The NCHC’s Frozen Faceoff concludes its 12-year run this weekend in Saint Paul, Minnesota, before the conference shifts to an on-campus postseason format next season. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
PHOENIX – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference is hosting its final Frozen Faceoff in Saint Paul, Minnesota this weekend ahead of a change to the tournament format next season.
Arizona State, seeded No. 2, faces third-seeded Denver, the reigning national champions, in Friday’s first game, followed by No. 4 seed North Dakota against top-seeded Western Michigan, with the winners of both semifinal games meeting Saturday for the national championship.
Since the NCHC’s first season in 2013-14, the conference has played its tournament in Minnesota, creating a one-of-a-kind college hockey experience. But that’s coming to an end as the conference moves to a campus site format next season.
The NCHC’s time in Minnesota, the unofficial State of Hockey, saw the conference initially host games at Target Center in Minneapolis before transitioning to the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul in 2018. Even though teams in the conference were spread from Ohio to Colorado, the Frozen Faceoff brought in an average of 9,830 fans for semifinal games in the last three seasons.
“What a great experience for our players to play in that big-time building,” Western Michigan coach Patrick Ferschweiler said. “We’re lucky enough to have some Minnesota guys, so they appreciate coming home and playing back at the Xcel Center as well.”
North Dakota has qualified for the Frozen Faceoff each of the past five seasons. Fighting Hawks coach Brad Berry knows the challenge of playing on the road with his team’s season on the line. Berry said it’s hard for teams that aren’t used to playing in front of 10,000-plus fans to perform under the spotlight.
“The one good thing is we play in front of 12,000 fans erupting in (our) arena each and every home weekend,” Berry said. “It should be no different this weekend at the Xcel Energy Center.”
Meanwhile, for a team like Arizona State, the Sun Devils’ first trip to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff offers a unique opportunity. The Sun Devils were independent since their first season in 2015-16, before joining the NCHC in 2024. That status meant ASU never got to prove it deserved a slot in the NCAA tournament by playing well in a conference tournament.
In two of the team’s best seasons, the Sun Devils didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament partially due to its independent status. After qualifying in the 2018-19 season with a 21-12-1 record, ASU put together an even better mark the following year with a 22-11-3 resume but didn’t make the tournament. The Sun Devils encountered the same fate last season after posting a 24-8-6 record.
“We’re watching all these conference tournaments and teams play on big stages, and have felt a lot of times we were good enough to be there,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. “We just didn’t have the opportunity because we were an independent (team) so being in the league has changed I think the trajectory of our program in a really positive way.”
Powers said the team’s new status as an NCHC program helped him attract players who would have played elsewhere if the Sun Devils were still independent. Powers said the NCHC helped him land players like senior forward Ryan Kirwan, junior forward Cruz Lucius, graduate defenseman Noah Beck and senior goaltender Luke Pavicich.
All NCHC teams are playing their last Frozen Faceoff in Minnesota regardless of whether this tournament is a team’s first appearance or 10th. Starting in 2026, the NCHC will play its playoffs entirely at campus sites, signaling the end of the tournament’s home in St. Paul.
The NCHC Board of Directors unanimously approved the decision last December. The change means semifinal games will be played the Saturday after the quarterfinals and the championship will be played at the highest remaining seed’s barn a week later.
“The expansion to a three-week playoff immediately preceding NCAA regional play maintains the competitiveness of our Frozen Faceoff Championship while providing our teams with a better schedule for travel and rest,” NCHC Commissioner Heather Weems said in December. “NCHC member institutions are excited to battle for home-site seeding and to play in front of loyal fans and supporters as they chase the Frozen Faceoff Trophy and automatic qualification into the NCAA tournament.”
The only other major change to the NCHC season requires conference play to start a week earlier than in past seasons to accommodate the extra week of playoffs. So far, the conference board’s enthusiasm is being echoed across the conference.
“Our top teams deserve the opportunity to have the most rest and the least challenging travel as we go into the NCAA Tournament, I think that should be rewarded and is earned and should be rewarded,” Denver coach David Carle said. “So us going to ASU and North Dakota, Western to give them the best opportunity to do damage in the national tournament, I think is important.”
The NCHC isn’t the first conference to fold its conference tournament after stints in Minnesota. From 2014 to 2017, the Big Ten played its conference tournament in Saint Paul and Detroit and swapped cities each season. Similarly, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association hosted its tournament in Saint Paul from 2001 to 2013 and again in 2015.
The trend of hosting conference tournaments on college campuses was popularized by the Big Ten after changing its format in 2018. Ever since, Big Ten playoff hockey has been played in rowdy arenas providing a unique home ice advantage. On-campus games have been a success for the Big Ten as the conference has recorded a 7,551 average attendance for championship games the last three seasons.
The same format in the NCHC will bring the championship game to one of the conference’s premier arenas. The NCHC’s nine programs boast arenas with an average of 5,840 seats, making for high-energy locations for playoff hockey.
“I think our fans around college hockey don’t see us win enough trophies or championships on home ice,” Carle said. “The opportunity to have a championship-level atmosphere within these beautiful buildings that have all been built all over the country over the last 20 years, I think, is critical to growing fan bases.”
The opportunity to one day host an NCHC title game is an even more exciting proposition for a program like ASU. The Sun Devils, who play their home games at Tempe’s Mullett Arena, are the only hockey team in a metropolitan area of nearly five million people.
Mullett Arena attendance has been steadily increasing since the arena opened in 2022. That year, ASU drew 4,406 fans on average per game. This year, attendance rose to averaging a sellout of 5,074 fans per game, giving ASU a loud home ice advantage.
“We have done a great job of being active in the community and obviously giving the hockey community something to really be excited about,” Powers said. “They’ve been incredible to us, most importantly, packing Mullet every night.”
ASU fans packed Mullett Arena decked out in playoff white for the team’s quarterfinal wins against Minnesota Duluth last Friday and Saturday. Powers is excited about the future of playoff hockey in Arizona as the NCHC moves toward the on-campus playoff format.
“Last weekend, playoff hockey, the first time any sort of playoff hockey at a very high level has been in the Valley since 2012 and the environment was outrageously good,” Powers said. “So it’s a huge selling point in honor of what player could look at those videos and not want to be a part of that.”