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The start of hockey season typically evokes thoughts of falling leaves and falling temperatures. Not this year.

The times, they are a-changin’. After all, it’s 2016, a year that’s proven time and time again that anything is possible. Running for President. Selling phones without headphone jacks. Even dropping the puck in the depths of Arizona.

As for the two teams set to face off, they’re a-changin’ just the same. In one corner stands a recent title contender looking to cope with the departure of its two most prominent members. In the other stands a recent title winner looking to re-establish itself on a brand new stage.

The first account tells the tale of the challenger, the Harvard men’s hockey team—reigning co-champion of the Ivy League and runner-up in the ECAC. Coach Ted Donato ’91 will have his first chance to unleash his new-look lineup this weekend, as the Crimson begins its pursuit of a third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

As for the recent champions, those would be the Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU assembled its best team in program history three years ago when the Sun Devils practically ran the table at the club level, producing a 38-2-0 record and a national championship.

But that was only the appetizer. Six months after bringing home the trophy, the Sun Devils announced they were ready for a promotion. They were ready for Division I hockey.

So here we are. Two years removed from the big reveal, ASU is now just six games into its inaugural Division I season and already hosting Harvard—a program steeped in tradition—in its own barn.

Sort of, anyway. Arizona State plans to have its own rink in a few years. For now, it splits home games between Glendale’s Gila River Arena—home of the Arizona Coyotes—and Oceanside Ice Arena, a community rink on campus. Thus, on some nights, capacity is 18,000; other nights, it’s 800.

This particular weekend, Harvard will try both rinks on for size. The Crimson and Sun Devils will meet in Glendale on Friday night, then run it back Saturday night at an unsurprisingly sold-out Oceanside Ice Arena.

“Their on-campus arena, which will be jam packed in a small little area, [will] be a pretty great environment as far as the level of excitement in the arena,” Donato said.

“The trip is going to be awesome,” newly appointed co-captain Devin Tringale added. “I think it’s really exciting to add another team to Division I hockey…and we’re excited to be part of their first official season, so there’s a lot of excitement there.”

Thus far, Arizona State has played exclusively ranked opponents—a trend that will continue at least through this weekend. After finishing last season ranked 10th, the Crimson heads into its season opener listed at 13th in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.

To sustain that ranking this season, Harvard will need to prove it can generate offense without Jimmy Vesey ’16 and Kyle Criscuolo ’16. Only time will tell, but Donato does have a number of pieces he can utilize.

New co-captain Alexander Kerfoot, the last man standing from the Crimson’s once perennially dominant first line, will be joined atop the depth chart by sophomores Ryan Donato and Lewis Zerter-Gossage, per Ted Donato. Complementing the youth on the top line will likely be an all-senior group of Sean Malone, Tyler Moy, and Luke Esposito on line two.

“We’d like to think that they’ll be pushing each other in a positive way so that we can have two first lines—a 1 and 1A—whatever way you want to look at it,” Ted Donato said. “We’re going to need guys to step up, and we’re going to need our best players to be our best players every night. And those guys certainly fit that mold.”

Those two lines will have a chance to have field days against Arizona State (1-5-0), which is still getting its toes wet in the world of Division I hockey. Yet, while the Sun Devils continue to be underdogs night in and night out, they have already knocked off a ranked opponent in Air Force and pushed No. 6 Notre Dame to the brink in South Bend. Factor in any potential opening weekend rust for Harvard, and again, anything could be possible.

“I remain a hockey coach, so I’m always concerned that hey, we don’t know as much about this program,” Ted Donato said. “This is a dangerous game. They’re playing games seven and eight. But I think right now we’ve got our program to a point so that we should be really focused on ourselves.”

“There’ll be no excuses on our end,” he added. “There are no silver linings other than us having success out of the gate.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.

—Check TheCrimson.com for live game updates on Friday and Saturday night (10 p.m EST).