(Photo: Emma Gonzalez)
Four teams stem from unique conferences, hail from distant corners of the country, yet they all share the same goal this weekend — bring home some hardware. All sides will take the ice in the Valley of the Sun as No. 15 Arizona State (0-2-0) will host No. 8 Quinnipiac (1-0-0), Notre Dame (0-0-0), and Alaska-Fairbanks (0-2-0) at Mullet Arena for the 29th edition of the Ice Breaker Tournament on Oct. 10-11.
The bracket-styled showcase will feature four total games in its desert debut, as the 2025-26 season continues to ramp up. With all four teams possessing distinct styles of play, the cross-conference affair is poised to be one of the more entertaining showdowns of the season and will serve as an early measuring stick for the season ahead.
ASU starts the weekend against an unranked Notre Dame squad in what will be the Fighting Irish’s first game of the season. Although the Sun Devils’ opening series against No. 4 Penn State ended in a sweep after holding a third-period lead in both games, not all takeaways were negative.
“There’s a lot of really positive things,” head coach Greg Powers said. “When you can play with the amount of young kids that we are playing with and have a lead going into the third both nights, it’s really promising.”
One of those bright spots came from a line of three newcomers. Freshman forwards Logan Morrell, Sam Alfano, and Ty Nash started at the bottom of the lineup in Friday night’s affair, but with their line combining for two of the three Sun Devil tallies, their ice time saw a significant bump on Saturday, including a starting nod.
“They’re winners,” Powers said, “They play hard, they want to win…if they continue to play the way they did this weekend, you’re going to see them in every situation.”
Morrell and Nash are both Arizona natives, receiving a booming ovation from the Sun Devil faithful when their names were called. The two also connected for a goal and assist on Friday, as the desert connection between the two is off to a hot start.
“It was super cool,” Morrell said. “I grew up going to ASU games at Oceanside…it was super cool to have a lot of family at the game.”
The breakout line was key in the Sun Devils’ success and will look to continue their strong start in this weekend’s tournament.
Another important position for ASU this weekend will be the one between the pipes. Senior goaltender Connor Hasley saw both games last weekend, but freshman goaltender Samuel Urban will likely get his first start this weekend after Hasley conceded eight goals in his two games.
Urban was the starter for Slovakia’s World Junior Championship team last year. The freshman netminder went 2-2-0 for his national side, posting a 3.16 goals against average and a .871 save percentage. Standing at six feet tall, Powers said Urban is slated to see at least one of ASU’s two games this weekend.
“We had the conversation, I didn’t love his third [period],” Powers said. “I thought the first two that they got, if he’s at his sharpest, he makes those saves. [Hasley] is definitely a guy that can close those games out for us, and so is Urbs. You’re going to see him this weekend as well.”
Friday night’s matchup will see the Sun Devils facing off against a Notre Dame team making its season debut after playing one unofficial game this year against the U.S. National Under-18 Team, where it claimed a 5-2 victory on Oct. 3.
The Fighting Irish begin a new era under first-year head coach Brock Sheahan this year, who brought in ten fresh faces to coincide with the 16 returnees. Among them, eight players have heard their names called on draft night, with the most recent being 18-year-old freshman forward Will Belle, who was taken in the fifth round by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Minnesotan posted a goal and an assist in his first outing with The Irish.
Another name to look out for sporting the blue and gold is junior forward Cole Knuble. The Grand Rapids native posted an impressive 39 points in 34 games for Notre Dame last year and wasted no time returning to form against the US side. Knuble racked up two points in the exhibition game and will try to snowball his momentum heading into the desert this weekend.
Rounding out the back end for The Irish is junior defenseman Paul Fischer. The 2023 fifth-round draft pick by the Edmonton Oilers notched 21 points in just 36 games, as his skill and veteran presence will be instrumental to Notre Dame’s blue line this season.
“They run deep,” Powers said, “They play hard, they’ve got a brand new coach who knows what he’s doing. He’s going to build that program into a good national contender very quickly.”
The winner of the Friday match-up between ASU and Notre Dame will face the winner of the face-off at the other side of the bracket — No. 8 Quinnipiac and Alaska-Fairbanks.
The Bobcats hit the ground sprinting, toppling then-No. 6 Boston College in a 4-3 nailbiter to open their season. Quinnipiac is three years removed from winning a national title and is once again in a position to compete for the NCAA’s crown in its 50th season.
“They are incredibly structured and hard,” Powers said. “They are ranked eighth, but they are probably a legit top-five team.”
Quinnipiac brings a stacked defensive core, including senior Charlie Leddy, sophomore Elliott Groenewold, and sophomore Drew Hockley, all of whom were drafted in the last three years.
It also features two 2025 NHL draftees up front in freshmen Matthew Lansing and Ethan Wyttenbach. Both newcomers found the scoresheet against Boston College and will look to pick up steam in the Ice Breaker this weekend.
Their Alaskan opposition saw a much different start to their year. The Nanooks dropped both games in their season opener to Minnesota Duluth, but will look to bounce back in their only top-ten matchup until January.
Alaska-Fairbanks stars Merrimack transfer, graduate forward Micheal Citara, who will look to hit a stride following his tally against Duluth. Joining him up front is senior forward Braden Birnie, who was the only Nanook to find the back of the net in their season-opening series.
With many eyes on Mullet Arena once again, all four teams are in search of an early-season trophy in the desert. Quinnipiac and Alaska-Fairbanks will get the ball rolling on Friday at 3:00pm MST, followed by ASU and Notre Dame at 7:00pm MST. The two winners will then clash for a title at either 3:00pm MST or 7:00pm MST.
The Sun Devils will look to find their first win of the season and improve their record as they continue to trudge through their challenging non-conference schedule.
“We have never had a harder start to our season,” Powers said.”I think it’s the best thing we could do…cut our teeth and get grizzled real quick.”
