ASU Hockey: Honoring the Senior Class

For five minutes, lets forget about the three-and-a-half year winning streak against the University of Arizona.

This weekend, the Sun Devil Hockey team will be honoring seven seniors for their contributions to the ASU hockey program and community. No Wildcat player has ever beat the Sun Devils, largely in part to the maroon and gold's senior class.

"They've been phenomenal... I've been here through all these guys' entire tenure and we're going to miss them. They're a heck of a group. They've been the core group of guys who have helped us reshape and rebuild this program into what it is now and hopefully we can send them out with two big wins at home," head coach Greg Powers said.

Defensemen Brian Parson, Darcy Charrois, Ryan Clark and forwards Dan Styrna, Dan Anderson, Brett Prechel and Phil Sansone will all be skating in Oceanside Ice Arena for the last time in their collegiate careers.

At the blueline, we will never forget Parson's cannon or Clark's goal celebrations or Charrois' textbook hip checks and elevated play the past few months. As for the forwards, Styrna will forever be remembered as a Wildcat killer and he will go in the record books with over 100 career points as a Sun Devil. Anderson had a team first mentality and played defense for over one year before shifting back to forward and Sansone has been one of the best locker room guys in Greg Powers' head coaching tenure and is known to defend his teammates and step up when his number is called.

Those are the six players who will be dressed this weekend, however we cannot forget about Brett Prechel and everything he has done for this Sun Devil program. Prechel will be enjoying the game in a suit and tie no thanks to the torn ACL he suffered at Iowa State in the beginning of the season. Prechel has always played a crucial role when it comes to the team's depth because he is the one skater who can play with anyone on the ice and in the broadcast booth, color commentator Austin Controulis loved the Hekle-Prechel combination. Deadly and rhyming. Last season, he had a career high in goals (13), assists (13), points (26) and specialty team goals (3).

Each player will have left their mark after graduating in May, but they have some unfinished business to attend to first. The Sun Devils are currently ranked No.2 in the ACHA, but this senior class has its sights on winning 32 in a row against UofA and winning the National Championship in Chicago.

Coach Powers mentioned how this group of guys has gone through all the peaks and valleys you could possibly think of, but they have had the opportunity to be the No.1 overall team for eight straight weeks and they would like to end the season on top.

Come out this weekend and support the seniors for everything they have done to make ASU Hockey the best team in Arizona. The puck drops at 8 p.m. on Friday night and senior festivities will commence around 7:45 p.m. on Saturday.