from Gary Sataniello of the New York Times,
The Sun Devils’ promotion to N.C.A.A. status opens college hockey to the West and to a metropolitan area of four million people, and it gives the N.C.A.A. a 60th Division I program.
The ultimate goal is the creation of a Pacific-12 hockey conference. Currently, Arizona State plays in Division I of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, where it was ranked No. 1 with a record of 18-1-0 entering the weekend. Arizona and Colorado play in the same division. The other Pac-12 teams play in A.C.H.A. Division II, except for Oregon State, which has no hockey program.
Arizona State’s athletic director, Ray Anderson, hired in January after more than seven years as the N.F.L.’s executive vice president for football operations, said the Pac-12 supported the move.
“The hope is that Arizona State will tip the dominoes to get some of the Northern schools, in Washington and Oregon, and our folks in California who have programs and probably don’t want to see us competing when they’re not,” he said.
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