasso different now. You know, in
(43:02):
that final second pregame speech, doyou think coach Powers mentioned that? Probably,
Yeah, one more thing that's hetold you all week, Oh we're
not going to worry about it,and then he's gonna use that to motivate
his team right before they take theice. So you know, there could
have been a little bit of that, but I think it was more of,
you know, the better team,the more skilled team, just go
out there and take care of businesson home ice. You know, I
don't think we can drive this pointhome enough. The fact that Fairbanks is
(43:25):
not a bad team. I thinktheir record is deceiving. They're like ten
thirteen and two. I believe theyplay hard, they can score, they
can defend. Sun Devils didn't takethem lightly, which was really good to
see and really important to see.But I also think, as I was
thinking about this, you kind ofhave to taper your confidence right especially heading
into their territory. Now it's aplace you didn't have any success last year
(43:47):
and you have you know, hadseveral losses over the years. Yeah,
that's for sure. And Alastya's thirteenthirteen and two. They're at thirty in
the pair wise after that three gamelosing streak. Of course, that didn't
help, especially losing when at hometo LU. They're pretty much an exact
team where Merrimac is, and weknow how highly touted and how you know,
(44:07):
coach really gave them a lot ofprops the beginning of the season,
perhaps of a team they were.So they're gonna have to be ready if
their issue is and you know alot of people asked the media today about
the travel and how that's gonna affectthings, and Tyler Granton gave a great
answer, like we're going up Wednesday, we play Friday. If we're not
ready, that's on us. Yeah, no, it's it's a great point.
(44:28):
I mean, you you have thatkind of built in and you understand,
like, look, this is thisis a team that is going to
travel quite a bit next season.This is a team that is used to
travel, as Coach Powers discussed,not only the COVID year, but look,
we're the we're the furthest West teamaside from the Alaska school, so
we're we're used to traveling, youknow, pretty far distances. But yeah,
I mean with layovers and such toget up to Fairbanks. It's it's
(44:49):
got to play, you know,a factor. All right, let's let's
do what we always do. Let'szoom out for a minute. ASU's chances
at a tournament run seem to bedwindling. There's no point in beating around
the bush about that. But whatchoice do you have give up? I
mean, of course, not likethat. That wasn't the only goal this
season, and a twenty five wincampaign is by no means out of the
question, and frankly is by nomeans a consolation prize, right, And
(45:12):
I think if you know they CoachPowers mentioned there that they believe they're the
better team final six games, theyare and if they win those six games,
you take an NHL style thirty sixand six. Yeah, like you
win. We only did six losingpostgame shows. Yeah, like that's that's
a tremendous season. You win twotrophies. The highlights that we saw like
(45:35):
records broken this season, tim levelbreaking, defensemen scoring records, and you
know, with ten games left inthe season, you see where copprud is,
you know, continuing to climb theranks in the all time power play
goal scoring record, like he verywell, he should be on pace for
top four all time by season's endin that category. And who knows,
with the next year of eligibility left, if he comes back next year,
(45:59):
you know it would take his bestseason at paraply going to break the overall
record. Isn't that wild to thinkabout? Like this? That would be
awesome. We are witnessing history infront of our eyes. On a personal
note, I did some research andI could not find a time when an
Arizona state broadcast hit the airwaves fromthe state of Alaska. I could be
(46:20):
wrong. Sean Crestman can check meon this. He's thinking long and hard,
but he can't think of anything either. But I can't find any record
of it. And so for whateverit's worth, I think it's pretty awesome.
The fans of this team will getto tune in for free to hear
the Maroon and Gold call this weekFox Sports nine ten or the iHeartMedia apps
online all that kind of stuff.And you know, thinking, you know,
I would think that there would besome Hawaii in there as well,
(46:43):
with a couple of male invitationals inthe past, so you know, theoretically,
with universities in all other fifty states, possibly could be that fiftieth state.
We'll have to go back deep intothat history, ye see if they've
gone to Idaho or Montana, butyou know, digging into the archives.
All right. We're back in actionthis weekend from the Carlson Center in Fairbanks,
Alaska against the Nanooks. Alex andI have the hometown broadcast and you
(47:05):
can follow along with us here onthe Mountain America Credit Union Sun Devil Radio
Network. Pregame on Friday and Saturdayeight thirty pm with a nine pm puck
drop local time, So stay upwith us for some independent hockey after dark.
That'll wrap things up for us.Thanks tonight to Sun Deevil hockey head
coach Greg Powers and goaltender TJ.Simptom Felter for joining us. Special thanks
(47:27):
to our radio operations manager, producer, engineer and good friend Sean Crespin and
his fantastic team behind the scenes,and Chris Schubert back in the studio.
Of course, Paige Schackolett and herSun Devil Athletic staff deserve a shout out
as well. We'll see a Friday, February twenty third, eight thirty ASU
and Alaska in Fairbanks. Thanks fortuning in, everybody, I'm Tyler Paley.
Good night,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com