(Photo: Allyson Cummings/WCSN)
Forward Michael Cummings (pictured on the left) and defenseman Jarrod Levos (right) can both be seen sporting the maroon and gold uniform, but they have a history of playing together before their ASU journey even began.
Cummings and Levos played last season for the Phoenix Knights, and are ready to continue working with each other this season.
“I like playing with Mike because he works hard, he knows the game, and has been around it for a long time,” Levos said.
Cummings was added to the team in January of last season, and helped them make their playoff push.
Levos, who is a two-time reigning MVP for the Knights, was able to contribute to the team with his offensive style of defense. Levos has played only one official year on the blue line, he was a forward his whole life.
“He rushes the puck well and his offensive abilities are very good. He knows the game, he’s very fast, and his shots and vision on the ice are also good,” Cummings said.
One of the duo’s favorite moments on the ice for the Knights was their victory over El Paso in Texas. El Paso hadn’t lost a home game all year, and around 2,000 fans were there to watch, according to Levos.
“We got beat the first game pretty bad, but won the second game, and that was probably our best win of the season hands down. We needed the win to get us into the playoffs,” Cummings said.
Aside from playing together, Levos and Cummings get along great outside of hockey and in the locker room.
“In the beginning I will be pretty quiet, but once you get to know me I’m annoying,” Cummings said. “I would say I kind of try to be funny but don’t know if it works.”
“I’m pretty laid back depending on the situation. I’m also a jokester and like to make people laugh,” Levos said.
According to Cummings, Levos was the star of the Knights’ Harlem Shake video, being the one to start it on the center table. Another Arizona State teammate that is no stranger to Cummings is defenseman Alex Temby. They played together in Fairbanks two years prior.
In fact, Temby played a role in Cummings’ decision to come to Arizona State.
“I didn’t really know about ASU’s hockey program too much until I moved down here and talked to my coach at the time about it,” Cummings said. “He told me to call Coach Powers and then I started really looking into it. I got a call from Alex Temby and he said he wanted to go to ASU, which got me interested.”
Levos, who is an Arizona native, has known about the program growing up.
“I’ve been in Arizona my entire life so I always knew about ASU. It’s nice and convenient, not to mention their program has grown a lot in the past years,” Levos said.
Both Levos and Cummings have different stories as to how they got started playing hockey.
Levos took after his older brother and followed in his footsteps.
Cummings started playing roller hockey, due to that fact that his mom played in the adult league. Eventually all of the roller rinks shut down by him. He started playing ice hockey and never stopped.
Both Levos and Cummings are ready to display their talents on Thursday at the annual Maroon and Gold Scrimmage at Oceanside Ice Arena. The game will start at 8:00 p.m. and can be seen live on the Live Broadcasts tab above.
