Defending champ Denver ends Arizona State's season in NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal

What looked like a promising season for Arizona State hockey came to an unfortunate end on Friday night in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The No. 11-ranked Sun Devils fell 4-2 against the No. 6 Denver Pioneers in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal. Despite finishing second in the conference standings and within the Top 12 of the national rankings, ASU will not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The team sits too low in the all-important PairWise rankings and was bumped outside the 16-team field due to bid-stealers in other conferences. Winning the NCHC outright was the only possible avenue to the national postseason.

“I think they’re a team that absolutely deserves to be in the National Tournament," Denver head coach David Carle told reporters post-game. "They’re one of the top 12, 10 teams in the country.”

Despite that high praise, mathematically it just won't happen.

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The game itself was rather exciting for the most part. Despite falling in an early 2-0 hole by the end of the first period, ASU managed to rally in the second frame to tie things heading into the second intermission.

Ryan Kirwan followed up a juicy rebound to get the Devils on the board during a power play, and Artem Shlaine converted a wicked steal and backhand for the tying tally.

ASU had its opportunities to take the lead on its own, but Denver goaltender Matt Davis played phenomenally outside his two mistakes. He stopped 27 of 29 shots faced.

Sun Devil goaltender Luke Pavicich played well too despite the loss. The birthday boy fended off a breakaway opportunity for the Pioneers early in the third period that kept the game tied and provided ASU with some much needed momentum. Unfortunately, the boys couldn't capitalize.

"You have to earn respect and hopefully we have," head coach Greg Powers said Thursday ahead of the semifinal. "We just started focusing on the people that did believe in us."

ASU finishes the 2024-25 season 21-14-2 in its first year as a member of the NCHC. The team was picked to finish 6th in the preseason poll and, just like the football team, defied expectations to threaten for the conference title and the national postseason. That's definitely a year to respect.