Arizona State Hockey’s 2019-2020 regular season is well underway and looking good both in on-ice results and uniforms. The Sun Devils opened the season at home ranked 20th splitting the series against Mercyhurst while debuting incredible new gold helmets with a large Sparky face on one side and player numbers on the other, as well as their new, gold sweaters.

Since then, the Devils have recorded sweeps against Air Force and (at the time 9th ranked) Quinnipiac. They’ve also notched wins against Alaska Fairbanks and Vermont. The pathway of the season to this point has seen the Sun Devils fall out of the rankings and climb back into the 20th spot as of this week, in time to take on Denver and debut a new uniform at home.

Desert Storm Uniform

A Top 20 matchup is coming to Oceanside Ice Arena as the 20th ranked Sun Devils welcome 4th ranked Denver. The Sun Devils have faced a difficult schedule thus far, including a weekend series against Minnesota State who currently sits atop the College Hockey rankings. As Denver comes into town, the Devils will hope to show up in a big way and make a statement in their bid to make a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. One thing that is sure to show up big as the Sun Devils look to take care of business on the ice is the new uniform. This new uniform will be worn at Oceanside on Friday, December 6th and may even be worn for the December 7th game at Gila River Arena in Glendale, pending a decision from the equipment staff.

On Friday, December 6th, the Sun Devils will be wearing a gray helmet/gray sweater/gray pant uniform combination featuring a never before seen sweater which has been tagged “Desert Storm.” A full uniform look can be found below courtesy of the press release from Sun Devil Athletics and Sun Devil Hockey. (Note: The tinted visor is for marketing purposes only and will not be used on the ice.)

Sweater

The Desert Storm sweater took 18 months to develop and perfect into its current state. Sun Devil Hockey Equipment Manager Jon Laughner and adidas Hockey went through mock-ups of every ASU color before finally deciding on the gray base. The gray sweater has a gold pitchfork crest with maroon trim in the center of the chest. Near the left shoulder is a maroon captain patch in the shape of the state of Arizona that has a gold border and a gold captain’s “C” in Sun Devil Bold Font. The bottom of the sweater has a thin gold stripe on top of a bold maroon stripe.

The sleeves are truly the stars of the show on this sweater. The top half of the sleeve is stylized like the Arizona state flag with tonal maroon sun rays with a gray star and river block just below that. Gold player numbers outlined with black overlay the maroon sun rays. The bottom half of the sleeve is maroon and is separated from the state flag portion by a thin gold stripe. When the two sleeves are folded inward and placed next to each other, it creates a more complete picture of the Arizona state flag, an incredible detail from equipment manager Jon Laughner.

The back of the sweater gold player numbers outlined with maroon and the nameplate utilizes gold Sun Devil Bold text. Below the collar on the back of the sweater is a small, maroon state of Arizona patch with a gold border that contains a maroon pitchfork with gold trim in the center of the patch. As for the collar itself, there is a thin, gold stripe that goes completely around the opening of the collar above a thicker maroon stripe which goes around just the back half of the collar. At the base of the neck of the collar is a gold adidas logo and on the inside of the collar at the back of the neck is the phrase “Fear the Fork” in gold Sun Devil Bold font.

Helmet

The gray helmet features a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on either side of the helmet. The front of the helmet has a decal that says “Arizona State” in gold Sun Devil Bold font with a thin maroon border around the letters. The back of the helmet has maroon player numbers with a gold border. Rounding out the details of the helmet are a black chin strap, and an either black cage or “fishbowl” facemask. The fishbowl option has a decal with a maroon base and “Sun Devils” in gold Sun Devil Bold font that runs vertically along the side of the facemask. The gold helmet seen here will be worn on Saturday.

Gloves and Pants

The team will wear gray based gloves with maroon and gold accents. There is a thick gold stripe that runs along the side of the index finger and thumb, and gold accents on the back of the hand. There are two “CCM” logos on the gloves: A bold, maroon logo outlined in gold on the wrist-wrap, and a small, gold logo at the tip of the thumb. There is also a small gold “Sun Devils” in Sun Devil Bold font at the base of the wrist.

The gray pants have a two-tone maroon and gold stripe running vertically along both sides of the pants. The stripe is tapered toward the bottom to mimic the base of the pitchfork logo. There is a white “CCM” logo at the base of the left pant leg and a small maroon pitchfork with gold trim at the base of the right pant leg

Reaction

Wow! Hockey in the desert is being taken to another level with this program. Sun Devil Hockey is consistently competing with and beating top teams across the nation, and they’re looking good doing so. This new sweater is an incredible homage to the state of Arizona. The state flag on the sleeve is the obvious star of the show, but there’s so much more to be found in the name and the colors. The gray base plays perfectly into the heavy, dark gray clouds that we see here in Arizona during monsoon storms, but there’s always a point in the day, usually during sunset, that the sun breaks through and those rays of sunshine and maroons and golds fill the desert sky. The sun rays of the state flag on the sleeve perfectly represent that, and the splashes of gold throughout the uniform give the impression of a little sunshine peeking through all while completing the presence of ASU’s primary colors.

Hockey is a tradition-rich sport, but there is plenty of room for creativity. Jon Laughner and adidas Hockey are treading into the waters of creativity with great success. At this point, the equipment staff for Sun Devil Hockey is objectively the most innovative in all of hockey at any level. As a young program, they are establishing their identity and tradition by showing their versatility with uniforms and tying those uniforms to the state and university that’s taking a chance on the sport of hockey in the desert. Along with a strong coaching staff and the attractive draw that living in Arizona brings to recruits, the uniforms add the icing to the cake and incredible efforts like the Desert Storm are perfect examples of that.