History
Hockey began as a sport at Arizona State in the fall of 1983 with ASU students gathering at Tower Ice Plaza in Central Phoenix to play pick up hockey amongst each other. As collegiate club hockey evolved throughout the country, so did hockey at Arizona State. By the late 80s ASU was fielding a full-fledged ice hockey team competing in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. In 1993, General Manager Mike Hoffarth led the program to achieving ACHA Division I status propelling the Sun Devil hockey program into the national spotlight by qualifying for the ACHA Division I National Tournament just two years later in the 1995–96 season. Then Head Coach, Gene Hammett would lead the program to three straight National Tournament appearances from 1995 to 1998. [2]
ASU qualified for 10 ACHA Division I National Tournaments since competing at the Division I level in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, and developed 12 ACHA Division I All-Americans. In the 2013–14 season, the team won its first ACHA National Championship, defeating Robert Morris University-Illinois.
On November 18, 2014, Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson announced that the Sun Devils would move to NCAA Division I ice hockey. The transition was funded by a $32 million donation by multiple parties (including former ASU hockey players). As a transitionary season, the Sun Devils played a split schedule between ACHA and NCAA games during the 2015–16 season, before migrating exclusively to NCAA play the following season. The Sun Devils were expected to begin as an independent, but pursue conference membership in the future. [3]
In the 2018–19 season, Arizona State received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, in only its third season as a Division I team. They were defeated by the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the regional semifinals. [4] [5]
On October 6, 2020, the Sun Devils announced that for logistical reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would enter into an agreement to play all of its games as non-conference away games against Big Ten opponents, playing each of its seven hockey members four times in a 28-game season. This would assure the team a full season schedule, and avoid conflicts with the Coyotes at Gila River Arena due to the delay of the 2020-21 NHL season. The team still played as an independent, and were not eligible to qualify for the conference tournament. [6]
On July 5, 2023, the Sun Devils announced that they will be joining the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) starting in the 2024-2025 season. [7] They officially became members of the conference on July 1, 2024. [8]
Arena
Prior to 2022, the Sun Devils played most of their home games at the Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe. Selected games each season were played at Glendale's Gila River Arena, the former home of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. [9] With the move to NCAA Division I, Anderson stated they planned to pursue an on-campus arena in the future. [3] In the meantime, Oceanside underwent a renovation for the 2015 to bring its facilities to NCAA standards. [10]
In November 2020, the Arizona Board of Regents' finance committee approved plans to construct a new 5,000-seat indoor arena on-campus near Desert Financial Arena, which is expected to house the school's hockey, gymnastics, and wrestling programs among others. [11] [12] [13] Mullett Arena opened in 2022; it also served as the Coyotes' home arena for two seasons after the city of Glendale declined to renew the team's lease at Gila River Arena. [14] [15]
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