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For the Sun Devils’ freshman goalie Joey Daccord and the rest of the young ASU hockey team, the 2016-2017 hockey season got off to a bit of a rough start. The team started out the season with back-to-back losses to Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. including a 9-2 final score in the opener.
Daccord’s first collegiate start was memorable to say the least - he yielded nine goals in 51 shots against the Fighting Irish - but the North Andover, Massachussetts native would settle in as the season went on. His game was at its best at the end of the season as he went 2-1 in his last three starts including two historic performances.
The dazzling freshman’s first breakthrough performance came when the Sun Devils travelled to Hamden, Connecticut to take on the No. 17 ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats. Daccord recorded 53 saves on 55 shots and propelled the team to a 4-2 victory, while boosting his save percentage on the season from .864 to .879.
Following a tough loss to Western Michigan in his next start in which Daccord made 35 saves on 38 shots, Daccord would get the nod to close out the series in Kalamazoo the following night in goal.
Coach Greg Powers’ faith in the youngster was not misplaced as Daccord came back and stopped 54 of 56 Western Michigan shots once again willing his team to victory. This time it took more than 60 minutes as the Devils netted the game-winning goal in overtime to seal the 3-2 win over the ninth-ranked Broncos.
Although his record was just 4-8 on the season, Daccord showed great improvement from his nine goals against performance in his debut to his 54-save performance to end the his freshman campaign. He was able to work his goals against average down from nine to just four and he got his save percentage up to .893 from .824.
The ceiling appears to be very high for Joey Daccord who will likely assume the main starting role in net this fall.