The Arizona State hockey team will play another competitive schedule in the program’s second year at the Division I level
TEMPE, Ariz. – In Mullett Arena’s second year, Arizona State will begin its second year at the Division I level with another competitive non-conference regular season schedule. The Sun Devils will play 35 games, including two mid-season tournaments and will face four programs to make the postseason last year. After a successful first year at the Division I level, the Sun Devils hockey team will look to build off momentum that saw the student section of every home game sold out.
Zac BonDurant
The season opener will begin in dramatic fashion as Arizona State will take on the University of Arizona. Arizona will play its first season as an American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) team in this exhibition game. The historic rivalry will add another chapter on Oct. 6 at Mullett Arena. This will be the first time that ASU will play the U of A on ice.
The home opener of the regular season will begin on Oct. 13 for a two game series against Merrimack College. The Warriors qualified for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey postseason last year, one of 16 teams to do so.
Arizona State’s first road game will be a contest in Oxford, Ohio against Miami (OH) for two games beginning Oct. 27. The Redhawks will welcome the Sun Devils for the first time in program history.
More action. More home games. More rivalry matchups.
— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) May 30, 2023
Several notable programs are coming to Mullett Arena this year.
Western powerhouse University of Denver, another postseason qualifying team, will continue to battle the Sun Devils for a second straight year. The Pioneers will come to Tempe, Ariz. on Nov. 10 for two games.
Providence College will play ASU for the first time on Nov. 24. The Hockey East conference opponent has qualified for the tournament 15 times in its program’s history including two frozen four appearances this decade in 2015 and 2019.
In late December, the Sun Devils will play their first tournament of the season when the team will travel to Lake Placid, N.Y. to play in the Adirondack Winter Invitational. The Sun Devils will play in the historic Herb Brook Arena in Lake Placid, the site of the 1980 Winter Olympic “Miracle on Ice” upset.
Zac BonDurant
ASU will then return home for the second annual Desert Hockey Classic at Mullet Arena as the Sun Devils will play host to three hockey dominant schools UMass-Lowell, Omaha and last season tournament qualifier Harvard. The tournament will begin on Jan. 5.
A week later, Cornell Big Read will travel out west to play ASU and make it the fourth program to make last year’s NCAA tournament that the maroon and gold will play. Those games will begin on Jan. 12.
Arizona State will conclude with its season with two of its last three series on the road in Alaska. The final regular season series will be played against familiar opponent Alaska Anchorage on Mar. 8.
The NCAA regionals will begin on Mar. 22 and the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four will begin on Apr. 5 should ASU qualify for the postseason in its second year of the programs Division I inception.