Arizona State men’s hockey joins a conference

On July 5th it was announced that the Arizona State men’s hockey program would be joining a conference for the first time in its history. The program will be joining the NCHC, National Collegiate Hockey Conference. 

Arizona State men’s hockey has come a long way

The Sun Devils began playing hockey in 1983 and joined the Division Two ranks, the ACHA, back in the late 1980s. From that point on ASU played in the ACHA all the way up until 2014. In November of 2014, head coach Greg Powers and athletic director Ray Anderson announced that the team would be moving into the NCAA Division One ranks.

The Devils did not begin playing a full NCAA D-2 schedule until the 2016-2017 season. From then on in until now, the Devils were listed as independent and had to make their own schedules.

What does this mean for the team?

A lot of people may not be familiar with the college hockey landscape. It is very similar to other college athletics. You play every team in your conference and have a tournament at the end of the regular season to see who gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Think of it like NCAA basketball.

What this means for the Devils program is three main things.

1. They will get funding from the conference based on conference results which can lead to giving more scholarships. Also in recruiting now, you can tell recruits who you are going to play every season as opposed to not knowing since independents make their own schedule.
2. That leads me to my next point. Having most of your schedule made for. You can schedule a few out-of-conference opponents at the beginning of the season but most of your schedule is already made up with conference opponents. Having to create your own schedule can be difficult since you want to play the best of the best in order to try and make the tournament every single year. Making the tournament as an independent is almost impossible, just ask Notre Dame football.
3. This leads to the last point, a better chance to make the NCAA tournament. It may not happen immediately, but Arizona State will have a better chance to win the conference down the road. As I said earlier, if you win your conference tournament you get an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. It may be difficult but it is a lot easier than trying to make it as an independent.

So who is in the conference and does ASU have a history with them already?

Outside of the Sun Devils the NCHC has eight teams and ASU has a history with a few of them.

1. Colorado College: ASU is (5-2-1) against them all time including a sweep of them last season.
2. Denver: (1-8-1) all-time against Denver including getting swept by them at home last season.
3. Miami (OH): ASU has not played them yet.
4. Minnesota Duluth: ASU is (0-2) against them and both games were last season at Minnesota Duluth
5. University of Nebraska Omaha: The two programs have never met.
6. University of North Dakota: ASU is (1-0) against them and that win came against them last season in Vegas. ND was ranked 6 at the time.
7. St. Cloud State: ASU is (0-3) against them all time.
8. Western Michigan: ASU is (0-1-1) against them all time.

ASU will officially join the NCHC when the calendar year for the NCAA begins on July 1, 2024.

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