Just 101 miles north of Arizona State’s 740-seat Oceanside Ice Arena, the Sun Devils hosted the Desert Hockey Classic inside 5,000-seat Prescott Events Center on Dec. 30 and 31.
Despite the luxury of a quick hour or so bus ride and a larger arena with more capacity for fan support, the Sun Devils (7-14-1) fell in overtime to Rhode Island’s Ivy league Brown, 9-8 (NCAA rules counted it as an 8-8 tie), and then lost to No. 18 St. Cloud State of Minnesota, 4-2.
Arizona State failed to capture its first-ever win in the tournament for the second year of its existence.