What is the Frozen Faceoff? Arizona State faces rival Denver in NCHC semifinal Friday

Arizona State hockey fans are witnessing a historic season for the program.

On Saturday, the Sun Devils vanquished Minnesota Duluth 6-5 in overtime to sweep their best-of-three games quarterfinal series. The team now advances to "The Frozen Faceoff" in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This is ASU's first season in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, previously spending the last seven seasons as an NCAA Division I independent program. It finished second in the conference this season and has a legitimate shot at the NCAA Tournament.

The team has had a meteoric rise to national prominence since making the jump to Division I, participating in the 2019 NCAA Tournament and consistently being included in the Top 20 rankings. In fact, ASU came in at No. 11 in the USCHO poll after defeating Minnesota Duluth over the weekend.

What is the Frozen Faceoff? ASU vs. Denver set for NCHC semifinal

No. 11 ASU (NCHC two-seed) will face No. 6 Denver (NCHC three-seed) on Friday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The single-elimination semifinal, dubbed "The Frozen Faceoff," is set to drop puck at 4pm CT and be aired on CBS Sports Network.

The Pioneers downed six-seed Colorado College in a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday, advancing to play the Sun Devils who have grown into a natural rival of the defending national champions.

The winner of the ASU vs. Denver semifinal will then take on either fourth-seeded North Dakota or top-seeded Western Michigan in the NCHC Championship Game on Saturday. The winner will clinch the conference's sole automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Friday's semifinal against Denver will be critical for ASU. Not only in the chase for a first-ever conference crown but also a return to the NCAA Tournament. Exiting their quarterfinal series, the Sun Devils were ranked No. 15 in the all-important PairWise Rankings which are the main metric determining at-large qualification for the NCAA Tournament.

Only 16-teams can participate in the national championship bracket but each non-No. 1 seed that claims a conference crown knocks another team off the tournament bubble - typcially those sitting in spots 15 and 16 in the PairWise.