The San Diego State University men’s ice hockey team returns to action after a long semester break to close out the 2023-24 season, the Aztecs’ second at the ACHA Division 1 level.
SDSU takes a 5-11-1 record into its last three series of the season: Jan. 26-27 at the University of Arizona, Feb. 2-3 against the University of Colorado Buffaloes and Feb. 9-10 against the University of Oregon, the latter two series at the Kroc Center Ice Arena (all 8 p.m. starts).
The five wins are four more than last season’s 1-20-1 first year ACHA Division 1 record. More wins could be coming before the final horn sounds on this season.
Arizona is 8-9-1 while Colorado is 7-7-1, both members of the Western Collegiate Hockey League. Oregon is 5-8-0 as an independent.
SDSU head coach Phil Bateman called it an “interesting” first half of the season.
“We have been excited for some of the games but are trying to build off of some of the very tight losses,” Bateman said. “So far this season we have played in five one-goal games, with only one of those (Navy) being an overtime win (7-6 on Oct. 20). If we had played with a little more detail, our 5-11-1 record could be much closer to a winning record.
“As a program, we have moved up 17 spots in the rankings over 2022-23, a large leap forward for the program. That being said, we also are trying to keep this year in perspective. All but one of our opponents this year are nationally ranked in the top 40 in the league with the majority of our games so far being versus the top 25 ranked programs. A calendar year ago those same opponents were beating us 9-1, 10-0, 12-2, 17-0, and fast forward to this season and many of those are one-goal games or OT games.
“So, we are proud of where we have evolved so far, but are never satisfied and will look to continue to grow for the rest of the season and bring in more top level talent for 2024-25 to get us up into that upper echelon of the ACHA D1.
“I will echo now what I said at the start of the year. I don’t know what this team will be, but they are the most important team we have ever put on the ice representing San Diego State University, and so far, they are proving to be that team.”
Besides Navy, wins have also come against Colorado State (4-3 and 6-2 on Nov. 10-11), Grand Canyon University (4-2 on Nov. 17) and ACHA Division 2 Loyola Marymount University (6-3 on Sept. 15).
One-goal losses have come against Arizona State University (1-0 on Sept. 30 and 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 14) and George Mason University (2-1 on Oct. 21).
Arizona is ranked 14th in the latest ACHA Division 1 poll.
SDSU scoring leaders include Cameron Ferraz with 13 points (four goals, nine assists), Mason Brown with 11 points (six goals, five assists), Braden Mayer with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and Marcus Kim with 10 points (three goals, seven assists).
The Aztecs, who will become members of the WCHL in 2024-25, closed out the 2023 portion of their schedule with 6-1 and 10-0 losses Dec. Dec. 1-2 at the University of Utah.
