Hottest Hockey Tournament Commences at Mullett Arena

TEMPE, Ariz. – The hottest hockey tournament in the country is back after a four-year hiatus as Sun Devil Hockey hosts the Desert Hockey Classic at Mullett Arena on January 6-7. ASU battles No. 16 Michigan Tech on Friday night en route to the tournament’s championship game on Saturday against Air Force or No. 6 Boston University. 

The tournament starts at 3:30 p.m. MST on Friday, Jan. 6, between Air Force and No. 6 Boston University, followed by ASU vs. No. 16 Michigan Tech at 7:00 p.m. MST. The winner of each Friday game advances to the championship game on Saturday. Regardless of a win or loss on Friday night, ASU will play at 7:00 p.m. MST on both nights. 

ASU (10-11-0) is familiar with each opponent joining the tournament in its fourth installment, having played each team at least five teams in the Sun Devils’ seven-year history. The Sun Devils competed against the Michigan Tech Huskies (12-6-3) five times, including a meeting in the championship game at the Ice Vegas Invitational in 2018, in which ASU came away with a 3-2 victory in T-Mobile Arena. The Sun Devils lead the record against the Huskies 3-2-0. 

ASU and Air Force (6-10-2) haven’t met since 2019 and are tied with a 3-3-0 all-time record dating back to October 2016. The last time the Falcons and Sun Devils met, ASU swept AF in Colorado Springs with 3-0 and 5-2 victories on Oct. 18-19, 2019. 

Out of all the participating teams, ASU most recently played against Boston University (12-5-0), thanks to a trip out to Massachusetts almost a year ago. BU swept ASU, 7-1 and 5-2, while the Sun Devils would go on to beat No. 9/11 Northeastern, 6-2, just three days later. BU owns the all-time record against ASU, defeating the Sun Devils in all but one of their six meetings. 

Desert Hockey Classic History | ASU History vs. Ranked Opponents

WHAT’S HOT WITH THE DEVILS

PENALTY KILL SUCCESS

ASU’s penalty kill has found success as of late, landing in the top-20 in all NCAA penalty kill units with a 85.1 percentage and rank 12th in the country. The Sun Devils jumped up two percentage points after holding Boston College’s power play unit silent last weekend. Heading into the New Year’s Eve series, the Eagles boasted the sixth-ranked power play unit in the country, but were unable to muster a power play goal at Mullett Arena. On Saturday night of both the Minnesota and Denver series, the penalty kill unit held the top teams in the country without a successful man-advantage opportunity. On Saturday at No. 1 Denver, ASU survived seven DU power play opportunities. The group went on a 14-kill streak from October 29 against No. 6 North Dakota to November 18 at Clarkson. 

MULLETT MANIACS

The Sun Devils have found the same home success famous at Oceanside Ice Arena at their new digs in Mullett Arena. The team is 6-2-0 at home with one loss coming at the hands of No. 2 Minnesota (who was ranked No. 1 in the Pairwise at the time). Both games against No. 2 Minnesota over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend were marked as sellouts. Saturday’s game against the Golden Gophers was the highest attendance for Mullett Arena thus far at 5,153 fans.  The Sun Devils have never been swept by an opponent on home ice in the Mullett Arena era. 

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Sophomore TJ Semptimphelter leads the nation in saves with 670 through 21 starts in the maroon and gold. His three shutouts are tied for second in the NCAA, he is led by Michigan Tech’s Blake Pietila, Princeton’s Ethan Pearson, and Ryan Bischel from Notre Dame, who all have four shutouts this year. Semptimphelter has played all games from puck drop to final whistle this season except for one time, at No. 1 Denver. He was pulled during the second intermission and replaced by senior Ben Kraws, his first appearance of the year. The New Jersey native was named Sun Devil Athletics’ Office of Student-Athlete Development’s Student-Athlete of the Semester for Fall 2022.  

ACADEMIC WEAPONS

Five hockey players recorded a 4.00 GPA or above at the conclusion of the Fall 2022 semester: Jacob Semik, TJ Semptimphelter, Tanner Hickey, Gibson Homer and Cade Stibbe. Twenty-four of 28 players are scholar athletes, which requires a 3.00 or above. This fall, the team tallied a 3.46 GPA, the highest met by the team in the post-Covid era. TJ Semptimphelter finished the semester with a 4.13 GPA and awarded the ASU Student-Athlete of the Semester for Fall 2022. 

TIME IN THE BOX

A chink in the armour for ASU during the first half of the schedule has been penalties, and ultimately, penalty minutes assessed to Sun Devil skaters. ASU has sat in the box more than any other NCAA team, a massive 343 minutes so far this season. ASU’s opponents have spent 208 minutes in the penalty box and averaged 4.43 penalties per game. ASU averages 5.24 penalties per game and 16.3 penalty minutes per game.