☘️ GOOD MORNING ☘️
Happy Monday, and happy St. Patrick’s Day! I sure hope you had a nice weekend, and if you made your way to Mullett Arena on Friday or Saturday to catch the Sun Devils, I truly hope you enjoyed yourself! Well, the conference tourneys are over, and March Madness is officially set. Who’s your pick to win it all this year? How far do you think Arizona can go? Let me know in the poll at the end of this email.
If you’re participating in a pick ’em pool, make sure you lock them in before the games kick off on Thursday. Remember, the First Four play-in games usually don’t matter — just have your picks in by Thursday before 9 am. And also, don’t delay in paying up to your league commish. Nothing’s worse than having to chase someone down because they signed up, but never paid. Don’t be that person. Good luck!
On to the show!
Sun Devils Punch Ticket to St. Paul With Weekend Sweep
Now that was something special.
ASU center Ryan Kirwan capped a furious Sun Devils rally with an overtime game-winner on Saturday, punching the Sun Devils’ ticket to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn. next weekend. Boiling it down simply: Arizona State is two wins away from a conference championship in its first year as a member.
All that after being picked to finish next-to-last before the season started. With that context, it should come as no surprise that ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham attended both games, rallying the crowd every time he was shown on the Jumbotron at Mullett Arena.
Sun Devils Rally in Stunning Fashion
Spirits were high following Friday’s win, but Minnesota-Duluth jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead in Game 2 to silence the rowdy Mullett Arena crowd. The script flipped in the second after the Sun Devils tied it lightning quick in the second, and though the Bulldogs reclaimed the lead two more times (4-3, 5-4), ASU answered the bell to tie it up and force overtime before Kirwan’s heroics in the extra frame.
- Kirwan set a new program record with his 25th goal of the season, surpassing Sun Devil legends Matthew Kopperud and Johnny Walker in the process.
- ASU will face Denver on Friday (time TBD), and the Sun Devils won the season series 3-1.
- A win sends the Sun Devils to the championship game on Saturday, which will come against either North Dakota or Western Michigan.
A little except from my post yesterday: Alas, the NHL is long gone, but it’s nowhere near forgotten — that was evident by the scores of Kachina jerseys scattered throughout Mullett Arena during its series win over UMD. There were also shirts disparaging the previous Coyotes owner who failed to live up to lofty promises time-after-time before eventually selling the team.
There were Coyotes hats. Coyotes Scarves. Coyotes Socks. There were even a handful of howls during the National Anthem. But at ‘The Mullett’ — a building the Sun Devils and Coyotes shared for two seasons — everyone was a Sun Devils fan on Saturday, rejoicing in unison as a raucous celebration kicked off following Kirwan’s heroics.
Gone, but not forgotten.
Take a deeper dive: Catch the rest of my post, which looks at the impact Powers and the ASU hockey team have had with hockey-starved fans in The Valley.
Wildcats Fall Short of Big 12 Title, But Will Be Dancing
The Arizona men’s basketball team fought valiantly at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, but fell 72-64 to No. 2 Houston in the championship game on Saturday. Disappointing, for sure, but the Wildcats are not done with meaningful basketball just yet after receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament yesterday.
- Arizona was awarded with the No. 4 seed in the East region.
- Beware: 13-seeded Akron is fresh off a MAC crown, and has won 21 of its last 22 games.
- The Wildcats and Zips meet on Friday at 4:35 MST on truTV.
Musings From Around (and Sometimes Beyond) The Valley
Is the Sun Setting?: The Suns showed a little fight with a 122-106 win over Sacramento on Friday, but fell 107-96 against the Lakers in Los Angeles yesterday to halt any thoughts of winning a second consecutive game for the first time since late January. Phoenix has lost three of four, is just 31-37 overall, but stunningly remains just 1.5 games behind Dallas for the final postseason play-in spot.
Roadrunners Make Up Ground: Tucson swept a two-game set against San Jose this weekend, a critical sweep in the team’s quest to remain in the playoff picture. The Roadrunners occupy the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division — four points ahead of Baskersfield, though the Condors have three games in hand. A big test awaits next weekend, as Tucson visits first-place Colorado on Saturday and Sunday.
Bear-ly Holding On: Congratulations to the No. 45 ASU men’s tennis team, which stunned No. 14 Baylor at the UTR College Championships yesterday. The Sun Devils sanpped the Bears’ six-match winning streak.
🧢 Tip of the Hat
Touching moment following Saturday’s win over UMD, as coach Greg Powers salutes the crowd following the Sun Devils’ 6-5 overtime win. Look at that crowd reaction.
