Sun Devils receive votes in latest hockey polls

Photo: Scott Strande/ITHSW

Last season, it took three weeks for Arizona State to fall from No. 14 to out of the USCHO poll, the equivalent of the AP poll in NCAA men’s hockey.

This season, it took three weeks for the Sun Devils to receive votes, and only one week under head coach Dave Hakstol. 

Arizona State (4-2) earned 22 points in the week three USCHO poll, placing sixth among the others receiving votes after it swept UMass-Lowell. It was 78 points behind the final team in the rankings, 20th-place Merrimack.

There are 50 voters in the poll, so the Sun Devils’ average placement was outside the top 20.

The NCHC is well represented in the poll, with three teams in the top five: North Dakota, Denver and Western Michigan, respectively. Minnesota-Duluth and Colorado College come in at ninth and 12th, rounding out the conference’s teams in the top 20.

Only the Hockey East has more teams in the top 20, but it has the bottom six teams in the top 20. 

Miami (OH), Arizona State, St. Cloud State and St. Thomas all received votes, putting the NCHC as one of three conferences to have all but one team receiving votes. Hockey East and the Big Ten were the others. Nebraska-Omaha, UMass-Lowell and Penn State were the lone teams not receiving votes in their conferences.

The Sun Devils next six games will be against teams that received votes. A non-conference series against Alaska-Anchorage ends that streak

Arizona State’s week one opponent, Lindenwood, received four points, putting it effectively at T35 with Clarkson.

Arizona State received 16 points in the USA Hockey poll, which is not as recognized as the USCHO poll. It was the second team out, 36 behind 20th-place Northeastern, in the 34-voter poll.

Arizona State sits 28th in the NPI, the formula that decides the 10 at-large bids in the college hockey tournament.

The Sun Devils do not play this week, so it is unlikely that they move up, but a sweep at St. Cloud State the following weekend could mean that it took Hakstol three weeks of coaching the Sun Devils to get them ranked.