Arizona State hockey NCAA tourney outlook

TEMPE, Ariz. — When you think about “the bubble” in college sports most people’s minds go to March Madness and college basketball. Well, the bubble also exists in college hockey, and Arizona State hockey is experiencing the pressure that comes with being a bubble team.

Is your team on the right side of the bubble? Or is your team’s bubble on the brink of bursting? This is a question swirling around several programs this time of year.

In this article, we are going to talk about the bubble and Arizona State hockey’s tourney outlook.

NCAA Hockey Tournament Overview 

Many of you may be new to the collegiate hockey scene and first off I want to go over the tournament and how it works. D1 men’s hockey is composed of 60 teams and 16 of them make the tournament.

Out of the 16 teams, four sites host regionals, and four teams go to each site. All 16 teams are seeded and paired like a normal tournament. For example 1v16, 2v15, 3v14, and so on.

The winner of each regional then goes onto the Frozen Four, the hockey version of the Final Four. The Frozen Four moves around location by location and is split into two nights like the Final Four.

Arizona State hockey NCAA tournament outlook

ASU is an independent in hockey meaning they are not in a conference. Next season the Sun Devils will join the NCHC with the likes of Denver, Colorado College, and others.

Just like the basketball tournament, conference champions are automatically put into the tournament, making it harder for an independent to make the tournament. As an independent, ASU has to schedule very tough to show the committee they deserve a spot.

This season ASU has had a tale of two halves on their schedule.

The first half was filled with ranked teams seemingly every single weekend to try and boost their efforts to become ranked and go up the Pairwise Rankings. The Pairwise Rankings are analytical rankings that play a significant role in deciding whether or not a team is worthy of being in the tournament.

Where does ASU stand this season?

The Devils got off to a riveting 4-0 start and have since been a very up-and-down team.

As it sits right now, on Jan. 19, ASU is currently 16-5-5. That has them ranked 17th in the Pairwise Rankings. ASU had back-to-back in-season tournament wins but just got swept last weekend by an excellent Cornell team.

ASU has done all of this so far without two of their best players for some time this season, the Jackson twins. Ty and Dylan Jackson have both been hurt since 2023 and have long-term injuries that will keep them out for some time.

Despite the twins going down ASU still has Matthew Kopperud who is #1 in the NCAA in power-play goals.

Since ASU got swept last weekend by Cornell their chances of making the tournament have taken a significant hit. As I mentioned earlier, it is challenging to make the tournament as an independent, and getting swept at home does not help your chances despite Cornell being ranked.

Upcoming challenges

For the remainder of the season, ASU does have a lot of winnable games with their hardest opponent being Augustana this weekend.

If ASU wants to make the tournament they are going to have to almost win out or maybe lose a maximum of two games.

The usual trip-up spot for ASU in the past has been both Alaska Anchorage and Fairbanks. The Sun Devils play both down the stretch.

It will be very interesting to see how ASU does down the stretch without two of their best players.

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