3. Cole Brady
Cole Brady has moved up this ranking in just the past week or two. He’s been quite good for Arizona State against the best competition in NCAA hockey. First, he faced a stacked Michigan team. While he didn’t win either game he appeared in (he came in for Evan DeBrouwer in the first game), but he was extremely competitive in the second game.
In his third game of the season, he held Michigan State to just one game through regulation and overtime. The NCAA ruled that Arizona State is not allowed to play shootouts for whatever reason, so that game ended in a tie. Brady is still looking for his first win, but he has a .929 save percentage through three games against some high-scoring opponents.
Brady is making some terrific saves this season, but he has to stop some of those easy goals. There are at least two he’d like to have back. Still, he is making up for it by dominating for stretches of the game. The Arizona State team is going to struggle on offense, so Brady has his word cut out for him, but he has the skills to make it work.
Brady is 6’5 and just 19 years old. It is way early to make any true decisions on what his future holds, but it’s going to be fun watching his career with the Sun Devils. This season, he should get a lot of ice time as a freshman. He could end up being the biggest steal among these players.