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ASU lacrosse players perfectly reenact Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie’s famous pregame routine

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The NHL named Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie’s butt tapps as the Best Pregame Ritual of 2020. Now they have some amazing imitators from a different sport over 2,290 miles away in Tempe.

Arizona State women’s lacrosse players, Mallory Martel and Emma Carlson, posted video of themselves performing Tom and Teej’s pregame superstition on Sunday. Both players were lacrosse stars in Maryland.

The video was shared by NBC Sports Washington’s JJ Regan and the Caps later responded to the video.

Video

“So me and my teammate Emma are from Maryland and are huge Caps fans,” Mallory, a junior defender from Severna Park, said in an interview. “We are always watching our Caps – even on this coast. Our practices get filmed and we noticed that the camera was on us during our 8-meter drill. I was like Emma we have to do the TJ/Tom ritual and post it about Sunday for our game day.”

Emma, a senior attacker from Lusby, added that “we kind of feel like our relationship on the team and during practice and games is similar to Tom and TJ’s. We did the bit during practice too knowing our coaches and team would be watching it back later in film.”

The silly ploy ultimately worked. The Sun Devils defeated UC Davis 19-14 for their third-straight victory. The win moved ASU to 3-0 at home where they’ve outscored their opponents by a 64-30 margin at Sun Devil Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.

“We will now be doing this before every game day,” Mallory said.

“It’s tradition now,” Emma agreed.

Not only did the video get a lot of attention on social media, but the Capitals’ Twitter account also replied on Twitter with a “10/10” rating. While the lacrosse players were hoping for a reply from Tom or TJ, that was just as special.

“Me and Mallory were absolutely starstruck when the Caps responded,” Emma said. “We’re still hoping for a retweet or something Face with tears of joy but we’ll take what we can get.”

Emma and Mallory ended up so far away from home because they were recruited by Arizona State University as the college was getting a new lacrosse program. “It was a no-brainer to go there,” Mallory said.

Mallory was a four-year varsity starter at Severna Park High School where she appeared in two state championships, winning one of them, during her outstanding prep career. She also appeared in the Nike Elite 120 showcase and received the Top Scholar Athlete Award and the Minds in Motion Award. Meanwhile, Emma played three different sports in high school — lacrosse, soccer, and basketball — and was the captain on all three of those teams. She was named MVP of her lacrosse team as a sophomore and again as a senior.

“I first got into the Capitals when I was in high school,” Emma said. “My parents loved watching the games growing up, but I particularly became a big fan the year before they won the Stanley Cup. I actually went to DC and stood in the streets with the thousands of fans to watch the game on the gigantic screens.”

Both friends consider TJ Oshie their favorite Capitals player while Mallory admitted Leni is her favorite Oshie.

“TJ’s just an all-around great guy and it’s much more than hockey,” Mallory said. “He’s not too serious and that’s what sports are all about. And he’s a beast.”

Mallory said she owns a TJ Oshie jersey after her dad surprised her as the bus pulled in at an away game last spring.

Meanwhile, Emma is also a huge John Carlson fan “because when I was younger my dad convinced me he was my uncle (same last name).”

The friends make up two of nine players from either Maryland or Virginia on ASU’s team, many of which are huge hockey fans.

The Sun Devils recently beat USC to pick up their first win over a Top-25 opponent in program history.

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