ASU ice hockey prepares for a historic Frozen Faceoff clash with the defending national champion Denver Pioneers. (Photo by Zac BonDurant/Getty Images)
PHOENIX – As Arizona State’s men’s ice hockey team enters its first National College Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff, a conference newcomer is pitted against one of the most historic teams in college history.
The Denver Pioneers are the reigning national champions, their success rooted in decades of dominance. The Sun Devils, meanwhile, are relative outsiders to the passionate college hockey scene, but with each passing game this season, ASU has proven hockey in the desert is a fierce force.
Friday’s Frozen Faceoff semifinal in St. Paul, Minnesota between second-seeded ASU and No. 3 seed Denver features two teams that know each other well, despite emerging from different hockey environments. The Pioneers, who began playing in 1949, have won 10 national titles, the most in the NCAA. The Sun Devils only became a Division I program in 2015 and have made one NCAA tournament in nine completed seasons.
Powered by their star-studded forwards and one of the nation’s best goaltenders, Denver advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff after beating No. 6 seed Colorado College in three games. ASU punched its ticket with a two-game sweep of Minnesota Duluth.
Though Denver is more familiar with the Xcel Energy Center and has postseason experience, having hoisted the title there a season ago, its edge isn’t overwhelming.
“Coming into the tournament’s a little different, just seeding wise, and teams this year (are) a little different but similar to last year,” Denver junior forward Aidan Thompson said. “I think all the teams are very good, and every matchup is going to be tough.”
After winning the 2024 national championship, Denver was picked as the preseason favorite to win the NCHC’s Penrose Cup this year. That didn’t happen as Western Michigan dominated the NCHC to take home the regular season title with a 10-point gap between the Broncos and second-place ASU.
“We’ve been in a little bit different spot here, as it relates to the pair wise, on the second half,” said Denver coach David Carle, whose team tallied six of its 10 losses this year in the second half of the season. “We were high at the Christmas time or the New Year time. And you know, some of these losses, it has hurt our (seeding) quite a bit.”
Regardless of their regular season finish, the Pioneers still put together a 28-10-1 record to be ranked sixth nationally in the USCHO’s latest poll. Denver has also been on a roll recently as the team has won seven of its last 10 games leading up to Friday’s Frozen Faceoff date with ASU.
Part of what explains the Pioneers’ success is its fiery offense. Denver is currently ranked second in the country in scoring margin at 1.90 and goals per game at 4.09, trailing just behind Western Michigan in both statistics.
The Pioneers have a rotating door of scorers as seven players have tallied double-digit goals this season. Leading the pack are sophomore forward Sam Harris and senior forward Carter King, who scored 21 and 20 goals, respectively.
ASU coach Greg Powers leads the Sun Devils into the program’s first-ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the biggest challenge of the season. (File photo by Brendon Pricco/Cronkite News)
Senior forward Jack Devine is the team’s leading point scorer with 54 points, the most of any Division I player in college hockey this season. Most of Devine’s contributions come in the form of assists to the likes of Harris and King.
“I’ve been most impressed by his first ability to kind of change his game based on who he’s playing with,” Carle said. “He shows that he can be a pass-first player and set people up, obviously, with the assists this year.”
Even when Denver’s offense isn’t firing on all cylinders, senior goaltender Matt Davis stands in goal to keep the team in games. Davis is better than the majority of Division I goalkeepers with a 2.09 goals-against-average after starting 35 of 39 games this year.
Davis’s GAA rose to 2.42 in NCHC games but that mark still places him third in the conference behind Western Michigan’s goaltender tandem. Denver’s skilled defensemen have backed Davis by holding opponents to 302 fewer shots and 36 fewer power-play opportunities this season.
“When you stop more goals, it’s definitely easier than scoring a bunch of goals,” Thompson said. “So I think being defensively minded is definitely important in the tournament.”
Denver’s impressive play on both ends is cemented by its experience. Denver is the only school to appear in every NCHC Frozen Faceoff and has made it to the NCAA tournament each of the past three seasons.
“I believe Denver is the most experienced team in college hockey with the past success they’ve had in the couple past years, winning the national titles and then NCHC,” ASU graduate forward Artem Shlaine said.
Even given their status as defending national champions, the Pioneers respect what ASU coach Greg Powers has put together in the Sun Devils’ inaugural NCHC season.
“There’s a lot of internal belief in their room to what they can be,” Carle said. “As far as on the ice, you know, they’ve recruited a lot of really good players that I think play a way that they want to and up and down their lineup, they can make plays.”
That respect comes after ASU beat then-No. 1 Denver twice in a pair of road games before splitting another pair of games in Tempe. The last time the two teams met, ASU fell to Denver 5-4 in overtime before bouncing back with a 6-5 overtime win in the following game.
The Pioneers are thinking about the Sun Devils’ goal scorers seemingly more than ever now.
“They’re pretty opportunistic,” Thompson said. “They got great goal-scorers on their team, but I think we’re going to be ready for them and looking forward to it.”