HELL FROZEN OVER 12.5.23

Join the voice of Sun Devil Hockey Tyler Paley and Sun Devil Hockey Head Coach Greg Powers as they recap the last two weeks for the Sun Devil hockey squad and look ahead to the Sun Devils only home series in the month of December.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
You're listening to Hell Frozen Over withSun Devil head Hockey Coach Great Powers by
from Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers on FoxSports nine ten and the iHeartRadio Welcome to
the course light first period of HellFrozen Over now alongside Coach Powers, the
voice of Sun Devil Hockey Tyler Piley. Wow. Two weeks removed from our

(00:23):
last show, the Sun Devils havecemented themselves in the race for the NCAA
Tournament. Yes, we're just sixteengames into a thirty eight game campaign.
Yes, plenty can still happen betweennow and March, and yes, the
month of December will tell us alot about this team's trajectory. But Sun
Devil Hockey is feeling good at themoment, looking mostly healthy and riding high

(00:43):
into the middle portion of its schedule. As number twelve, Arizona State gears
up for its lone home series thismonth against Dartmouth. Hi. Everybody,
Welcome into season two, episode fiveof Hell Frozen Over Live tonight from Cold
Beers and Cheeseburgers in Arcadia for thenext hour. You're on Fox Sports nine
to ten and streaming on the iHeartRadioapp. I'm Tyler Paley, the radio
play by play broadcaster of Sun DevilHockey, happy to have you along for

(01:07):
the ride as we discuss the team'slatest news and notes and get you ready
for yet another week of college hockey. Joining me tonight and every other week
this year are Arizona State head coachGreg Powers and my broadcast partner Alex Coyle,
coach made it back from Colorado Springs. Okay, how's it going early
this week? So far, sogood. We're just we're going into the
week trying to get the boys intoFriday is fresh and you know, energetic

(01:34):
as possible. We're kind of inthat stretch where you know, we have
four games left to the semester andwe just do we want to keep them
fresh. Yeah, no doubt aboutit. They need some rest as well
as that, you know, kindof intensity. Let's take a look at
where you guys stand right now,sixteenth in the pairwise rankings. As we
sit here tonight, we all knowthat there is a lot of hockey left
to be played, but I thinkat this point we have a large enough

(01:57):
sample size to start drawing conclude aboutthis team. What's your assessment of your
squad? As we sit here onthis Tuesday night. It is just a
really resilient team full of kids thatall they care about is the result in
winning. That nobody's out, youknow, for a personal gain in any
way. I don't think anybody caresabout what the individual statute looks like as

(02:19):
long as as long as the letternext to it has a W. And
that's why we've won so many closegames. We have a really good group
of kids that are bought into thatand play for each other. And that's
all you can ask. Yeah,you guys have won't found ways to win
games in a whole variety of ways, which we'll touch on as we continue
this hour. Let's recap how thelast two weeks have gone since our last
episode back on November the twenty first. At that time, you were gearing

(02:43):
up for number nine Providence College anda highly anticipated Thanksgiving weekend series game one
Really fun. Arizona State led justtwice at the very beginning and at the
very end, which matters most.It was back and forth the whole way.
Had it to overtime, Dylan Jacksongot the puck on a delayed penalty
and went five hole to score thegame winner. You guys have had some
thrilling wins this year, but thatone felt really special to see your guys

(03:07):
stay in it the entire way andreally earn that win. Yep, it
was a slugfest, just like kindof the Denver win was. You know,
we wouldn't go away, They wouldn'tgo away. Two really good teams
played a great series again just likethe Denver series. So it went and
went about the way we thought itwould go to. This was very very
hard earned results by both teams,and that was a fun win. The

(03:28):
place was jamming that night, andwhen Dylan scored that goal, it was
it was. It was pretty incredible. So that's what we envisioned, you
know, those wins against Denver inProvidence when we built this program and and
and moved into Mullet. That environmentand that kind of excitement around sun Double
hockey is what we've always envisioned.In that Sunday game and really the whole

(03:49):
weekend coming in the scouting report wasthere going to be hard to get through
and their four check was going tobe key, and that really displayed itself
on that Sunday game. Because you'regonna play a lot of teams like that
structurally come tournament time, what's thewhat's the key to getting a team out
of its for check? Just knowingwhat you're gonna do with it before you

(04:10):
get it. Puck support, youknow, and and and understanding. You
know. I think Providence finish checksprobably harder and more than anybody we've played
all year. So you're gonna gethit, You're gonna get hit, You're
gonna have to move the puck andtake, you know, take a hit
to to to make a good pass, and you have to support the puck.
And our guys actually did that reallywell up at CC, especially for

(04:30):
four periods. So it's just allabout puck support. You know. You
you touched on this a moment ago, but it strikes me how important it
is to have these big name teamscoming in. And granted we're in year
nine now of this program, soit's not like as new or novel,
but it still feels like the beginningof this era. So I guess I'm
wondering how much it helps you tohave schools like Providence, like Denver,

(04:54):
like Mary Mack to start the year, come to Tempe, show your guys
what they'll be competing against. Ifyou have the good fortune of playing into
March and April, but also thecaliber of talent that you'll be playing against
next year and for years to come. In the NCCH two. Yeah,
I mean we you know, asan independent, you're you're forced to really
play whoever will play you, right, And we've always had the philosophy from

(05:15):
a scheduling standpoint, to play thetoughest schedule that we can play. You
have to mix in some teams,especially at the end of the year when
all these conferences are playing their conferencetournaments. When we started, there weren't
very many other independents, so wedidn't really have anybody to play. When
we made the tournament in eighteen nineteen, I think we had a thirty five
day break from our last game untilthe day we played the tournament's Quinnipiac.

(05:39):
Now, if we make it,we won't have that. We'll have about
a two week break, which iswhat you want, really a week a
weekend off, which is perfect andthere's more options. But you know you
have to make hey, you haveto when you play the big name teams
and the highly ranked teams, youhave to get wins. I think,
what are we what's our record againstranked, Yes, right, four and

(06:01):
two? Kay, right, Sofour and two against ranked teams and that's
that's why we're in the hunt rightnow, and mainly because of that that
results. And you know, butif you look at you know, those
teams that we play historically, youknow, you know, you look at
a Long Island would be a fiftynine, you know in the pairwise,

(06:21):
now they're not. You know,you look at an Augustana, who people
maybe thought would be in the highfifties, they're in the low thirties.
You look at Alaska, they're probablygoing to be in the teams they might
Alaska Anchorage is in the high forties. So those games will help us if
we have success more than people probablythought they would. Yeah, how will
that philosophy change when you joined theNCHC if at all, because there's still

(06:44):
quite a few teams your trips back. Yeah, well, I mean for
three years, it's probably not gonnathere's really no choice. We had twenty
four games next year, you know, kind of plopped on our lap when
when we decided to join in justa year, so we had twenty four
games to display. We couldn't moveall those games into just one season.
We had to spread them out overa certain amount of time, and we're

(07:05):
still working on that, but we'regoing to honor all those games and honor
all those contracts. We have tospread them out when we could fit it
in with with everybody's puzzle to makeit work. But you know, you'll
see in three or four years aphilosophy kind of start to take shape.
Right now, we're just gonna honorwhat games we had scheduled for next year
in the years out, Are youhappy? I mean, I know you're

(07:28):
right in the thick of it rightnow, But you guys aren't binded to
play a certain amount of games,right Like, I'm sure there is a
minimum, But you guys are playingthirty eight games at this level. And
I know perhaps that's to help kindof boost the resume and add a little
bit, you know, of paddingfor a tournament resume. But does it
help to be able to play everysingle weekend with the exception of I think
two over the course of the season. Well, we know, I made

(07:50):
the choice as an independent to playas many games as we could because we
don't have a conference tournament. Yeah, so you know you actually get exemptions
for going to both Alaska. Sothose games you're limited to thirty four games
in college hockey, that's a maxamount you can play. But when you
go and play either of the Alaska's, those are exempt. The n CUABLEA

(08:11):
incentivizes teams to go up there,get on a play, and travel very
far and go play them so theycan get home games. So when we
go to the Alaska's, we getan additional two games in four games if
we go twice. So that's whywe're at thirty eight. Last year,
the Hall of Fame game against NorthDakota was also exempt, so that's why
we played thirty nine. So weplayers want to play, you know,

(08:33):
they want to play that. Theydon't want to sit at home and you
know twitdler thumbs. And the thingI think I'm most excited about for our
players is historically they don't get breaks. They don't going to go home for
Thanksgiving, they don't get to gohome for Christmas because we have to squeeze
in games anywhere we can get themas an independent. And then moving forward

(08:54):
next year Thanksgivings off Christmas break,they're going to get a good two weeks
to go home and be a theirfamilies which is great. We could all
use it. We haven't never gottenthat, and I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, that'll be great, youvery much looking forward to that.
For a lot of different reasons.I do want to jump back to this
past weekend Colorado College Friday Night goaltenderbattle TJ Semptom Felter and Caden Americo.

(09:16):
From start to finish, CC struckfirst, but your sun Devils really dominated
the shot totals in the first ensecond periods led two to one after forty
minutes. The Tigers then tied thegame early in the third. We'd go
to overtime once again. The finaldecision was a two to two tie,
and then of course the moral shootoutvictory was a nice cherry on top.
I know you were really impressed withyour team's performance and it definitely helps to

(09:39):
for the pairwise rankings to take thatgame to ot does it not? For
sure? You know? I mean, did to go and get a tie
on Friday? I thought our guysplayed really well. Was happy with how
they played, how they managed thegame. I felt like over the course
of that sixty minutes we were thebetter team and probably could have won.
Their goalie was very very good,as was ours. But yeah, I

(10:00):
was very happy with how our guysplayed Friday. The effort was there,
and that's all you can ask.In the second game, of course,
the shutout from TJ one of thebest performances we've seen from him, and
that's saying a lot with what he'sdone. You mentioned that the team kind
of ran out of gas, andthat's late second and third period. TJ
being that security blanket. Was heshowcasing his peak value at that point?

(10:22):
Yeah, I mean he has donethat already, I think obviously the altitude
just kind of hit our guys likea ton of bricks, you know.
And I was so happy with howwe played the first period. We broke
pucks out probably better and cleaner thanwe had all year. We managed the
game really well, was a perfectroad period. They had eight shots,
they were all from the perimeter,They had no scoring chances, we had

(10:43):
a lead. We just managed agame really well, and our guys just
couldn't find their legs after that,you know, and TJ hung on for
us. But you know what wasimpressive was was, you know, the
the energy on the bench was there, the belief was there, the wiliness
to eat pucks and get in frontof shots and do whatever they had to

(11:03):
do to chip in was there andthey did it, and we got through
it, and TJ held a Senateand did a great job. Yeah,
block shots twenty four to eleven,I think on Friday, and some ridiculous
disparity on Saturday as well. Moreon TJ. He, of course,
you know this, already tied JoeyDcort's program record for shutouts with eight all
time as a Sun Devil now reallyplaying some of his best hockey. From

(11:26):
my vantage point as a former goaltenderyourself, I wonder if you look at
the way TJ's playing, and perhapsyou can put into words what's going through
his mind. Is he's diving frompost to post, making saves without a
stick, just really standing on hishead out there. Well, I'd like
for him to hang on to hisstick a lot all than he does to
deal with that and his gloves.That's a work in progress with TJ.

(11:48):
But he just competes, you know, and he has an inner belief in
himself that he can win and stealus any game when he has to.
And be very honest, I challengedhim on Friday day before the game.
In our meeting that he needed tobe better on our kill. We had
I think the fifty sixth ranked savepercentage on the penalty kill in the country

(12:09):
and the third best save percentage fiveon five. We needed more saves on
the kill, and he was unbelievablein the kill. So apparently I just
had to piss him off a littlebit. And six for six on the
kill that's not too shabby. Yeah, and again just the way he you
challenge him, but but also howhe knows his game and knows when to

(12:31):
make adjustments. You mentioned how goodhe was at staying square to the puck
during this last stretch of him justplaying some of his best hockey of the
year. Yess, just when he'sreading the play, he's mentally engaged.
He has a hockey IQ it's veryhigh, so he's able to read the
play very well. And and whenhe's controlling, you know, and and
and controlling rebounds and you know,nagating second shot opportunities is when he's really

(12:56):
crisping on and the team just playsnice and calm in front of when he
plays like that. And he's beenlike that really since that second Denver game
where he struggled a little bit.He's been lights out, He's been unbelievable.
What's the deal with these overtime games? I mean the amount and that
we have seen of overtime? Whathave we seen now? Seven games already

(13:16):
this year, six ot games allof last year. I guess winning a
game, no matter when it comes, is great and you'll take it.
But I'm wondering what you make ofthe fact that a lot of these games
have not been decided in regulation.It's the parody in college hockey. Everybody's
good, everybody competes, it doesn'tmatter who you play. Everybody can beat
anybody you know. And I thinkyou see it across the board every night.

(13:39):
There's a lot of overtime games everynight, and it's just because of
how good college hockey is. Everybody'sgood. Yeah, you saw North Dakota
and Denver on Friday seven to fivefinal. That was wild. NC officials.
I don't want to get you introuble, but I also know that
I only have the rest of thisyear before you actually kind of step into

(14:00):
some some icy waters out here.So I guess let me pose the question
this way. Are in what you'veseen from officiating and I don't ever want
to use this as an excuse,because that's not the reason that you generally
win or lose hockey games. Butin what you've seen from NCCHC officials,
even from last year to this year, do you are are you okay with
the way they call games? Areyou adjusting to the way they call games?

(14:22):
Are you getting to know them betterand learning about them individually? Every
league's called differently, Every league hasdifferent points of emphasis. I think that
when we go to that league,we're going to get a lot more use
to what their points of emphasis are. We have Big ten at home,
then we'll go and play in HockeyEast, and then we'll play NCCHC,
we'll PLAYCAC. So it's very sporadic. You know, these guys aren't prosy.

(14:45):
They're not. That's not how theymake a living, you know.
And when we go to the NCCHC, they've made it abundantly clear that they
have they have it out for usbecause of the bald guy in the radio
booth. They don't like you whogets mistaken for you on the street by
some random guy appairs. I willsay I took that as a compliment,
all right, Before we go tobreak here. I do want to ask

(15:05):
you one last question, and it'sabout the guest we have coming up,
Kyle Smollwyn. Excited to learn moreabout him, excited to officially meet him,
especially since he's the first freshman we'vehad on this year. You've had
nothing but praise for Kyle since dayone, really since Alex and I talked
to you in the preseason. What'syour assessment on him so far? How
great of an addition has he beento your team? He's been tremendous.
He's he's mature, he's was committedto us for a very long time.

(15:28):
He wrote it out in the USHLand did some great things there, came
in ready to go, ready tocontribute on both ends of the ice.
He plays both ends of the icevery well. He's got sneaky hard skill
that he really hasn't even been ableto display yet that he will. And
he wears really really nice three piecesuits, which is which is exciting.
Also also very impressive with the vestand everything you I did, I did.

(15:52):
I was a three piece suits guyand everything changed. But he wears
nice suits and that's just that's justyou know, dearsim even more of Iteah,
Well, of course, a mannear and dear to your heart.
All right, sixteen games down,twenty two to go. Here in the
twenty twenty three to twenty four campaign, Devil's right in the thick of things
in terms of terms of the allimportant pairwise rankings, with plenty more hockey

(16:12):
to be played and more opportunities tocement themselves as one of the top teams
in the sport. More to comeon the Devil's next series against Dartmouth in
the third period with Coach Powers.But up next the freshman center who's fast
and furious mindset on the ice,already paying dividends. We'll chat with Kyle
Smollen about his long anticipated journey toTempe and ask him about a pregame ritual

(16:33):
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You're listening to Hell Frozen Over withSun Devil head Hockey coach Greg Powers.
Let's start the busy Hard Seltzer secondperiod on Fox Sports nine to ten
and the iHeartRadio WAPP. Thanks forsticking with us for a second period of
Hell Frozen Over, our weekly hourlong show talking all things sud Devil Hockey.

(19:56):
We're live every other Tuesday this seasonfrom Old Beers and Cheeseburgers now in
the Arcadia location right near forty fourthStreet and Indian School. Hey, if
you're not here tonight, hope you'llconsider joining us on Tuesday, December nineteenth,
same time, six pm. Youcan come, grab some delicious food
and talk college hockey with us.When you look at the Sun Devil Hockey
roster, you'll see a much moreexperienced and veteran team than a year ago

(20:19):
and one of the most fascinating additionsto Arizona State's roster this offseason was Kyle
Smollen, a highly touted recruit who'dcome to Tempe as a freshman, but
he has about as much experience asanyone in the lineup. His role has
only grown as the season has progressed, and with some injuries and shuffling lines
around, you can expect to seehim even more moving forward. Kyle joins

(20:40):
Alex Coyle. Me and me nowon help frozen. I over, Kyle,
Great to have you on. Appreciateyou being with us. Yeah,
thanks for having me. I appreciateit. So I was going to start
by jumping right into hockey, butnow I have to know about this suit
game that you apparently have going on. Coach Powers raves about it, and
I'm sure you know he's a suitconnoisseur. So I need to know what's
your tie looking like, what's thecolor scheme? Yeah? Sure. I

(21:03):
This year I decided I needed toget a suit that looked right and kind
of fit the style of issue.I had a couple of suits engineers that
didn't fit quite right. Yeah,So I went out and got one that
looks good. It's a full maroonjacket and pants with a maroon vest,
black shirt and a nice floral maroonblack tie. That's sharp. Yeah,

(21:23):
what about the shoe selection. Igo brown shoes, brown belt, brown
shoes, brown belt. Nice.Okay, I'm going to keep an eye
out for that as you walk intoMullet. This year, you guys are
coming off an undefeated weekend in ColoradoSprings. Your sun devils are eleven three
and two. How's the locker roomfeeling right now? Good? Right now?
We know we can accomplish a lotmore. We're confident in our ability

(21:47):
to accomplish a lot more. We'resatisfied with where we're at, but we're
not going to stop there. Weall believe that we can go further as
a team, and we're gonna doeverything we can to take steps in the
right direction. Can't wait to seeit, all right? I told you
this in break I just tossed toit at the end of the first segment,
But I've been dying to ask youthis question for weeks now. You
have a fascinating pregame ritual which isperhaps difficult to explain without seeing it,

(22:10):
but essentially, you take the bladeof your stick and you have somebody layout
all ten of their fingers. Youmove the blades super fast in between the
fingers. Tell me about this.I know you have a name for it.
Why do you do it? Whendid it start? What does it
help? Yeah, it's called thechip Shop. It was originally started actually
by Victor Hedman in the twenty twentyplayoffs with his equipment manager. I saw

(22:30):
it on Instagram or wherever, andI thought it was great. And my
second year of junior hockey, wehad the privilege to be able to go
to the car Cup Finals and Ikind of just needed to shake something up.
I needed to change it up,and I asked my equipment manager,
Hey, like, you know,just put your hands out, I'll just
kind of do whatever. And Iquickly, just I was nervous, I
zipped right through it real quick.And that game, in front of all

(22:53):
my family, you know, fromChicago, I scored the first goal in
the cart Cup finals. Cool.So it was an exhiliarty experience and I
was like, well, I'm stickingwith this, so superstitious. Yeah,
And next two years I continued withit and it's it's worked for me,
and it's it's kind of eased mymind a little bit and warm ups and
got me locked in. So that'sawes you have. You had an equipment
editor say no, I'm not goingto do that. Fortunately, they've all

(23:14):
been like, all right, youknow, right whatever, Yeah, I
trust you and I don't know.I think I have a good track record
with no injuries, so we're gonnastick with that. So Coach Powers told
Alex and me a bit about yourstory when we talked to him in the
preseason and then in the subsequent weeks. You were supposed to come play here
a year ago, right, andand you had already committed at that point,
but Coach Powers actually called you andsaid, hey, the roster's filling

(23:36):
up. He would really appreciate ifyou held off for one more year.
Tell us how that conversation went andwhy you chose to wait to come to
Arizona State. Yeah, I finishedup my third year juniors at the time
in Fargo. I thought I hada good year. We had some great
conversations leading up to it. Alot of conversations about you know, there's
possibility that you could come in,there's a possiblity you couldn't, and and
and honestly, I was. Iwas open to whatever. I trust coach

(24:00):
powers with my life. Essentially,they had a great vision for me,
they had a plan for me,and I just kind of listened to what
he had to say. He gaveme a call and said, hey,
listen, like we have a reallytalented player coming in, and I just
I don't see it being beneficial foryou to come in right now. I
feel it could be better for youto stay back and play another year.
And honestly, absolutely yes, Coach, where do you need me to go?

(24:23):
What do you need me to do? Do whatever it takes. I
want to be a sun devil wheneverit is, it's up to you.
I'm ready when you are. That'spretty impressive. And then I went back
and quite honestly had the best yearof my career. I had the most
fun. I scored a lot ofpoints, fortunately, and I got the
opportunity to lead my team to aClare Cup final again and unfortunately we didn't

(24:44):
win, but I also got tohang a banner and when when we won
the Anderson Cup in the USHL.So I enjoyed every minute in Fargo,
and you know, my heart's inFargo. But honestly, I was looking
forward to being a sun devil,and I was ready whenever he was.
So being a sun devil was somethingthat you know. Of course, growing
up in the Midwest, you mightpeople might wonder, oh, why Asu
for you, But there's an interestingstory on why you loved Asu. You've

(25:07):
loved Asu for a long time,a very long time. I grew up
here. I have a vacation heresince I was at probably eight years old
and going to spring training, andyou know, just being down here all
the time. And to this day, I tell my friends this all the
time. There's a story. Itold them, Hey, as soon as
Arizona State or Arizona or whoever getsa Division one program, I'm going Arizona.

(25:30):
I don't care what it takes.And I can't make this up.
I was probably twenty sixteen found outArizona State got a Division one program,
and I told my agent, Isaid, I gotta go there. I
don't care what it takes. Andnext thing you know, at the national
camp, I had a few conversationswith them, and I just I had
people talking to me. I said, no, I Arizona State's where I
want to go. So Coach Powersdidn't have to work really hard to recruit

(25:52):
you. I like to think not. It was a pretty easy decision for
me. I was very short commerceI said, you know, I want
to go here. What does ittake? What do I need to do?
He told me everything I needed todo, and I made sure I
checked all the boxes. No matterwhat to say, You've done it.
Yeah. Well, I was goingto say, like, you've been here
for a few months, now,what's the verdict? Yeah, I know
this is the spot, Patty.Yeah, no, that's awesome, all

(26:15):
right. Something Alex and I discussjust about every weekend is the importance of
face offs, and as a centerman, I want to get your thoughts
on this. You win a draw, you win possession. Ideally you keep
possession. We know TDD Jackson whotakes a lot of face offs out for
a while, which means you area chambo really more important in that facet

(26:36):
of the game. How much doyou focus in practice on winning draws and
how important is it to be rightaround that fifty five percent win rate.
I take a lot of pride inface offs. It's something that I find
very important in this game, andit's kind of a lost art at times.
Not a lot of people pay attentionto it. It is hard to
win games when you don't start withthe puck. And I take a lot
of pride in doing whatever I canbecause at the end of the day,

(26:57):
it's a one on one battle withthe across from you, and if you
want it more, you will getit, you know. And I take
a lot of pride in winning myone on ones, and I think anybody
with a competitive edge does. Andyou know, with tie going down,
I have I have no chance,no choice but to step up and make
it, make it a big deal. I have to. I have to
make some noise. I have tostart winning some more draws, and it's

(27:19):
something I'm definitely gonna work on inthe week's moving forward here. So coming
into this season, something that weheard a lot, really we hear most
seasons coming in is how close thegroup is. But you can you could
feel that this group was close.Was there a moment when you understood or
or felt that this group, youknow, it's something special and is going

(27:40):
to succeed at the level that we'reseeing right now. Yes, I've been
on a quite a few successful teamsfortunately over my course of my career,
especially in junior hockey, having theprivilege to go to two finals and nothing
compares to this team. No onecares where you came from, who you
are, how many points you have, or if you're playing or not.
You're part of this family and you'regonna You're gonna be a contributing factor with

(28:02):
this family no matter what. Andthere are no egos. That is the
biggest part is and the biggest thingthat I notice is no one's too big
for anyone. Everyone's a part ofthis family and everyone's equal. You know.
So we only have a couple moreminutes left, but there are a
couple more questions I want to getto first on the team as a whole
yourself, Anthony Daoud, Cole Gordon, Matthew Romer, the young guys,

(28:25):
the freshman on this team, Howconfident are you in those guys ending yourself
to be able to lead a suinto the next year's the next era if
you will, especially as this programkind of embarks on that next chapter as
an NCHC member beginning next year.It's very likely and very apparent. We
have an amazing crew of leaders andolder guys on this team that are unbelievable
examples and it's very easy to watchand kind of see what they like to

(28:49):
do and see their habits and andto pick up on that a little bit.
So I'm not very worried at allwith this, this freshman crew being
able to pick up on these verybrilliant and very smart older guys that have
been around quite a bit, andthey're gonna they're gonna carry the torch very
far. So real quick, twomore before we hit to break this weekend.
You guys got Dartmouth the Big Green, perhaps not as talented as a

(29:14):
team that you've seen up to thispoint, but with respect, you know,
we did see how you guys perhapstook stone Hill a bit too lightly
in that series, nearly let oneget away from you. What will it
take to get a couple more homewins, especially the only series at Mullet
this month. Understanding that we cannotunder estorminated opponent and we will only beat
ourselves unless we play to our standard. We got to hold ourselves accountable to
the way we want to play,and if we don't, we're gonna let

(29:37):
it slip. And we can't affordthat, not as an independent. We
got to do whatever it takes,and we got to take care of our
business during the week regardless, soespecially at home. Right, all right,
last one for you. In twoweekends, we'll all fly out to
Pittsburgh for a series with Robert Morris. And from what I understand, your
sister plays on the Robert Morris women'steam, which is pretty cool. Tell
us about your relationship with her andhow cool it is to both play college

(29:57):
hockey and then to end up inthe same city for a weekend. It's
unbelievable. I honestly can't wait tosee her and see how she's doing.
I haven't seen her quite a bit, but she doesn't know it, but
she is one of the biggest influencersin my life. She is one of
the toughest beings I've ever seen.She taught me with the real version of
toughness. Looks like she suffered avery difficult injury in her life. Not

(30:21):
a lot of people know about.She got both her achilles severed. Wow,
went at a very young age andkind of halted her hockey career.
And just when I thought I wastough for going through the stuff that I
have to do in life, Iwatched a warrior cut down her recovery time
to almost just under a year.Wow, and she was back on the
ice doing her thing, and she'samazing and she still suffers with it today

(30:45):
and I never hear her complain once. So every time I see her,
I think about her toughness and theresilient person that she is. So she's
a big part of my life.And I hope she knows that that's pretty
pretty awesome. And I bet youcan't wait to see her. That'll be
really cool to catch up with her. Well, lots of good things to
come for Number twenty five gets asmuch praise as anyone from the coaching staff.
Fortunately for all of us, we'regonna get to see Kyle Smullen's impact

(31:07):
quite a bit over the next severalyears. Kyle, appreciate you spending time
with us on your Tuesday evening.I hope you get a chance to go
grab some food and we'll see youon Friday. Good luck this weekend.
Thanks for having I appreciate it allright. We'll have you back soon when
we return to help frozen over.On this Tuesday night, Coach Powers is
back to preview the Sun Devil's onlyhome series of December against a team that
ASU has never faced the Dartmouth BigGreen will break down what ASU will see

(31:30):
from Dartmouth and how they can continuethe magic at Mullet Arena that we've seen
up to this point. Third periodright after this short break on the Mountain
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The problems solved. You're listening toHell Frozen over with sundevilhead hockey coach Greg
Powers. This is the do Sekisthird period of Hell Frozen Over on Fox
Sports nine ten and the Iheartsradio wappback in Arcadia for the third period.

(34:52):
You're listening to Hell Frozen Over livetonight on the Mountain America Credit Union Sun
Devil Radio Network. From Cold Beersand cheeseburg It's good time to remind you
to mark your calendars for our nextshow on Tuesday, December nineteenth at six
pm. Come grab a burger hangout with Coach Powers and our Sun Devil
Hockey guests, but not Alex Coylebecause he's going on vacation. All right,

(35:13):
Yeah, I know, what's thedeal. We got work to do.
I can't I can't do math.That's yeah. We'll transparent here.
You get one you get one day, all right. Coach Greg Power's back
with us now, Coach before weget back to hockey. You're a college
football fan, yes, yeah,a big one. Okay, So did
the committee get it right? Andhow happy are you to have an objective
ranking system like the pairwise from verylucky, very happy that we do that

(35:37):
have that in hockey. I thinkit's complete BS. Yeah. I mean,
I know Mike Norvell from when hewas at ASU and what he's done
with their programs incredible. And youknow, those kids got done what they
needed to get done without the QBand they deserve to go compete and it
is what it is, I guess, but but you know, and it's
so happens when you put a bunchof you know, morons on a committee.

(35:59):
They don't know what to do.Now, I'm with you. Alex
and I were going back and forthabout this all day Sunday. It was
just the first time I've I've everagreed with someone from North Dakota. All
right, let's get back to hockeynow. We talked a lot earlier about
TJ. Semptem Felter's outstanding play inthis weekend series and maybe if you're looking
ahead to Robert Morris in two weeks, are you sticking with the hot hand

(36:22):
or will Gibson Homer see some starts? Yeah? I get it. Always
it's it's it's game to game.I do intend to get Gibby Lease to
start before the break because he deservesit. He's looking in practice and it's
it's a feel thing that's that's howI coach, and well, you know,
we'll go game to game overall thisweekend and and your road I guess

(36:44):
you could call it success because you'vegotten a positive result in the pairwise and
every single road game that you've played. But but how important was it to
get that first road win this weekend, get to overtime, ultimately get a
tie, to set yourself up forsuccess in the second half of the year.
Yeah, I mean I think it'sWhat's what's ironic is our worst road
game is the one we got towin in and uh so, you know,

(37:07):
we were kind of owed that wewe could easily be, you know,
undefeated on the road. I feltlike we should have won both games
at Miami, certainly both in regulation, you know, and and then obviously
Friday against ccfought we were the betterteam, and then Saturday they were clearly
the better team. So yeah,you know, like we were one one
and two on the road. Theone loss is an overtime loss. So

(37:30):
we have gotten positive results and weget an opportunity to next week to go
to Robert Morris and hopefully pick upa couple of wins before before the break.
What fascinates me, but also bothersme a lot is it was actually
a better result for you in thepair wise to tie on Friday at Colorado
College than it was in the overtimewin against Denver at home. Yeah,

(37:52):
that doesn't compute. Well, youknow, it's just a lot, a
lot goes into it, right,It's not just your result, it's other
team's results. Right, So whatthe teams in front of you, the
five teams in front of us Fridaywhen we tied, pretty much all lost,
so we made gain gain some ground, tyme, and then on Saturday
everybody won, right, So everything, There's so many things that go into

(38:14):
a pairwise ranking. That's why againwe look at it. Obviously, our
kids are looking at it. It'sunavoidable. We want to keep climbing up
it. But really, you know, as long as we're within striking distance,
we want to be in that topten. That's the goal, you
know, sooner than later, andwe're slowly but surely getting there, creeping
up. Yeah. Trust Man's complainingto Tyler about it, watching it progress

(38:36):
throughout the day on Saturday, continuallyfalling. But with the Jackson brothers of
course being out this past weekend anddown the road, how does that change
lineup structure? Of course we sawa different first unit. We saw Cylingder
drop down with his talent. Hecan of course play with anybody. But
how does that change things line upwise? Well, it certainly changes the

(38:58):
makeup, you know, from allstandpoint, and lose two kids that's skilled
and that gifted that that we're onour top power play, you can't sugarcoat
you know that. It changes ouroutlook. We still believe in what we
have. You know, we wewe won two games against Merrimac without tie.
We won a game without both ofthem last Saturday. So we can

(39:19):
do it. We've done it.The guys that are gonna get more opportunity
just have to step up. Andreally, the way I viewed, you
know our lineup chart on any givennight, you know where guys are listed.
I think that that media gets waytoo caught up in first, second,
third, fourth. There are somecoaches that literally list their first lines
as their third line. There's norhyme or reason to it. I generally

(39:43):
don't, but if you look atice time, you know it. It's
whoever's going place, you know,So they all have different roles. But
we'll be a little bit heavier withoutthose guys, which you like, but
we'll be less skilled and we're losinga little speed. I know it's early.
I'm just curious, you know,how far into the future are we
looking to get those two back?Is there any sort of timeline? And

(40:07):
frankly, how are they doing rightnow? We should have Dylan back by
Lake Placid I think at the latest, so his isn't too serious, but
we're gonna miss him probably a coupleseries, and then Tye probably six to
eight weeks, so you know,and he's got to get healthy and heal
up, and and an he willand hopeing the guys can hold the fourth

(40:29):
down and we're in a great spotwhen those two come back to help get
us over the finish line, nodoubt about it. And that all starts
this weekend. So let's talk aboutthat. Your first and final home series
this month against the Dartmouth Big Green. Dartmouth forty second in the pairwise.
Currently they have a two, threeand four record. The Ivy League schools,
of course, start their seasons later, so that's why they've only played

(40:51):
nine games. What should we knowabout this Dartmouth team? Really good coach,
who's I think in his third seasonwith him with Red Cashman, he
was quinn and Piac forever and helpRand build that program into what it was.
And so he knows what he's doingand how to build. And he
was with the Washington Capitals prior toDartmouth. He's a great coach. So
they're gonna be well coached and andthey're big and they play hard. It

(41:15):
doesn't matter. Everybody's good, youknow. You hear me say it all
the time. And they tied Quinnipiac. They have some pretty impressive results this
year, and they're gonna be They'regonna be handful knowing that, and of
course, you know a lot ofpeople outside know that you can't take anybody
lightly. How do you get theguys to buy into that mentality though,
because we saw it almost slip upagainst stone Hill, Well, I think

(41:37):
that was what I was gonna say. Did you see the stone Hill games?
You know? So if our guystrust me, they haven't. They
haven't been not reminded about that weekly. So our guys know it's at stake.
The deeper we get into the season, the more success we continue to
have, they know we have tokeep stacking wins. And I believe in

(41:57):
this group that they understand when theyput on our jersey, it's our identity,
it's our way, it's a waywe play. We worry about us.
We have to play a certain wayno matter who we play, and
I think our guys will be thatway on Friday. I know you love
disputing my stats, so let's dothis. Dartmouth has really struggled to score
this season. Eighteen goals in ninegames. That's an average of two per

(42:19):
game. For Alex, who's reallygood at math. Fifty six in college
hockey is where they rank. Howdo you like your chances considering your goaltending
and defensive success lately paired with thewhole mice advantage and Dartmouth's offensive struggles.
Yeah, I mean they have kidsthat can score, they just probably haven't
gotten going yet. You know,I'm not going to put too much stock

(42:39):
into nine games and the sample size. I know they're going to be excited
to come out here. We're goingto get their very best effort. We've
never played them before, they neverplayed us before. It's going to be
a good environment. I think we'regoing to have really good crowds, so
we're going to get their best,So we just have to continue to play
to our identity, really be boughtinto keeping the puck out of our net,
which we have been. I thinkthat's why we are having success with

(43:02):
great goaltending and and good defensive playand guys that are bought into to do
what they gotta do to win agame quickly, because we won't have you
the week before the Robert Moore serious, how good is it to have them
back as a program. And what'sgonna be like traveling there in a in
a barn kind of similar to osSo, yeah, it's gonna be great.
It's a lot nicer than Ocean Side, but it is. It is

(43:24):
a nice rink, right, andit's gonna be great. It's gonna be
a lot of fun. We're veryhappy that they're back in college hockey.
I'm good friends with Derek Scooley.As fate would have it, my daughter
lives in Pittsburgh, plays for thepens Elite, and lives at Derek Scooley's
house. So it's gonna be aninteresting dynamic playing Robert Morris with her there,
and my whole family is gonna goand we'll spend time with them and

(43:49):
it'll be a great weekend. When'slast time you saw her? Which you
hope for Thanksgiving? Thanks good soyou get to see her again shortly,
coach, before we go to breakThis one's kind of a layoup. But
are you having fun? I meanI asked this because last year went off
the rails due to injuries, andI think it's fair to say a lot
of folks around the program, atleast myself, I could speak for myself.
I stopped having fun at some point. How fun is it to win's?

(44:13):
It's winning cures everything. Yeah,you know, and last year it
was a lot of fun because weknew, we knew we couldn't put together
you know, what we knew wehad and what we built because of the
rash of injuries and the way thatthe roster was built. This year,
no matter what comes our way,I genuinely believe in any kid we put
in that lineup that could get itdone. There's still kids you haven't been

(44:36):
able to see because we've been healthyand we've been successful, and we're excited
for them to get their chances.But we really, really dually believe in
every every player on this team.And that's why our guys are playing well
because they see those guys in practiceevery day. They get pushed in practice
every day, and they know whenthose kids get those opportunities, they're probably

(44:58):
gonna make the most of them.Thought we were gonna see tell the Achille
last weekend. So close they madethey did pretty excited. It's only a
matter of time, all right.Coach Creig powers with his thoughts on this
Tuesday night as we get sad forgame seventeen and eighteen of the season.
Devils are back at home this Fridayand Saturday against Dartmouth for the final home
series of twenty twenty three. Puckdrop seven pm Friday, five pm Saturday.

(45:22):
Coach, appreciate you as always,and we will talk to you on
Friday. Thanks, guys, appreciateit. Thanks all right. Three periods
down on Health Frozen Over, Muchmore to come in overtime when we return.
Alex Coyle and I discussed some ofour observations from the last two series
and what the Devils need to doto defend home ice against an opponent they
have never seen before. Can Asucontinue the mullet magic stick with us?
Health Frozen Over back in just afew minutes on the Mountain America Credit Union,

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look Ahead is next on Hell FrozenOver with Sun Devilhead hockey coach Greg Powers
on Fox Sports nine ten and theiHeartRadio wapp back here at Cold Peers and
Cheese Burgers in Arcadia For overtime onHell Frozen Over, Tyler Paley here joined
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(49:05):
Alex Coyle. As we get youset for Arizona State's upcoming series, let's
start with our main topic of conversationlast weekend, which is relevant to our
overtime segment. Going to overtime.So many games man seven so far this
year. That's already one more thanthe total from one season ago. They've
won four, which has tied aprogram record. They lost once and tied

(49:28):
twice. Look, I'm always afan of extra hockey, no such thing
as free hockey. But near aboutthat, I'm positive somebody's got a pay
man. Somebody always has to pick, as long as it's not me.
But nearly half the games have requiredit so far, seven out of sixteen.
Well, the good thing is undefeatedat home at Mullet Turn all time
and overtime, so that gives thefans free hockey and text us some things

(49:50):
to cheer about. But also whenyou go to overtime on the road,
you get helped out with some parawisepoints. So it's never a bad thing
when THEYSU hockey goes to overtime,at least so far. I guess you
can take something positive away. It'sfair I mean it definitely, you know
at home, actually does you adisservice? True? Yeah, I mean
it's fair. I suppose it's betterthan losing in regulation, but it's not

(50:12):
better than winning in regulation. Soyou know, it's just it's it's kind
of a double edged sword. Look, I'll take it. I love hockey
shot for another five minutes whatever.All right, let's chat about this Providence
series. It feels like a lifetimeago, doesn't it. Yeah, but
you know, I think there's alot to be proud of with that split
with one of the best teams inthe country, best defense the Sun Devils
have seen up to this point,probably will all year. They lit the

(50:35):
lamp six times Friday. TJ.Simptom filter it played well enough to win
on Sunday, but Providence goaltender Phillipsfed Back was lights out in game two.
Still, that's a quality split seriesagainst a really tough and as we
were saying during that series, duringthe pre games, during the postgames,
it gets you to learn a styleof play that you're gonna have to be
able to beat coome tournament time.Of course, the Ford check that is

(50:59):
just relentless tea that is almost impossibleto get through if you're not organized,
as coach just mentioned, and duringthat series, the d Men sometimes struggled
with organization on exit, which wasone of the keys both nights. But
to come away with a win againsta team like that, yeah, they
were a bit down. They'd comein losing two straight ultimately the third,

(51:19):
but a team that is going tobe top five and top ten on a
resume for the rest of the year. Well, and six goals against literally
the best defense they allow. Idon't know if it's still the case,
but at the time they allowed likeone point nine goals per game. It
was remarkable to see as you kindof find a way to get it not
only past their defense, but pasttheir goaltender. Phillips fed back really one
of the best prospects that the NHLhas these days. And you know,

(51:44):
I was really impressed with their effortagainst Providence Colorado College series this past weekend.
You made it home safe, good, tight did Yes, he left
later than me, so I neverknow. You know, I'm not waking
up that earlier for that I callsix am flight. That was just ridiculous.
But let's just say I'm glad tobe home. Good showing on Friday
led to a tie, bad showingon Saturday that led to a win.

(52:05):
Sometimes this can be a confusing sport. But we talked to coach after that
game. We talked to him tonightand he said, it feels good to
get a win like that. Sooften last year and in prior years,
those games went against the devils,right, and now you're on the other
side where your goaltender steals a winand it feels pretty darn good. You
know. We saw coach Borgis inthe hotel after and he said, they're
never gonna apologize for having a goodgoal. Yeah. And again it's something

(52:29):
similar to what we were saying aboutlast year's team. Sometimes it felt like
he had to be absolutely perfect tocome out with a win, and this
time it shows again maybe how muchTJ has improved, not that he had
to improve a lot based on lastyear, but how much he has in
game control, game management, andwhat Coach Powers mentioned saying, just balanced

(52:50):
in the way he played hockey.It was tremendous to see and to have
a goal tender the caliber of someonethat can just steal a game like that,
no matter how much you get outplayed with what eighty something shots attempted
eighty six. The defense helped blockinga lot of those shots, but some
of those saves were just crazy.I mean you and I were like,
all right, they could have putup ten goals that night. Colorado one

(53:13):
DJ was unbelievable. We did seea switch up on defense last weekend at
CC Toyy Urchison and Ethan Smaggie,who were our guest last episode, were
split up. That's exceedingly rare,and yet it paid off. Devils were
seeing great defense on Friday. KataLoammie has gotten better after not seeing any
ice time in the first few seriesof the season. Anthony Dowd is developing
nicely, Tim Lovell a real boostof energy, Brandon Tabakin a rock solid

(53:37):
defender, and Tucker Ness is anice addition to the lineup from time to
time. Yeah, they played wellwhen they needed to and then that was
really important. But when they lostthat gas that Coach Powers was talking about,
they were just unorganized and sometimes theytry to play with a little bit
too much of that offensive flair whenthey still haven't gotten out of their D
zone just yet. So really likethe way, especially that Dowd has progressed

(54:00):
and partnering him with Tim Murchison attimes this weekend only helps that veterans stat
type guy that is going to reallyfocus on the D side of things and
allow Anthony Dowd to flourish offensively.I liked a lot of those pairings,
and sometimes you have to get attentionfrom these guys. You got to shake
things up a little bit and thatworked. The sun Nivil Special teams continue

(54:22):
to really shine Friday against Colorado Collegein particular, they were unreal. I
mean, six for six on thePK, one for three on the power
play. They've really embraced special teamsas a defining part of this identity that
we hear over and over again fromcoach and the players. Assistant coach Alex
Hicks has done a fantastic job preparingthose units and the results are clearly coming.

(54:44):
Yeah, and it's with how muchtalent they have on those guys and
the confidence that they have even thoughthey're going to miss some extended time without
both Jackson's the next guys that stepup. Romer got a couple of chances
on the power play this past weekendat Colorado College, and there's so much
skill as coach powers just said,guys that haven't even seen ice time yet,

(55:06):
you can't wait to see what theycan do. And I have a
feeling that this weekend on the roadtrip with Robert Morrison, in a couple
of these games in the second halfof the season, we're gonna see pretty
much everybody get a chance to displaywhat they have. All Right, a
little bit of time left here,let's chat real quick about this weekend specifically
Dartmouth certainly not the high caliber opponentthat the Sun Devils have grown used to

(55:27):
seeing with Mary mac denver Providence,but this could be a trap series if
the Devils come out and take themlightly like they did with stone Hill.
What do you see being the keyto a couple of Arizona State victories this
week I think focusing on the processof everything is what you're gonna have to
take away from this, because,as we saw this weekend, you can
play really, really good and comeaway with a tie, or play poorly
and come away with a win.If you play your game, you should

(55:50):
come away with two wins this weekend. But you look at de zone organization
with the defenseman that's going to haveto be good to re establish that identity,
the power play structure on entry.They struggled with that a little bit
on occasion when the power play doesn'twork, it's not being organized through it
to that zone. So just simplyknowing what you're gonna do with the puck
and doing the little things well,trusting that process, you should be fine.

(56:12):
All right, We're back at Mullinaritafor the only time this month.
Devil's looking for a couple of bigwins. You can follow along with us
here on the Mountain America Credit UnionSun Devil Radio Network puck drop at seven
on Friday. That means a sixthirty pre game and Saturday four to thirty
pre game with a five pm puckdrop. Our thanks tonight to Sundevil Hockey
head coach Greg Powers, forward KyleSmollin for joining us our entire team,

(56:32):
including producer engineer Sean Cresbin behind thescenes. We will see you on Friday
night six thirty ASU and Dartmouth.Good night,