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ASU hockey to host inaugural Alumni Game ahead of NCAA Tournament Selection

The Sun Devils finished the 2019-20 regular season with a 22-11-3 record

ASUhockeypractice.jpg

The ASU hockey team stretches in a circle during practice on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.


No. 13 ASU hockey team will host an alumni game at Oceanside Ice Arena on Saturday, March 21, the team announced Wednesday morning.

The game will feature former players Dylan Hollman, Anthony Croston and Robbie Baillargeon, as well as members of ASU's 2014 ACHA National Championship team, as reported by Greg Cameron, a reporter for College Hockey News.

ASU (22-11-3), the lone independent team in the NCAA, finished the 2019-20 regular season two weekends ago against Wisconsin, where they were swept 7-6 and 6-2, respectively.

As the other teams prepare for conference tournaments that will progress over the next several weeks, ASU will have the alumni game to keep the team's legs fresh and serve as a scrimmage ahead of what they anticipate will be the program's second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in as many seasons.

"After experiencing the layoff between the regular season and postseason last year at this time, I immediately began to prepare a competitive option during the break if we made the postseason this year," ASU head coach Greg Powers said in a press release Wednesday. "All season, I've communicated with some of our most talented alumni to return and put on a competitive match-up to prepare our team for the postseason within NCAA restrictions."

Powers will serve as the coach for the alumni team in the game, which will be played like any other normal game to "best prepare for the NCAA Tournament," as stated in the release.

"Make no mistake about it, this game is designed to prepare our team for the NCAA Tournament," Powers said. "We hope fans will help make it as much of a game-like atmosphere as possible."

College Hockey News' PairWise Probability Matrix—PairWise being the statistical tool used to approximate which teams will be given bids to the national tournament—gives ASU a 98% chance of receiving an at-large bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament, which begins in late March. 

The matrix, which is composed of 20,000 Monte Carlo simulations, has ASU finishing at No. 11, 12 or 13 in the PairWise 75% of the time, currently predicted as the No. 12 seed.

The Alumni Game will take place at 5 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena on March 21, one day prior to the Selection Show, when the 16-team bracket will be announced for the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship.


Reach the reporter at aklatsky@asu.edu and follow @averyklatsky on Twitter. 

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