Ray Anderson bringing aggressive approach with Sun Devil Hockey
Arizona State has had a men’s ice hockey program for all of 15 months, yet their Vice President for University Athletics is speaking words that are shushed by established programs – national championships.
After all, Anderson is no stranger to trying to shake things up. That’s what he did in November of 2014, elevating the then-ACHA defending club national champions to the Division I level. He followed that up by adding two more sports in women’s lacrosse and women’s triathlon.
As a first-time program and the lone school from the west coast, Sun Devil Hockey took their shots. They scheduled tough and, like their VP for University Athletics, swung for the fences.
ASU men’s ice hockey went 3-22-0 in its first NCAA slate, and currently rank 58th out of 60 schools in the country in RPI while facing opponents such as No. 3 St. Cloud State and No. 8 UMass-Lowell.
It hasn’t necessarily panned out in the win column, but the message has been sent.
“We plan to be with the big boys a lot sooner than people think,” Anderson said.
Part of it, Anderson said, came with the instant national respect the Sun Devils got for entering the realm of college hockey guns blazing.
“We’ve taken our lumps, but we’ve also made a real profound statement out there that these guys aren’t messing around, and you better be ready,” he said. “What it’s done is our recruiting has gone tremendously well, because good players want to play top-notch competition. They don’t want soft schedules.”
What it has also done is provide the blueprint for schools across the west coast to join the Sun Devils.
“Recently some folks at (UNLV) have said, ‘We’ve seen the Arizona State model. We’ve seen that it can be done.’” Anderson said. “Now, they’re moving up there to add men’s ice hockey based on the ASU model.”
In addition, to UNLV, the University of Miami has expressed interest in adding men’s ice hockey. Anderson said the pressure is now mounting for other schools to join the Sun Devils in making the jump.
“I’ve got a few Pac-12 athletic directors who, friendly, are a little tee’d off at me because they’ve got donors saying, ‘We should do what Arizona State’s doing. Why aren’t we doing hockey?’ We’ve got money to do it if you’ve got the will to do it.”
The next step in Anderson’s blueprint is the next four to six years, when he said he believes the Pac-12 will have its own conference for hockey.
“Part of what was the hope for the folks with collegiate hockey was that Arizona State out here in the west joining as the 60th varsity hockey would tip a domino that would get others seriously thinking about it,” Anderson said.
At that time, Anderson’s vision is that the Sun Devils will no longer be a bottom feeder in the college hockey scene. Instead, he sees them as an immediate contender and player in the fabric of the sport.
“The folks at the NCAA already know that we’re coming for a Frozen Four – to host one and to be in one,” he said.
