Arizona State is making the jump from club to NCAA Division I hockey with some local help.
ASU announced Tuesday that it will be forming a D-1 hockey team and will make the transition beginning next school year. The school said it has raised $32 million from private donors to form the new program, the first in men’s college hockey since Penn State in 2012.
One of those donors is Wolves chairman Don Levin. Levin, who has owned the Wolves since they began play in 1994, has a son who plays on the Sun Devils’ club team. The elder Levin is one of the donors but not the primary donor.
“I donated along with other groups,” Levin said. “Arizona State won the (American Collegiate Hockey Association) national championship last year. Their coach was the Coach of the Year. They had the Player of the Year. They have a lot of kids who could have played Division I, but chose to go to Arizona State.”
