Josh Ortega

TEMPE, Ariz. — Hockey teams in the NHL are all starting to have team dogs. The Coyotes have Luna and the Capitals have Cap just to name a few. College hockey teams haven’t picked up on this trend but, the Arizona State University hockey team has.

            Jon Laughner is the equipment manager for the Sun Devils Hockey team and over the summer in the beginning of May, Laughner went back to Indiana and brought home Alta or “Al.” Al has taken a role with the hockey team as if he is the unofficial mascot for them. He started bringing Al into work with him right when they arrived back in Arizona and for Al it was part of a big change. The Chocolate Lab went from living in an Amish town in Indiana to flying to Arizona and becoming part of the Sun Devils Hockey team.

            Al has become a member of the team and all the players love him. When they come in for practice in the morning, they all make sure to say hello to Al before getting ready. “I think everybody loves him…it’s pretty hard to be in a bad mood when you’re around a puppy so its pretty good,” Laughner said. 

The life of a student-athlete can be a grueling one. Academics come first for these players. Maintaining the grades necessary to remain eligible can be difficult when they also have to attend practices, workout at the gym, and hit the road for away games. There are some days where the players may have to miss classes and make up for the work. Al brings with him a sense of comfort that reassures the players and keeps them grounded and able to stay focused in their hectic lives. She said players will either spend time before or after practice and stop to say hi and play with Al.

            “All the guys love him, they come in and try to take him into the locker room and let him run around and stuff like that so and the coaches all love him as well,” Laughner said. He added that Al is their team dog and pointed out how a lot of the teams in the NHL have team dogs and service dogs now. 

            Al mainly stays in the equipment room with Laughner and even has his own little room where he can sleep and relax which is underneath Laughner’s desk right by his feet. “He sleeps probably six hours a day for the most part when he’s here,” Laughner said. 

            ASU has become a big program and well known around the country. Laughner even mentioned that Al could possibly be one of the most well-known things about the program. The team has earned a certain petagray and have become very successful and Al helps players after a bad practice or tough game. “No matter how bad of a practice or a game you have seeing a chocolate lab waggin his tail happy to see you will put anybody in a better mood,” Laughner said.

            Al not only has made an impact on the team at the facility, but he has also made an impact on their social media pages. Riley Trujillo has worked with the Hockey team for the last few years and this year she is in charge of and runs all of the Sun Devil Hockey team’s social media. “When he started bringing him to the rink it kind of became a tradition for Jon to take pictures of him in his office you know playing with sticks or pucks and doing different things and so Sun Devil Hockey started retweeting them and really engaging with Al,” Trujillo said.

             When it comes to the team dynamic even Trujillo mentioned how the first thing the players do when they come in is to say hello to Laughner and that he has created a great relationship with all the players. “Now that there’s Al it’s a way to start your day nice because they are going to say hi to Jon every day but if Al is in there they can pet him and play with him it just makes it that much better…even they will post him on their social media and it’s an adorable thing that people get to see every day so it brings up spirits for sure,” Trujillo said. 

            Al has a very big social media presence with the team, Trujillo mentioned how everyone that follows the Sun Devil Hockey accounts knows about Al. “We have been trying to implement more content with Al without being to overboard right obviously because we’re a hockey team we want the bulk of our content to be about hockey, but if we can through a picture of Al in there every once and a while you know we try to,” Trujillo said.

            She mentioned how they will put Al in one of their jerseys and got a picture of him to post on their social media pages. “We did a thanksgiving video and one of the players was thankful for Al, so he had him in the video, so we tweeted the video out with Al… I think that it just helps with creating a fan base because who doesn’t love dogs,” Trujillo said. She also mentioned how Al gets more retweets than the players so it’s safe to say Al is helping the team whether it’s in the facility or on social media.

Al brings a much-needed relief to the pressure ASU Hockey has felt with their success early in the program. His presence relieves the pressure the team encounters on a daily basis. Although, hockey is nothing new to ASU. The pressure to perform has only increased in the past few years.

          In November 2014, ASU Vice President of Athletics Ray Anderson announced the Sun Devil’s promotion from American College Hockey Association (ACHA) to an NCAA Division I school during the 2015-2016 season, and has not looked back. 

            While Arizona certainly doesn’t come to mind when you think of ice hockey, the Sun Devils had proven their talent by winning the 2014 ACHA National Championship and are now competing with some of the best hockey schools in the country. 

            The Sun Devils appearance in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament as a No. 3 seed was a great start for an organization new to the NCAA. The team earned that spot finishing the year with a 21-12-1 record. However, the team was eliminated by No. 2 Quinnipiac University in the first round of the Midwest Regionals by a score of 2-1.

The presence of Al is something new a college hockey team, but the NHL in recent years has decided to add canine companions to their roster as well. Ten NHL teams have added dogs to their roster as a way to entertain the crowd, but most of them serve a more caring and selfless purpose. 

The Arizona Coyotes are helping train Luna, a 6-month-old Black Lab. The team is helping train her to be a canine companion for a military veteran. 

One of the most visible canine companions on social media would Washington Capitals’ team captain Alex Ovechkin and Captain, a 4-month-old Yellow Lab. Ovechkin is just one of the players who has formed a real bond with the dog. Captain will eventually return for formal training to become a service dog for military veterans as well. 

While Al will not serve as a service dog in any capacity, the ASU Hockey team is happy to have him right where he is. Along with growing support from fans on social media, Al has already grown into his new role as Sun Devil Hockey’s unofficial mascot. Many say he has a permanent spot in the heart of ASU Hockey and the community.