The Sun Devils made the trip to Nebraska this weekend to play the Omaha Mavericks in their final regular season series. The series was crucial to the team's NCAA tournament chances.
If they won both games in regulation and higher ranked teams around the NCAA lost, the Sun Devils would most likely move up in the PairWise Rankings and secure one of the 16 tournament spots.
The result was underwhelming for the Sun Devils against the Mavericks, winning on Friday 4-1 but losing the following night 4-2.
ASU dominated Friday's game, as the contest was tied 1-1 after the first period before the Sun Devils scored three unanswered goals. Freshman forward Cullen Potter stole the show with two goals. The Sun Devils secured home ice in the NCHC Quarterfinals with the win.
"We locked up second place," head coach Greg Powers said in an interview with SunDevilSource following Saturday's game. "There's a lot to be proud of in our first year in this league. Bye week is coming at a great time to get healthy, and now we focus on playoffs and go from there."
Saturday’s game ended in controversy. Down a goal with just over a minute left, graduate forward Lukas Sillinger scored what seemed like the game-tying goal. However, it was overturned after Omaha challenged for a high stick.
Omaha ended up scoring an empty-net goal to secure the win.
"They said it was conclusive that it was a high stick," Powers said in an interview with SunDevilSource. "We've looked at it, we don't agree. When the call on the ice is a good goal, it has to be absolutely definitive that it was a high stick, and it wasn't."
ASU finished the regular season with a 19-13-2 record. If North Dakota takes one point from Omaha next weekend, the Sun Devils will officially earn a second place NCHC finish after being ranked eighth in the preseason poll.
The Sun Devils remain in the undesirable 16th PWR spot. Six conference champions already get an automatic bid out of just 16 spots, making an at-large bid more difficult.
Teams from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Atlantic Hockey Association are all ranked lower than the Sun Devils in the PWR. Both conference champions will leapfrog ASU in the selection process.
The Sun Devils are still alive but will likely need to win the NCHC to make the NCAA tournament. NCHC playoffs begin March 14, but the team's opponent is still being finalized as other teams will finish their regular season schedules next weekend.
"We're excited to play playoff hockey at Mullett," Powers said in an interview with SunDevilSource. "Start of the season, the goal for us was to host the playoff series, and we accomplished that goal."
Edited by Jack Barron, Abigail Beck and Katrina Michalak.
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Niall is a junior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN and Blaze Radio.
