TEMPE, ARIZONA – When Joey Daccord first visited Arizona State University, the hockey team had yet to play a Division 1 game. But coach Greg Powers had a plan for the nascent program, and a decade later, Daccord’s No. 35 is now hanging in the rafters of Mullett Arena.
The Seattle Kraken goaltender returned to his alma mater for ASU’s opening night tilt against Penn State, where the Sun Devils held a pre-game jersey retirement ceremony for him – and with the NHL season about to begin, it took a lot to make it all come together.
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“There’s no way this is going to work,” Daccord said about his initial thoughts. “I need every bounce to go our way in terms of timing, and I need the Kraken to be OK with it. And I have practice tomorrow, so I need a private jet. So you need to send a private jet.”
Thanks to the Sun Devils’ donor base and the athletic department, Daccord indeed got to relish the love of the Arizona State faithful.
“I came here knowing the Sun Devils fans were going to be crazy and it would be a one-of-a-kind night, but it blew me away,” he said. “I’m just so grateful to Coach, the university and the athletic program. I feel so loved and appreciated, and it means the world because this university means so much to me.”
Daccord became the first Sun Devil to play in the NHL when he suited up for the Ottawa Senators for one game at the end of the 2018-19 season, following a spectacular junior campaign with ASU that saw him post a .926 save percentage and a record of 23-13-1. That helped the then-independent Sun Devils to their first-ever national tournament, where they lost 2-1 to Quinnipiac in the first round.
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Now a member of the powerhouse NCHC, Arizona State is attracting high-end talent such as Calgary Flames first-rounder Cullen Potter and New Jersey Devils second-round pick Ben Kevan to campus. Not bad for a program that is only a decade old. But Powers’ mantra of ‘Be The Tradition’ took hold from the start and has won over recruits.
“I grew up in the Boston area – a big college hockey area,” Daccord said. “So much history, so much tradition. For me, I wanted to be part of that tradition and go to a Boston school. But a few different things sold me on coming here, and the biggest one was Coach saying, ‘Hey, if you come here, you can be that tradition.’ It’s the mantra for a reason, and it’s going to stand forever because that’s what this program was built on.”
Joey Daccord’s Jersey Retirment (Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)
Those early Sun Devils teams were given a blank slate to create with, and the results have been impressive. Daccord believes the program is like a family, and that’s one of the reasons he established Dacs’ House, which, among other things, hosts children fighting cancer in a suite at ASU hockey games.
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Funny enough, Friday night was the first ASU game Daccord got to watch as a fan at Mullett Arena, and he was more than happy to take it all in. Now one of the most important players on the NHL’s Kraken, he can look back on what his college coach laid out for him a decade ago.
“He delivered on his promise,” Daccord said. “I sat in his office and he said, ‘You’re going to come here, you’re going to have a chance to get the net and you’re going to play in the NHL.’ And that was before ASU had played a game of D1 hockey. It’s a pinch-me moment.”
“I need to do everything I can to devote myself to this school. And if I do that, all the rest of that stuff will take care of itself.”
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