Arizona State to add Division I men's ice hockey team
Arizona State University is reportedly adding men's ice hockey to its athletics program in three seasons.
By
Chris Peters
•
2 min read
Arizona State University will be adding men’s college hockey to their athletics program, the school announced Tuesday. The team will elevate its team from the collegiate club ranks to Division I status over a transitional period that will span the next three seasons. They will also have to add another women’s sport to remain Title IX compliant, but that sport is not expected to be women's hockey.
This is gigantic news for college hockey. Penn State is the last “power conference” school to add hockey. They opened play in 2012-13 and their addition triggered the arrival of the Big Ten’s hockey conference. Penn State’s program was funded in full by current Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, who also built the team a state-of-the-art hockey arena on campus.
Arizona State's move to bring hockey into the Division I fold was aided by a $32 million gift from a group of donors including the father and son duo of Don and Chris Mullett. Chris Mullett is a former player on ASU's club hockey team.
Arizona State will become the Western-most team in the contiguous United States in college hockey, but will not be the first school in the state to try their hand at Division I hockey. Northern Arizona University sponsored Division I hockey for five seasons in the 1980s before the program folded.
This is a huge development in collegiate athletics as hockey has grown in popularity, despite only has one conference that mirrors that of football and basketball – the Big Ten. Other Division I football and basketball schools are scattered throughout hockey-only conferences.
There are a lot of details that would still need to be sorted through as Arizona State would have to find a conference, or play as an independent for some time. None of the school's natural rivals play hockey, either. There are two Division I schools in Alaska, while Arizona’s closest opponents geographically would be the three teams that call Colorado home: the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado College and University of Denver.
ESPN's John Buccigross filled in some of the details of how this transition will work.
Sun Devil hockey will phase into Division I competition over next 3 years by playing hybrid schedule in 2015/ mixture of D1 ACHA completion.
— John Buccigross (@Buccigross) November 18, 2014
..2016 full DI schedule independent of conference alignment-plans to transition to full D-I membership in 2017, into conference competition
— John Buccigross (@Buccigross) November 18, 2014
It will be interesting to see if ASU’s elevation to D1 brings about more expansion of college hockey, particularly among other Pac 12 schools, but this comes as a pretty big surprise. It is not an easy sport to add due to the expense, but the presence of the Pac 12's television network definitely makes hockey an enticing option. The Big Ten Network has a robust TV package for hockey and it helps in the months when football is out of season.
ASU would become the 60th team in Division I men's college hockey.
Arizona State has had a hugely successful club hockey team for years now. The Sun Devils are the defending national champions in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, which governs non-varisty college hockey. They are also currently ranked No. 2 in the ACHA Division I, which includes teams from schools like Illinois, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Ohio University and Arizona.
Greg Powers, the current head coach of the ACHA team, will remain on as the team begins its transition to Division I hockey.
