At the end of last season, the Sun Devils missed the NCAA tournament, partly due to their non-conference record, as the team was battling injuries. A loss to Air Force, a loss and tie to Michigan and two losses to Providence hurt their non-conference record as the Sun Devils should have been around .500 in those games.
A year later, the same story is developing as Arizona State hockey (2-4) has dropped two games to Penn State and now two to Augustana (SD) (3-1) as the Sun Devils lost 5-2 (EN). The Sun Devils have been without sophomore defenseman Brasen Boser (injury) and freshman forward Jack Beck (ineligible) in all six games thus far.