SDSU ice men set to face off season this weekend

The weather remains sunny and humid locally but, believe it or not, the ice hockey season is soon to face off, very soon, in fact.

The San Diego State University men’s team is scheduled to host Grand Canyon University this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, at the Kroc Center Ice Arena. It’s the first of 13 home games scheduled at the complex just blocks west of Helix Charter High School.

Friday’s game faces off at 7:30 p.m., while the teams will drop the puck at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Aztecs will compete in their fourth season at the Division I level in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. It remains the highest level for men’s college club play.

SDSU finished 1-20-1 in its first season at the ACHA Men’s-1 level in 2022-23 with a young team playing a challenging schedule that included an East Coast road trip. The Aztecs appeared more grounded in their second year in the division and skated to a much more eye-appealing 8-14-1 mark.

SDSU completed last season, its first as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey League, one of the ACHA’s toughest divisions, with a 5-23-1 record.

It’s been a learning experience and it isn’t over yet.

The road remains a challenge again this season. But Aztec head coach Dean Wilson, back for his second season with the club, believes his team is up for the challenge.

“Our main goal this year is to win more conference games and stay competitive across the board,” said Wilson, a Granite Hills High School alumnus, whose team is fresh off tryouts Aug. 26-28 at the Kroc Center. “The boys are motivated and ready to build off last season.”

Key returners in 2025-26 include forward Brandon Grant and defenseman Ryan Elleraas.

Forward Brandon Grant returns as a key member of this season’s San Diego State University’s men’s ice hockey team.

Grant chalked up nine points (six goals, three assists) in 27 games last season.

Elleraas, a team captain, missed most of last season due to injury, recording a goal and assist in seven games.

“Having that leadership and experience back in the lineup would make a big difference,” Wilson said in putting last season’s record into perspective.

Forwards Cameron Ferraz and Mason Brown keyed the fortunes of the team last season — Ferraz, a Phoenix native, with a team-leading 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) and Brown, from Surrey, B.C., Canada, with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists), both in 25 games.

Forwards Lucas Bellig (five goals, eight assists) and Marcus Kim (one goal, 12 assists) finished in a tie for third in team scoring last season with 13 points apiece. Both have since graduated.

As far as new recruits, the Aztecs have added forward Luke Cannon (Edmonton, Alberta) and defenseman Mason Lambert (Upland) to the 2025-26 lineup.

Cannon proved he can burn rubber with 52 points (21 goals, 31 assists) in 37 games last season with the Ontario Jr. Reign in the United States Prospects Hockey League.

Lambert collected 25 points in 56 games at the 18U-AAA high school level last season with Fairmont Prep.

“We’re also excited to have Logan Okanski returning for his senior year,” Wilson added.

Okanski appeared in five games for SDSU during the 2023-24 season.

On the game-day side, look for home games to become a bit more festive. “We’ve brought on a new team manager, who’s already working on gameday productions and planning theme nights,” the SDSU coach said. “We’re also in contact with the dance team to help boost the atmosphere at the rink.”

The Aztecs’ home slate includes games against Grand Canyon University, Arizona (Oct. 3-4), Utah (Oct. 24-25), UC-San Diego (Oct. 31), UNLV (Dec. 5-6), Central Oklahoma (Jan. 30-31) and Oregon (Feb. 20-21).

UNLV is the defending Division I national champion. The Skatin’ Rebels posted a 27-5-4 record in winning their first national championship title.

A total of four teams from the WCHL qualified for last year’s national championship tournament, held March 13-25 in St. Louis. Joining UNLV were Grand Canyon University, University of Oklahoma and University of Arizona.

The Skatin’ Rebels received the No. 2 seed in the 24-team bracket while GCU was no. 12, Arizona was No. 15 and Oklahoma was No. 18. GCU met No. 21 Delaware in the first round while Arizona and Oklahoma squared off against each other. UNLV received a bye to the second round (remaining 16 teams).

Arizona slipped past Oklahoma, 3-0, in the elimination bracket while GCU defeated Delaware, 5-1, to also advance.

Heading into the second round UNLV faced off the tournament with a 6-2 win over Arizona while GCU came up short against No. 5 University of Jamestown by a 3-2 score. No. 9 Drury University doubled up No. 8 Utah, 4-2, while UNLV edged No. 10 Maryville University, 3-2, to remain undefeated in the dwindling bracket.

That left four teams remaining alive in the tourney: UNLV versus No. 4 Liberty University on one side and No. 1 Minot State vs. No. 6 Adrian College on the other side.

Adrian shut out UNLV, 3-0, in last year’s national championship game and both teams earned a climactic rematch as UNLV tamed Liberty, 5-2, and Adrian shut out Minot State 4-0 in a major upset.

The Skatin’ Rebels would not be denied their moment in history by staking past Adrian by a 7-3 score in the gold medal game.

Nevada built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Deven Nagara (unassisted) and Heath Mensch (assisted by Dillon Kuntz and Jaxsen Wyatt). Mensch’s goal came on a power play.

There were three goals scored in the second period with the Rebels notching the opening two in the period for a commanding 4-0 lead. Mensch scored his second goal of the game (assisted by Preston Brodziak and Kuntz) at 3:56 while Justin Stathopoulos scored at 11:23 (assisted by Mensch and Brodsiak). Adrian snapped the shutout bid on a goal by Matthew DiCesare at 12:48 (assisted by Sebastian Smith).

Trailing 4-1 heading into the third period, Adrian halved the score to 4-2 as Hunter Allen (assisted by Alex Schaumburger and Chad Noetzel) made it a new game on a goal just 1:06 into the period. But Nevada regained the momentum on a penalty shot goal by Tristan Rand at 8:32 to skate in front 5-2.  Rand came back with his second  goal of the game at 11:12 to push the Rebels further ahead at 6-2.

Brodziak scored into an empty net at 13:32 to increase the UNLV lead to 7-2 before Adrian put an exclamation mark on the contest with a power play goal at 19:12 by Smith (unassisted).

Adrtian actually out-shot UNLV 39-24 in taking the loss. Each team scored one power play goal. Nevada goaltender JeremyForman backstopped his team to the national championship with 36 saves on 39 shots. Noah Decottignies made saves on 27 of 33 shots for Adrian.

Western Collegiate Hockey League 2024-25 Standings
W-L-OTL-T-SOW-SOL-Points

University of Nevada-Las Vegas 27-5-2-0-1-1, 57 points

University of Utah 21-6-0-0-2-1, 43 points

University of Oklahoma 19-8-2-0-0-1, 41 points

University of Colorado 18-16-1-0-1, 38 points

University of Arizona 16-12-1-0-3, 33 points

Grand Canyon University 15-14-0-0-0-2, 32 points

Arizona State University 14-16-1-0-0-2, 31 points

Colorado State University 14-15-2-0-2-0, 30 points

Missouri State University 13-17-2-0-0-0, 28 points

University of Central Oklahoma 11-16-1-0-0-2, 25 points

San Diego State University 5-21-0-0-0-1, 11 points