The 10,000-seat rink now known as 3M Arena at Mariucci opened in Minneapolis in 1993, just a few months after the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars had loaded their sticks, pucks and sweaters onto moving trucks and headed down I-35 bound for Dallas.
For college hockey in Minnesota, the timing could hardly have been better, as tickets to see the Minnesota Gophers play were scarce and expensive for the next decade or so. In a hockey-crazy metro area of three million, the Gophers were hockey’s “big show” in town until the NHL returned in 2000.
Now in his ninth season as Arizona State’s first and only head coach at the Division I level, Greg Powers can relate.
The Sun Devils have occupied Mullett Arena — their well-appointed 5,000-seat facility on campus in Tempe — for a few years now. This season, ASU joined the powerful National Collegiate Hockey Conference just a few months after the Arizona Coyotes departed for a new NHL home in Utah, leaving a blank space on the sports landscape in one of the nation’s 10 largest metro areas.
“I don’t think anybody can fill the void of the National Hockey League. That’s not gonna happen until it returns,” Powers said as the Sun Devils prepared to face defending national champion Denver in the opening game of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center on Friday afternoon. “But we have done a great job of being active in the community and giving the Arizona hockey community something to really be excited about.”
The Sun Devils open the tournament versus the Pioneers at 4 p.m., with North Dakota facing regular-season champion Western Michigan later that evening. The winners play Saturday night for the conference title after the Wild play an afternoon game against Buffalo.
Picked eighth in the nine-team conference’s preseason poll, the Sun Devils finished as runners-up in year one with a 21-13-2 overall mark and can earn the program’s second NCAA tournament trip with a pair of wins in St. Paul.
Much like the transplant-heavy makeup of metro Phoenix, Powers’ roster features players from 13 different states — four of them Minnesotans — and a handful of Canadian provinces, and made it to the tournament via a pair of first-round wins over Minnesota Duluth last weekend.
Dubbed the “Last Call in St. Paul,” this weekend’s trio of games will be the final neutral site tournament for the NCHC, which is moving its playoffs to campus sites next season. For the Sun Devils, there’s a sense of excitement to make it to the X, even if it is for last call.
“We’re thrilled to be here, but certainly not content just to be here,” Powers said, placing the focus solely on the two wins needed to extend their season. That would surely give the small but passionate Arizona hockey community some good news in the wake of the NHL’s departure.
Last Call in St. Paul
The NCHC will hold its final Frozen Faceoff championship at Xcel Energy Center this weekend:
Friday — Semifinals: Arizona State vs. Denver, 4:07 p.m.; Western Michigan vs. North Dakota, 7:37 p.m.
Saturday — Championship, 7:38 p.m.
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