Ray Anderson, Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director, told me he wanted Arizona State to be on the level of the nation’s elite when it came to the number of varsity sports offered by the school.
He said that in a conversation in his office last July, before Sun Devil fans ever realized he would have the opportunity to make those more than just words. A mere four months later, Sun Devil Athletics introduced not just a new sport, but hockey – a varsity sport not seen in the Southwest in nearly three decades.
“This notion of college hockey in the West was real and it can really be expanded and explode if Arizona State stepped up, then it became clear that it was a must-do,” Anderson said.