NCAA Hockey

[Sport]

So Buccigross just tweeted that Arizona State will ice a division 1 hockey team that will transition from club play over the next three years and they will play home games at US Airways Arena in downtown Phoenix.

It'll be interesting to see this play out. They're going to be playing at the more accessible arena and I wonder if some of Phoenix's hockey fans will make the decision to watch the Sun Devils instead of the far away Coyotes.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

So Buccigross just tweeted that Arizona State will ice a division 1 hockey team that will transition from club play over the next three years and they will play home games at US Airways Arena in downtown Phoenix.

It'll be interesting to see this play out. They're going to be playing at the more accessible arena and I wonder if some of Phoenix's hockey fans will make the decision to watch the Sun Devils instead of the far away Coyotes.

I'm guessing yes.

[Still MIGHTY]

So Buccigross just tweeted that Arizona State will ice a division 1 hockey team that will transition from club play over the next three years and they will play home games at US Airways Arena in downtown Phoenix.

It'll be interesting to see this play out. They're going to be playing at the more accessible arena and I wonder if some of Phoenix's hockey fans will make the decision to watch the Sun Devils instead of the far away Coyotes.

They've been a very successful program over the years and were the ACHA national champions last year. Like they actually were discussed a bit on campus and the campus media outlets covered them just as well as any of the other D-1 programs. I have no doubt they'll succeed. They've played some NCAA competition in the past and more than held their own. They're going to play a hybrid ACHA/NCAA schedule next year, an independent NCAA schedule in year two, and join a conference (either the NCHC, with Denver, UNO, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, or WCHA, with the Alaska schools, Bemidji State, Ferris State, Alabama-Huntsville)

They've played their games at the Oceanside Arena (I know, the name makes no sense) in northeast Tempe and have gotten great attendance. It's also their practice rink, so it looks like this for games:

So it's an option, but they should upgrade if they want to make this move legit. Another option is a supposedly renovated Wells Fargo Center, the on-campus arena. I think that's a really interesting option. It would probably make for a better atmosphere, and might be the solution long term.

And with US Airways, apparently the Suns have expressed interest (strange, right?), and it's easy access from Tempe on the Light Rail and a short walk from the ASU downtown campus. Aside from the rink logistics that plagued the Coyotes and Islanders will go through in Brooklyn, that'll work out well. For college hockey, I don't think those specific arena issues will hurt them, with smaller crowds and probably just limiting the seats to the lower bowl anyways.

I don't know how much of a dent it'll put in the Coyotes that isn't already there. If anything, it might get a few more people interested in the sport.

[Burmy]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

[Sport]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

Some people are saying this might be the first step towards a Pac12 hockey conference. As the Big Ten showed, you only need 6 schools.

That'd be something.

[Burmy]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

Some people are saying this might be the first step towards a Pac12 hockey conference. As the Big Ten showed, you only need 6 schools.

That'd be something.

I think that the other four schools to start programs should be Colorado (Colorado College, Air Force and Denver have programs, so why not the Buffs?), Utah, Oregon (or Oregon State) and Washington (or Washington State).

Standard hockey markets in the area.

[Seadragon76]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

Some people are saying this might be the first step towards a Pac12 hockey conference. As the Big Ten showed, you only need 6 schools.

That'd be something.

I think that the other four schools to start programs should be Colorado (Colorado College, Air Force and Denver have programs, so why not the Buffs?), Utah, Oregon (or Oregon State) and Washington (or Washington State).

Standard hockey markets in the area.

Well, I don't know how well college hockey would be taken in the Northwest. All we have up here in terms of hockey is junior league (both Seattle and Portland have WHL teams) so who knows for sure.

[DustDevil61]

Arizona State has been a very successful club hockey program; they've always given my alma mater Utah State's club team fits. Glad to hear about them moving up.

[Norva]

This is great news, I love NCAA hockey and am excited to see it grow.

[dfwabel]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

Some people are saying this might be the first step towards a Pac12 hockey conference. As the Big Ten showed, you only need 6 schools.

That'd be something.

I think that the other four schools to start programs should be Colorado (Colorado College, Air Force and Denver have programs, so why not the Buffs?), Utah, Oregon (or Oregon State) and Washington (or Washington State).

Standard hockey markets in the area.

Colorado has received full Pac-12 revenue sharing since they came into the league, but Utah hasn't and will not until next year.

Plus, if 18 scholarships are made for hockey, a women's sport (or two) must be added.

http://www.scholarshipstats.com/ncaalimits.html

[FiddySicks]

I've been to a few ASU hockey games and they're an absolute blast. They've been talking about transitioning to at least DII since I've been here. Stoked to see this actually some legs under it!

[Norva]

There is no DII hockey in the NCAA, just DIII and DI. Plus I think there is some rule about D1 programs having D2 teams in other sports but I could be wrong.

[Burmy]

There is no DII hockey in the NCAA, just DIII and DI. Plus I think there is some rule about D1 programs having D2 teams in other sports but I could be wrong.

So that explains why there are so many DII teams in DI hockey...

[tyst13]

I personally think that, given their history, now it's now only a matter of time before the Sun Devils' Territorial Cup rivals the Arizona Wildcats end up going to Division I as well...they already play in the Tucson Convention Center (which hosted a few old hockey teams).

That would definitely be interesting to see. This blog post makes a good case for it.

[DarkJourney]

Oregon State is the only school in the Pac-12 that doesn't have some sort of ice hockey program.

[Geoff]

There is no DII hockey in the NCAA, just DIII and DI. Plus I think there is some rule about D1 programs having D2 teams in other sports but I could be wrong.

There is D2 hockey. There is no D2 hockey championship. The only D2 hockey teams are the ones in the Northeast 10 conference. They play each other and fill their schedule out with D3 schools. They're typically not the top of the D2/D3 level due to it being harder to recruit a kid when your opponents pull the "you can't play for a championship" line out.

[Brass]

UConn has recently joined HockeyEast and has been significantly outdrawing the Hartford Wolf Pack in terms of attendance, which on second thought, really isn't that difficult.

[Gary]

This is great news for the greater Phoenix area as well. There are more high school programs across the valley wide area that has popped up in the last 15 years. To the Fact the AIA(Governing High School Sports for Arizona) will officially sponsor in 2015-16.

[Sport]

LOL. I was like "I don't remember starting an NCAA hockey thread".

Go Bucks

[LAWeaver]

This is great news for the greater Phoenix area as well. There are more high school programs across the valley wide area that has popped up in the last 15 years. To the Fact the AIA(Governing High School Sports for Arizona) will officially sponsor in 2015-16.

So while interest In pro hockey is shrinking in Arizona, interest in high school and college hockey is growing? Will this help out the Coyotes any attendance-wise?