From mushy ice to Mullett Arena

Greg Powers rubbed the top of his head and smiled.

Powers, Arizona State University’s hockey coach, had been asked to reflect on the 10th anniversary of ASU hockey becoming an NCAA Division I program.

“When I look at my bald head, it seems like 20,” Powers said.

Hair follicles aside, the elevation of ASU’s hockey program since the NCAA announcement on Nov. 18, 2014, has been nothing short of astounding.

What was once a club program now is a member of the top college hockey conference.

What was once a team that played in an old, substandard facility that had so many rats running around the coaches named one “Stan,” now plays its games in one of the top college hockey buildings in the country.

The transition wasn’t always easy. And there were days when Powers wondered if his “pipe dream” would ever come true.

But 10 years later, even as he laments the loss of his hair, Powers is eternally grateful.

“If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn’t do it any differently,” he said. “I think it’s really built us into what we are.”

The story of how ASU hockey became an NCAA sport has been told many times, but to recap: Justin Emerson, a reporter for HouseofSparky.com had asked then-athletic director Ray Anderson in a July 2014 interview what challenges ASU would face if it could move from club sport — where it had just won a national championship — to the NCAA Division I level.

Money, Anderson replied. Money.

That afternoon, Powers was eating at Carlsbad Tavern in Scottsdale when he received a phone call from Emerson, telling him about his meeting with Anderson. Soon after Emerson’s article was published, ASU received enough money in donations to help pay for scholarships, travel, staff, etc. With that, ASU made the jump from club sport to NCAA Division I.

There was just one problem.

ASU was playing its games in Oceanside Ice Arena, which, to put it charitably, was not up to NCAA standards. 

Gophnx.com sportswriter Craig Morgan, who has covered hockey in the Valley for three decades, said the ice was slushy and would melt at times. There were mornings, Power said, where he had to place tires and cones over holes in the ice so the team could practice.

And that protective plexiglass around the rink? At Oceanside, it wasn’t so protective.

“I remember (former Arizona Coyotes captain) Shane Doan telling me a story of when the Coyotes first arrived in the Valley (in 1996), and they had some practices at Oceanside,” Morgan said. “Shane said he took a shot and it literally put a hole through the glass.”

Powers laughs as he recounts those days. The hot showers that ran cold. The rats — hello, Stan — that ran across the floor of the coaches’ office. Pucks that would hit the low ceiling, causing asbestos to scatter over the ice.

“We would bring kids in and do everything we could not to show them the rink,” Powers said. “Kid would say, ‘Where's the rink?’ We’re like, ‘You don’t need to see it. Just focus on the campus and the palm trees.'

“The struggle was real.”

Everyone associated with the hockey program at ASU understood that for the Sun Devils to have a chance of succeeding at the NCAA Division I level, a new facility was imperative.

“We knew that we were going to need an on-campus venue that would be appropriate for the team,” said Morgan Olsen, ASU’s executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer.

It took six years — through stops and starts — but in November 2020, the Arizona Board of Regents’ finance committee approved plans for a new 5,000-seat, on-campus multipurpose arena.

Two years later, on Oct. 14, 2022, ASU played its first game in Mullett Arena, the name a forever thank you to the family of Don Mullett and his wife, Barbara, who were instrumental in elevating Sun Devil Hockey to NCAA Division I status through their philanthropic support.

It’s not an exaggeration to say ASU hockey went from the basement to the penthouse.

Morgan said Mullett Arena is among the top five college hockey facilities in the country.

“I still pinch myself coming in here every day,” Powers said. “It was a pipe dream, at best, back in the day. It’s just incredible. To take it even further, it’s one thing to have this beautiful facility, but it’s another thing to fill it every single game. We’ve really developed a great fan base that has embraced us and embraced college hockey. It feels like we’re just getting started.”

Mullett Arena is more than just a hockey facility, though. When the arena was on the drawing board, Olsen said, its name was Multipurpose Arena, because university officials wanted it to be place that would serve several of ASU’s sports teams and attract non-university events.

The arena has fulfilled that promise. ASU’s wrestling and volleyball teams have competed there. The women’s basketball team will play its first game at Mullett on Dec. 30. The Phoenix Suns' G-League team, the Valley Suns, will play their home games at Mullett this season.

In addition, the arena has hosted political rallies, concerts, comedy shows, business meetings and more, in becoming an integral part of the Novus Innovation Corridor.

“That’s quite important,” Olsen said, “because what we’re trying to do with Novus is create this ecosystem where the university and other partners come together to co-locate and collaborate on a lot of things. We wanted to have something that would attract companies and their employees to that location.

“The true mixed development was definitely what we set our sights on, so it would be possible for people to live there, work and enjoy themselves in their spare time. There’s a certain, we think, synergy to it all.”

Mullett Arena also has become a community centerpiece. The adjacent Mountain America Credit Union Community Iceplex hosts adult and youth hockey leagues, open skating, birthday parties, skating lessons, etc.

ASU hockey celebrated its 10th anniversary with another big milestone. This is the program’s first season in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, considered the elite hockey conference in the country. Six of the last eight NCAA champions have come out of the NCHC.

The one constant in ASU’s evolution has been Powers, who is now in his 17th year leading the program.

“One of the things that I would say about Greg is that I don’t think a lot of college coaches, particularly in the college hockey landscape, understand the other aspects of this job,” Morgan said. “You’re not just recruiting and coaching Xs and Os. You’re literally a CEO.

“Well, Greg Powers was a CEO of a company, so he understood the importance of relationships and the importance of fundraising. He always believed it was going to get done.”

And now, 10 years later, there’s no telling what ASU hockey could become.

“It feels like we’ve arrived,” said Benji Eckerle, a forward on this year’s team. “This is what big time feels like.”

Asked what he would tell recruits who were considering playing for ASU, Eckerle smiled.

“I would tell them a few things, like how I’m able to walk to the rink in shorts and flip flops,” he said. “And I’ll be doing that every day for the rest of the year.

“I think it’s hard to find another program that has all the tools we have and all of the great reasons to come here, like the arena and the NCHC and the academics and the lifestyle.

“I don’t think you can beat that.”