As ASU hockey enters its final 10 games of the regular season, the Sun Devils have started to settle into the position they will likely finish the season around.
After a set of 26 games that have disappointed, the preseason No. 14 Sun Devils have spent the majority of the season out of the rankings.
The 2025-26 season has not treated Sun Devil hockey well. Nearly 40% of skaters have taken injuries this season. Some players have taken short-term injuries, like senior forward Bennett Schimek and junior forward Kyle Smolen. Season-ending injuries have also plagued the team, with freshman forward Jack Beck and sophomore forward Cullen Potter being ruled out for the rest of the season.
READ MORE: ASU hockey star Cullen Potter to miss rest of season due to injury
Two of the lower points in ASU's season were its performance against big-name opponents at home. Head coach Greg Powers highlighted getting swept in two series as important moments in the season: the opening series on Oct. 3 and 4 against No. 5 Penn State and the most recent series on Jan. 23 and 24 against No. 4 North Dakota.
"You could say those are the four biggest home games of the year," Powers said. "We didn't get a win in any of them to date, and we had the lead in three of the four going in the third (period)."
Outside of those two sweeps, the ASU season has been defined by splitting series.
Six of the 11 series the Sun Devils have played produced a split. Even more notably, five of those splits saw ASU win the Saturday game of the series, at one point reaching a seven-game win streak on Saturdays.
A theme through the rough stretch of results has been third-period performance. In the sweep against North Dakota, ASU was outscored 7-2 in the third period across both games. After the Jan. 24 loss, senior forward Cruz Lucius commented on the poor performance in the final period.
"We got to learn how to hold the lead," Lucius said. "Starts with older guys down. That can't happen."
Offensively, Lucius (35), Schimek (33) and Potter (26) all tally over 25 points this season, with Lucius and Schimek currently in fifth and ninth in points, with the pair tied for fourth in the country in assists.
However, performances from top players have not taken the Sun Devils to the top of the rankings.
As it stands, ASU is below optimal in two crucial categories: conference standings and NPI.
Currently sixth in the NCHC, the Sun Devils would have a tough task to win the eight-team conference tournament, which would guarantee them a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
In the NPI, the system used for selecting teams for the 16-team NCAA tournament, ASU sits in 28th place.
Both of these rankings are notably lower than ASU's marks from the 2024-25 season, when ASU was second in the conference and No. 16 in the overall rankings.
While ASU has had a rough season for results, the competition has not been easy.
Currently sixth in strength of schedule, the Sun Devils have eight teams in the top 20 of the NPI on their schedule, including every team ranked from No. 3 to No. 6. Up to this point in the season, ASU has played an opponent that was ranked at the time in 14 of its 26 games.
READ MORE: ASU hockey swept by No. 4 North Dakota in crucial conference series
As the Sun Devils look ahead to the rest of the season, three of the five future opponents are ranked. Matchups against No. 20 St. Cloud State on Feb. 6 and 7, No. 3 Western Michigan on Feb. 13 and 14 and No. 11 Denver on Feb. 27 and 28 are ahead for ASU, with the series against the Pioneers on the road closing out the regular season.
The Sun Devils also face unranked opponents in Colorado College on Jan. 30 and 31 and Omaha on Feb. 20 and 21 in their last stretch of games.
With the season starting to wind down, Smolen commented on how ASU needs to prepare for its games.
"This is our season at this point," Smolen said. "There is no other option. If that's not enough to get you out of bed, then I don't know what it is."
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Jack McCarthy and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at aswift10@asu.edu and follow @alexswiftsports on X.
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