No. 12 Arizona State hockey will be playing Division I postseason hockey in the desert for the first time in program history. With its 4-1 win over Omaha on Friday, the team clinched home ice advantage in the quarterfinals of the NCHC hockey tournament.
The Sun Devils will enter as the No. 2 seed, behind Western Michigan, and likely play Minnesota Duluth in the quarterfinal round best-of-three games series March 14-16. However, because ASU fell 4-2 on Saturday to the Mavericks, it's going to probably need to run the table in the conference tournament in order to qualify for the NCAA field.
Tough night for @SunDevilHockey. Had a chance to climbs as high as No. 13 in the PairWise but could not hold a 3rd-period lead and they fall back to No. 16 (were at No. 14 before this went final).
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) March 2, 2025
ASU will need to do damage in the NCHC Tournament to earn an NCAA Tournament spot. https://t.co/ByfcNxlTwB
ASU went 2-1-1 against the Bulldogs in the season series with both wins coming at home. That's a good sign for fans who will likely pack Mullett Arena in a few weeks to cheer on the team.
Arizona State will look to harness "Mullett Magic" at NCHC tournament
The Sun Devils finished 9-6-1 at home this season, meaning there's a significant chance playing at Mullett Arena will help the team advance to the NCHC tournament semifinals. The team will need every bit of help it can get considering it's sitting right on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament field.
It finished the night Saturday at No. 16 in the all-important PairWise rankings (a sweep against Omaha would've put it at No. 13). Considering the top spots in the tournament field are reserved for conference tournament winners, it will only take one bid stealer for ASU to be knocked out of the 16-team bracket.
Conquering the conference in its first year as a member is a tough ask but ASU's football team and volleyball team both did it in the fall semester. Perhaps the "Mullett Magic" can springboard the team to an NCHC title and its first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2019 season when it was an independent program.