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Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth -

Biddco

Biddco

Follow me on Twitter: @Biddco
Thought I'd make a thread for this tournament seeing how there should be a good number of people making the trip south for some nice weather during the holidays. I've never been to Gila River Arena so some insight on things to do and places to go before the games would be great. It's gonna be a fun tournament as all four teams could be NCAA tournament teams.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Awesome. Glad you created this thread. We welcome all the teams to the Classic and hope everyone has a great time. ASU has used Gila for the Classic once before and also for a handful of home games. I'm not sure what to expect crowd wise (we had around 5k the last time it was at Gila), but would guess there will be a ton of MSU and UMD fans. I hope the ASU fans have a good turnout, but with such a small home rink, we are still a relatively unknown product in town. But with our recent success, things are picking up in the media, which helps.

Gila is located at the Westgate complex. Lots of restaurants, bars, shopping areas, movie theatre, etc. It is really a great place for fans to go. I think everyone will love it. If you decide to venture away, Tempe and Scottsdale have many things to do. I'm sure you will also bump into UCF and LSU football fans that will be in for the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. The football stadium is right next door to the hockey arena.

Weather looks decent, but it will get chilly in the evenings when the sun goes down.

I'm excited for this tournament and can't wait for it to start! Go Devils!
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Revs89.2 said:
Awesome. Glad you created this thread. We welcome all the teams to the Classic and hope everyone has a great time. ASU has used Gila for the Classic once before and also for a handful of home games. I'm not sure what to expect crowd wise (we had around 5k the last time it was at Gila), but would guess there will be a ton of MSU and UMD fans. I hope the ASU fans have a good turnout, but with such a small home rink, we are still a relatively unknown product in town. But with our recent success, things are picking up in the media, which helps.

Gila is located at the Westgate complex. Lots of restaurants, bars, shopping areas, movie theatre, etc. It is really a great place for fans to go. I think everyone will love it. If you decide to venture away, Tempe and Scottsdale have many things to do. I'm sure you will also bump into UCF and LSU football fans that will be in for the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. The football stadium is right next door to the hockey arena.

Weather looks decent, but it will get chilly in the evenings when the sun goes down.

I'm excited for this tournament and can't wait for it to start! Go Devils!
Click to expand...

Chilly: To those of us in Duluth, Mankato, or Potsdam, it isn't chilly until it gets below 0
 
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Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Thanks to last weekend, that semifinal game against UMD is massive.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Well Clarkson had 11 forwards and 7 defensemen available for our rivalry series with SLU but the break should be helpful in getting a few guys back, Cooper is done unfortunately which is a huge loss for us. Clarkson overall is a solid team but losses to Canisius and SLU on the road might be too hard to come back from in the pairwise, especially with missing chances to beat Penn State/Union with one goal losses on the road and then Yale at home with another one goal loss where Kielly was on his A game. Sturm is definitely one to watch and has NHL level skating ability, not very complete offensively but is a great center who is our best PK guy, Egle and Jacome are also good players and will be ones the other teams will key on, if Dunne gets back he's crucial for us as well. To be honest I think the only way we take any points at the tournament is if Kielly stands on his head, he's definitely a great goalie but will have to be extraordinary in Arizona.
 
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Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Revs89.2 said:
Awesome. Glad you created this thread. We welcome all the teams to the Classic and hope everyone has a great time. ASU has used Gila for the Classic once before and also for a handful of home games. I'm not sure what to expect crowd wise (we had around 5k the last time it was at Gila), but would guess there will be a ton of MSU and UMD fans. I hope the ASU fans have a good turnout, but with such a small home rink, we are still a relatively unknown product in town. But with our recent success, things are picking up in the media, which helps.

Gila is located at the Westgate complex. Lots of restaurants, bars, shopping areas, movie theatre, etc. It is really a great place for fans to go. I think everyone will love it. If you decide to venture away, Tempe and Scottsdale have many things to do. I'm sure you will also bump into UCF and LSU football fans that will be in for the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. The football stadium is right next door to the hockey arena.

Weather looks decent, but it will get chilly in the evenings when the sun goes down.

I'm excited for this tournament and can't wait for it to start! Go Devils!
Click to expand...

MavHockey14 said:
Thanks to last weekend, that semifinal game against UMD is massive.
Click to expand...
Gonna be interesting to see how many people show up. I'm looking forward to checking out the places near the arena...any specific recommendations? I know Mavsy and I will have to meet up. Anyone else here making the trip?

Really looking forward to a break from winter.




I'm thinking the same thing for UMD but not as important because of the conference strength of schedules.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Yard House is a very popular spot. It can sometimes be tough to get into, especially on the weekends. My personal favorite is Salt. The Adobo Tacos are great and the Salt Nachos with chicken is a meal in itself. McFadden's has a nice sports bar atmosphere and I really like their Shepherd's Pie. If you are up for a ride on the mechanical bull, then Saddle Ranch would be your place. Lots to choose from, but those come to mind.

As for the on ice. I would have to chime in that these games are critical for us as well. We only have 14 left, so need to make the most of them if we have a shot at remaining in the postseason conversation. We have not faired well at all at Gila, going 1-9 against D1 opponents since our program started, 2-10 if you count club/exhibitions from year one. But this group is playing well and the program has taken incredible steps forward. We have the NCAA leading goal scorer in Johnny Walker (17), but it is our goalie, Joey Daccord, that has paced our move up in the rankings. Go Devils!
 
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Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Kudos to my Knights for pulling off the championship. Even though UMD was short 3 of their top players, this was a great win for the program in terms of the Pairwise. Kielly once again shows that he is one of the top goalies in college hockey. Way to go Jake.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Revs89.2 said:
Awesome. Glad you created this thread. We welcome all the teams to the Classic and hope everyone has a great time. ASU has used Gila for the Classic once before and also for a handful of home games. I'm not sure what to expect crowd wise (we had around 5k the last time it was at Gila), but would guess there will be a ton of MSU and UMD fans. I hope the ASU fans have a good turnout, but with such a small home rink, we are still a relatively unknown product in town. But with our recent success, things are picking up in the media, which helps.

Gila is located at the Westgate complex. Lots of restaurants, bars, shopping areas, movie theatre, etc. It is really a great place for fans to go. I think everyone will love it. If you decide to venture away, Tempe and Scottsdale have many things to do. I'm sure you will also bump into UCF and LSU football fans that will be in for the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. The football stadium is right next door to the hockey arena.

Weather looks decent, but it will get chilly in the evenings when the sun goes down.

I'm excited for this tournament and can't wait for it to start! Go Devils!
Click to expand...

Had no idea there was a tourney and was having dinner with my daughter at Westgate. Looked up to see Clarkson fans all sitting around us. I think it may have been my first legitimate triple take.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Kepler said:
Had no idea there was a tourney and was having dinner with my daughter at Westgate. Looked up to see Clarkson fans all sitting around us. I think it may have been my first legitimate triple take.
Click to expand...

CCT fans are good for a double take, minimum, on a normal day.
 
Kepler said:
Had no idea there was a tourney and was having dinner with my daughter at Westgate. Looked up to see Clarkson fans all sitting around us. I think it may have been my first legitimate triple take.
Click to expand...

Did you feel the need for a safe space? :)
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Kepler said:
Had no idea there was a tourney and was having dinner with my daughter at Westgate. Looked up to see Clarkson fans all sitting around us. I think it may have been my first legitimate triple take.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but I'm LMAO! (though not surprised for Old Man Kep :p)
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Hockey is the desert is fun. Enjoyed spending part of the holidays here where it's not -25 windchill.
 
Re: Desert Hockey Classic: Arizona State, Minnesota State, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth

Biddco said:
Hockey is the desert is fun. Enjoyed spending part of the holidays here where it's not -25 windchill.
Click to expand...

It was nice chatting with you between games on Saturday. Glad you enjoyed the trip. Good luck the rest of the season! Maybe we will see you down the road...
 
Revs89.2 said:
It was nice chatting with you between games on Saturday. Glad you enjoyed the trip. Good luck the rest of the season! Maybe we will see you down the road...
Click to expand...

Nice to meet you! ASU should be visiting UMD next year so there's that. But perhaps the teams will meet later this year...
 
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