Anthony Croston’s place in team history is cemented as one of the “founding fathers” of the Arizona State hockey program.
He walked on at ASU in the inaugural season as a local boy just looking to continue his hockey career. Four years later, he graduated and had become the first Sun Devil to cross the 100 games played plateau.
Croston adapted as the program developed from newbie to punching bag to clinching a spot in the NCAA tournament, and he put up some points along the way.
He played for the local Jr. Coyotes 16U AAA and 18U AAA teams before heading to junior hockey in the BCHL and NAHL, and found himself leaving the ASU program four years later as it’s all time leader in games played at 127.
Anthony Croston takes the faceoff against the Quinnipiac Bobcats on March 30th, 2019 in ASU’s first ever NCAA tournament matchup. (photo credit: Sun Devil Hockey)
The Sun Devils wore their maroon sweaters in 16 games in their record setting 2018-2019 season. One of those games was their NCAA Regionals loss to Quinnipiac.
Croston’s jersey has solid wear with a few burns in the right sleeve and loose threads on the sleeve numbers. The left sleeve has much of the wear, with burns and several repairs clustered in and around the black band that separates the yellow and maroon areas of the sleeve. That cluster of repairs has been photomatched to the Quinnipiac tournament game above. The left sleeve has some loose threads and a slash mark on the #1 of the sleeve numbers.
The front of the jersey has a large slash mark next to the pitchfork crest, and there’s a little residue of something or other around the neck.
The back is clean with the main thing of note being the removed nameplate. Most ASU jerseys that make it out into the wild have the nameplates removed before they are sold.
This one’s nameplate was removed prior to it being sold but I was able to acquire the nameplate from ASU at a later date and reunited it to make the jersey whole once again.
Croston’s jersey is a unique one for me because it kills two birds with one stone. It fills the slot of being a 2018-2019 jersey along with an important ASU player, as well as being a local product of Arizona hockey.
Anthony Croston spent his youth and minor hockey days playing here in the rinks in the desert, and he concluded his career playing in one of those same rinks at Oceanside for a now nationally relevant Arizona State hockey program.
His path, much like Brandon Fehd’s, was unorthodox, but it shows just how much growth there has been and how many avenues there are now for kids growing up playing hockey in the desert.