The Arizona State University men’s hockey team erupts after sweeping Minnesota Duluth in the NCHC quarterfinals to advance to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Zac BonDurant/Getty Images)
TEMPE – Mullett Arena was indeed magical.
A sea of white waving towels surrounded the Arizona State University men’s hockey team as the Sun Devils hosted their first playoff series in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. After sweeping Minnesota Duluth in a best-of-three series, the Sun Devils now take their show on the road Friday to play Denver in a semifinal match in St. Paul, Minnesota.
If they defeat Denver, the Devils will play the winner of a Western Michigan-North Dakota match on Saturday in the NCHC championship game. The champion will advance to the NCAA Tournament with hopes of landing in the Frozen Four.
In their first year in the NCHC, the Sun Devils went 19-13-2 in the regular season and 14-9-1 in conference play. That earned them the No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs and home ice against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth.
Arizona State squeaked out a 4-3 win in game one on Friday and won an overtime thriller, 6-5, after trailing 3-0 Saturday in game two to sweep the series.
For a team that was picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in preseason polls, the Sun Devils continue to put the hockey world on notice.
“I’m still amazed (they) picked us eighth. If 100 people vote, that’s never going to happen again,” graduate forward Artem Shlaine said. “Even though it’s in Arizona, hockey belongs here. You can see the building rocking two nights in a row. It’s special.”
ASU is ranked No. 15 in the PairWise rankings, the official rankings used to determine the 16 teams that make the NCAA men’s hockey tournament. According to playoffstatus.com, the Sun Devils have a 16% chance to win the NCHC.
Each of the six conference winners earns an automatic bid, so Arizona State’s chances to be a wild-card team are far from guaranteed. The path to a top-16 seed is simple: win the NCHC. To do that, the Sun Devils first need to beat the Pioneers.
In the regular season, the Sun Devils won three out of four against Denver, with their lone loss coming in overtime. On Nov. 15, Arizona State traveled to face then No. 1 Denver. ASU was 4-7-1 through 12 games and struggling to find consistency. Instead of continuing this trend, the Sun Devils swept the Pioneers and have gone 17-6-1 over their last 24 games.
A packed Mullett Arena cheers on the Arizona State University men’s hockey team in its first NCHC playoff series on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Tempe. (Photo by Ari Wohl/Cronkite News)
The Pioneers, currently tied for ninth in the PairWise rankings, went 26-9-1 in the regular season and beat Colorado College in three games to advance past the quarterfinal round. They average 4.03 goals per game and allow just 2.13, both second-best in the NCHC. The Sun Devils rank just behind the Pioneers with 3.72 goals per game and 2.75 goals allowed per game.
The remainder of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff is single elimination. Denver and ASU are scheduled to play at 2:07 p.m. Friday, while North Dakota and Western Michigan will play later that night. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 5:38 p.m.
Regardless of how the rest of the season goes, ASU has surpassed preseason expectations and proven to be a top hockey program that could see perennial success in their new conference.
“Hopefully we made more fans this season and they’re going to show up next year and cheer for the guys,” Shlaine said Saturday.
The Sun Devils made the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament in 2019 and lost in the first round. With their sights set on returning, ASU coach Greg Powers emphasized remaining focused on the task at hand.
“Right now, in our room, we’re not even talking about the NCAA Tournament, we’re talking about trying to win a trophy. And if we win a trophy, everything takes care of itself,” Powers said Tuesday before the Minnesota Duluth series.
The Arizona hockey community has experienced a tumultuous past few years. Just less than a year ago, the Arizona Coyotes played their final game in the Valley. The Sun Devils gave fans a reason to return to the rink.
“It’s an unbelievable hockey community here and to lose the NHL really sucked … so to give that community and group of people some reprieve and to make them proud of what we’re trying to build here and continuing to build, and give them that excitement, it means everything,” Powers said after Saturday’s win.
Powers, who is in his 16th season on the ASU coaching staff and ninth as head coach, has been nominated for the NCHC Herb Brooks Coach of the Year award. Powers guided the program through the ACHA ranks, to the Division I level, and now to Minnesota with Arizona State two wins away from a conference trophy.
“To be able to walk off the ice to that crowd and to go to a Frozen Faceoff up in St. Paul … we’ve watched the big stage a lot here as a program and now we get to play on it so it means a lot,” Powers said.