Arizona State, Augustana open eyes on the national college hockey landscape

COLLEGE HOCKEY INSIDER | RANDY JOHNSON

Tempe, Ariz., and Sioux Falls, S.D., probably aren’t the first places that come to mind as being college hockey towns in the tradition of a Grand Forks, N.D., or a Houghton, Mich. They are the respective homes of Arizona State, which is in its 10th season with a men’s varsity program, and Augustana, which is in its second.

Suddenly, though, both are making noise in the 2024-25 season. The Sun Devils, playing in their inaugural season as members of the NCHC, are sitting in a three-way tie atop the conference standings with Western Michigan and North Dakota. The Vikings, in their first season as a full member of the CCHA, are in second place.

For Arizona State coach Greg Powers, the rise is the next step in a steady march from being a national champion club team, to starting varsity play as an independent squad in 2015-16, to joining the NCHC — a conference that has won six NCAA championships since college hockey’s realignment in 2013-14.

“It’s great,” Powers said by phone on a 70-degree day on the ASU campus as he prepared for this weekend’s series at St. Cloud State, where it was 80 degrees colder. “We’re just embracing every weekend. We’ve come a long way in a short time. … Did we anticipate being in first place in late January? Probably not, but we had hope."

The Sun Devils are 11-8-1 overall and 6-4 in NCHC play. They’re coming off a home split against North Dakota in which they won the opener 4-1 before falling 4-3 in overtime. That result ended an eight-game win streak that included a 3-2, 5-2 road sweep at defending national champion Denver.

Arizona State’s goal entering the season was earning one of the four first-round host sites of the NCHC tournament by finishing in the top four in the conference. The Sun Devils are in line to do that but can’t afford many hiccups since the first- and eighth-place teams in the conference are separated by a mere six points.

“If you could host, you’re in the top four, and you’ve got a really good chance at making the NCAA tournament, so we’re tracking for that,” said Powers, whose team’s lone NCAA appearance was a first-round loss to Quinnipiac in 2019. “Obviously now it’s, ‘Hey, let’s shoot a little higher.’ ”

The Sun Devils average 3.3 goals per game, tied for eighth nationally, and are led in scoring by junior forward Bennett Schimek and graduate defenseman Noah Beck. A transfer from Providence and former Gentry Academy standout from Mendota Heights, Schimek has eight goals and 12 assists and is on a four-game point streak. Beck, a transfer from Clarkson, has three goals and 17 assists.

“For us as a program, the transfer portal has been a really good thing,” Powers said. “It’s really allowed us to build a veteran group to compete in such a great league right away.”

Arizona State applied to be an NCHC member in 2016 but was denied. Powers considers it a blessing in disguise.

“We didn’t have our house in order; we didn’t have an arena,” he said. “We were learning from mistakes and doing a lot of stuff on the fly. The best thing that happened was it forced us to course-correct a lot of areas in our program.”

The biggest development was getting a new home in the $140 million, 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the Arizona State campus. It replaced Oceanside Arena, a community ice complex that held only 747.

“Now we have it all,” Powers said.

As Augustana’s first coach, Garrett Raboin has helped build the Vikings from the ground up, and the program has a heavy Minnesota flavor. Raboin is from Detroit Lakes, played and coached under coach Bob Motzko at St. Cloud State and followed Motzko to Minneapolis to be the Gophers’ top assistant. He has 15 Minnesotans on his roster, plus players from four other states, four Canadian providences and Finland, Sweden and Slovenia.

“I’m a Minnesota guy with Minnesota connections,” Raboin said. “If you look at my track record recruiting from St. Cloud State to the University of Minnesota, it’s with Minnesota players supplemented by outstate guys. … Wherever the best players are, we’re hoping to find them."

Two developments helped the dream of Augustana hockey come to fruition. First, major donors in T. Denny Sanford, Sanford Health and Midco, among others, stepped forward to fund Midco Arena, an on-campus venue that seats 3,082, cost $72 million to build and opened in January 2024. That helped Augustana land in the CCHA, becoming the conference’s ninth member.

The Vikings began play in 2023-24, forging a 12-18-4 record highlighted by a tie (plus shootout triumph) over Denver and a home sweep of St. Thomas.

Augustana received great news in July when the CCHA gave the program full membership a year earlier than originally planned. That means the Vikings can play for the CCHA tournament title and its automatic bid in the NCAA tournament.

“That really was a jolt to energy, especially for our seniors coming back with one last kick at the can to have a chance to play for a league title and compete in the postseason,” Raboin said.

The Vikings showed promise right away this season, beating North Dakota 4-1 in a season-opening exhibition game in Grand Forks. Road sweeps at Nebraska Omaha in October and at No. 8 Colorado College on Jan. 3-4 have Raboin and his team believing. Key has been the play of sophomore goalie Josh Kotai, who has an 11-5-1 record and is fifth nationally with a 1.71 goals-against average.

The Vikings are 5-3-0 in a 16-game CCHA schedule this season before facing the full 26-game slate in 2025-26, so points percentage is used to rank teams in the standings. At .667, they’re behind only Minnesota State Mankato’s .738. Augustana plays Lindenwood this weekend in a nonconference home series.

“We’ve been really fortunate because we’ve had big moments that continue to fan the flame,” Raboin said. “… With each step, it’s new energy, not only for our team but for the community and our university."

Four players with Minnesota ties are among the 14 players nominated for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to college hockey’s finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the community at large through leadership in volunteerism. The four are:

Big Ten, Michigan State vs. Michigan: The top-ranked Spartans hold a one-point lead on the Gophers in the Big Ten standings and are 10 up on the fifth-place Wolverines, who they face in a home-and-home series.

NCHC, Western Michigan at North Dakota: The Broncos and Fighting Hawks are tied, along with Arizona State, atop the NCHC standings, though WMU has two games in hand.

CCHA, Michigan Tech at Minnesota State Mankato: The first-place Mavericks can put further distance between themselves and the third-place Huskies.

WCHA, Ohio State at Minnesota Duluth: The fourth-ranked Bulldogs swept the No. 2 Buckeyes in a season-opening series in Columbus, Ohio.

Note: All series Friday-Saturday.