Arizona State’s state-of-the-art skate-sharpening machine is a crucial tool for equipment managers, who sharpen players’ skates daily to ensure peak performance. (Photo by Grace Johnson/Cronkite News)
TEMPE – The Arizona State men’s hockey team will step onto its home ice Friday night for a National Collegiate Hockey Conference quarterfinal series against Minnesota Duluth. Its jerseys will look pristine, its gear perfectly prepped – but who makes sure of that?
Behind the scenes, Corby Antropik and Owen Hixon work tirelessly to make sure the Sun Devils are game-ready. From sharpening players’ skates to doing all of the laundry and even setting up each bench to the liking of the coaches and players, Antropik and Hixon handle the details that may go unnoticed this weekend at Mullett Arena.
They will never take credit for it, mentioning how their job is to give the players every chance to succeed on the ice, but without them at the helm, none of it would be possible.
“Players on the ice win games,” Antropik said. “our job is to let them focus on hockey.”
Players have access to a diverse array of sticks – with different designs, grips and lengths – available throughout the season as sticks often break. (Photo by Grace Johnson/Cronkite News)
Antropik, the team’s equipment manager, is now in his third year in Tempe, but his path to to the program started over three decades ago. In 1993, while living in Dallas, Antropik called his local minor league hockey team, the Fort Worth Fire, and asked the person on the other end of the phone if he could serve the role of stick kid, one who organizes all of the sticks, pucks and water bottles for the team during games. After a few phone calls to the team, Antropik landed his start in hockey, which began a career that stands at 32 years.
“I’ve been a rink rat ever since,” he said.
Hockey has taken Antropik across the country and back, working in 49 of the 50 states, with Hawaii as the only outlier. He has worked as an equipment manager for eight different minor and junior-level teams before accepting the ASU job in the fall of 2022.
Antropik’s journey has been full of 15-hour bus rides, teams going bankrupt and more. But when he stepped into Mullet Arena after two weeks on the road during his first year, his eyes went wide.
He had been an equipment manager for most of his life, but Arizona State is the place with the equipment that impressed him the most.
“We operate comparable to an AHL team,” Antropik said. “We have alumni who sign pro contracts and come back to visit. They say how they wish they were treated like they are here.”
Hixon, currently in his fourth year working with the ASU hockey team, credits his dad, Rich Hixon, with getting him into the sport. Rich has worked in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization since 1994, even becoming the president of one of their minor league affiliate teams for over 11 years.
Twelve years ago, Corby Antropik was with the San Francisco Bulls. Now he is the equipment manager for Arizona State men’s hockey after coming to Tempe in 2022. ((Photo By Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Hixon grew up with hockey in his blood but didn’t attend ASU expecting to be around a rink. His first year at Arizona State was during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when leaving the campus dorm rooms was rare. He wasn’t enjoying the college experience, so he went to his dad to get his opinion on how he could fix things.
“He said you don’t know what you want to do in hockey, but you want to be around it,” Hixon said about Rich’s advice. “Reach out to their coach and ask if they need help with anything.”
Hixon took his father’s advice and sent an email to ASU men’s hockey coach Greg Powers, who responded shortly after.
The Sun Devils had an opening for their equipment manager student assistant position. Hixon made an immediate impression, and Powers made him a key piece of the program.
“When I got the email, my daughter was playing in Pittsburgh at the time, we met and I liked him immediately,” Powers said. “He is the straw that stirs the drink for us.”
In his 10th year, Powers looks at Hixon almost like a player, knowing he has just one more year with him before he graduates and advances to a higher level – one Powers says he’s ready for now.
The job may not always be glamorous, but Owen Hixon embraces the opportunity to work with the Arizona State men’s hockey team. (Screenshot courtesy of Owen Hixon X account)
“He is going to be a main equipment guy in the NHL very soon,” Powers said. “He is ready for that right now.”
On game day, the coffee drips early at Mullet. Equipment managers work long hours, some days stretching from 6 a.m. to midnight. Their many tasks include sharpening skates a certain way for each player, fixing any broken equipment and making sure the bench has the right brand of gum for the coaching staff.
Jon Laughner, a former equipment manager for the ASU hockey team, worked for the team from 2017 to 2022. Laughner mentored Hixon for his first two years and then moved on to work with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
Hixon credits what he knows to Laughner, learning from him during the team’s last year in 2021 at Oceanside Ice Arena – a venue that severely lacked Mullet’s state-of-the-art equipment.
Even though Laughner has moved up to the NHL, he still keeps a strong connection with Hixon. During Sharks training camp, Laughner invites Hixon to help him at the NHL level. Even though their time working together lasts for only a few weeks in August, Laughner knows Hixon will be at the professional level on a full-time basis in a few years.
“Owen will have a very long career doing this,” Laughner said.
The equipment managers for ASU men’s hockey carefully select from a variety of jersey designs for each game to add a touch of personality to the team’s appearance. (Photo by Grace Johnson/Cronkite News)
Although the ASU men’s hockey season season runs from October to March, most of the work is done in the summer. The equipment managers are in charge of ordering the equipment the team needs for the upcoming season, including jerseys, sticks, pads andskates. Next, they arrange the equipment and make sure each player has everything they need upon arriving in Tempe for the season.
Preparing the team for travel is another important task that falls onto the desk of the equipment managers. For each road trip the team takes, which are mostly on commercial flights, they bring upwards of 55 bags packed with anything the team might need for those two games away from Arizona.
At home, Hixon and Antropik constantly make sure each player has enough equipment to perform. At any given time during the year, a player could have 15 sticks at their disposal. As the season progresses and sticks break, the equipment managers are in charge of ordering new ones.
Traveling with the ASU men’s hockey team requires intense planning, with over 50 bags of gear and equipment accompanying the team to away games. (Photo by Grace Johnson/Cronkite News)
The duo’s work behind the scenes is irreplaceable, but their work during the game also impacts the team’s success. For each faceoff during the game, when the Arizona State forward skates into the circle, Antropik has his hand on his backup piece of lumber, just in case it breaks when the puck is dropped. Rarely does he have to pick up that stick, but the name of the game is to be ready for whatever may happen.
His preparedness and whatever-it-takes mentality is what Powers looks for and seens in his equipment managers.
“(The best) ones find a way to say yes, whatever it might be,” he said.
Whether under the bright lights or in the equipment room late at night, the equipment managers have had a huge impact on how the Sun Devils’ performance and growth over the years.
Hixon and Antropik will never get the amount of credit they deserve, but when you see the Sun Devils step onto the ice Friday to open the biggest series of their season, with everything they might need to perform, just know Hixon and Antropik are a big reason why.
“Anyone from the outside has no idea how important they are to a hockey team,” Powers said.
