ASU hockey coach Greg Powers spoke about his first NCAA recruiting class, scheduling and returning players in an interview with ASU athletics released Wednesday.
Powers said in the video that he has had little time to think about the transition since ASU made the announcement in November.
"It’s been a whirlwind; it’s been a good whirlwind," Powers said in the video. "But it’s been very busy. We’ve started to build out a great staff, and we’re excited about the direction we’re heading. It’s been a ton of travel getting 15 kids in this recruiting class, working with our current roster and really evaluating those players to figure out who is best fit to move forward. Staffing, recruiting and scheduling is really all we’ve been focused on."
Powers said while ASU will be playing on a hybrid schedule in 2015-16, ASU is already a "full-fledged" NCAA program with a schedule to prove it.
"There’s a bit of a misconception out there that we’re easing our way into this. We are a full-fledged, NCAA Division I scholarship program in 2015-16," Powers said. "We have 23 Division I games against high-level opponents. We want to play the best competition that we can right away. We’re diving into this. Our games will count."
Powers also confirmed that ASU will renew its "Cactus Cup" rivalry against ACHA foe Arizona for one more year, playing at home on Oct. 3 and in Tucson on Feb. 19.
"We’re going to renew and have one last year in our rivalry against Arizona — one game up here, one game in Tucson," Powers said.
Powers also said ASU will play "as many games as we can" at Gila River Arena in Glendale.
ASU's 2015-16 recruiting class, its first at the NCAA level, will bring in 17 new players to the program.
Powers said size and experience were the biggest factors he was looking for in his first recruiting class.
"Our goal going out in assembling and getting a recruiting class was to get a bigger, older group that could come in and not get physically outmanned on a daily basis," Powers said. "So we’ve done that. The average age of our 15 recruits is 20 years old, so we’re going to have an old freshman class. That was our goal. That was really what we wanted to go out and accomplish."
Powers definitely found size in the form of freshman forward Louie Rowe from East Lansing, Michigan, who stands at 6 feet, 6 inches and 235 pounds.
Powers also said he was looking for kids who have won in the past in top-level leagues across North America.
"All high-level kids with a ton of success," Powers said. "Eight of them from the USHL, which is primarily the top feeder league in the NCAA hockey. Five from the BCHL, which is another very good feeder league for British Columbia. And two from the North American league."
ASU will return 13 players from last season's ACHA team, including now-junior goaltender Robert Levin and graduate Liam Norris.
"They can all play," Powers said. "They all had opportunity to play NCAA hockey somewhere. They were kids that we recruited and deemed very high-level kids on our ACHA program. They turned around our program. Every day that goes by, I don’t forget the fact that we’re here mainly because of them — because they believed in our vision for Sun Devil hockey and were able to execute on the ice."
Powers said now is the time for Sun Devil fans to jump on the ASU hockey bandwagon.
"Jump on board now," Powers said. "It’s going to be exciting to be a part of. Many people doubted that we could do this so successfully at the club level, and (in) a very short period of time, we proved them all wrong. It’s been the work of tons of people to get to this point and I can assure that every fan that buys season tickets that supports our program, they’re not going to regret it and they’re going to be very happy they did."
Powers said his mission was the same as at the ACHA level — winning championships.
"We believe that we will be competitive right away," Powers said. "We understand how important it is to win. We’re committed to winning. And that’s the plan. The plan is to win national championships at the NCAA level at Arizona State. We’re going to do it."
Reach the assistant sports editor at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.
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