Augustana’s first full season as CCHA members is turning out better than most outsiders could have expected.
It’s been pretty clear since they started conference play that they were going to be one of the teams to beat in the conference, and have spent much of the season’s second half fighting a handful of teams at the top of the standings for the right to call themselves conference champions and hoist the MacNaughton Cup.
The Vikings, who are 17-9-4 overall, went 9-5-2 in their inaugural season as full CCHA members. Last season, they were 7-7-2 against their future conference foes. They played 16 games (eight series) against every other conference team in both of their first two seasons. Augustana will play a full 26-game CCHA schedule next season.
“This league’s a hard league; this is our second tour of duty,” Augustana coach Garrett Raboin said on Saturday, after his team fought to rally for a tie against Michigan Tech. “Now we’ve been everywhere once, and everyone’s been to us once. I think our guys have held their own. I’m proud of our group.”
The Vikings showed just how many steps they’ve taken as a program against the Huskies. Last season, Michigan Tech took five of the six points from the series in Houghton. This year, with Tech making its first ever trip to Sioux Falls, S.D., the Vikings turned the tables and showed off their depth. A 5-1 win on Friday was followed up by a hard-fought tie on Saturday in which Augustana rallied from a 3-0 deficit then again needed a third-period goal to tie it up and earn the extra point.
“As much as I didn’t like our start, I did like our fightback,” Raboin said. “We were able to do it down 3-0, we were able to come back and even the score, and then down 4-3, the power play scored again.
“To come away with four of six points on the weekend, against a tough team like Tech, I’m happy.”
The Vikings have done a good job whenever teams have visited Sioux Falls this season. They are 8-2-2 at the newly-opened Midco Arena. Their only losses at home were against Long Island at the beginning of the season and in overtime against Bemidji State. Of the rest of the CCHA, only Minnesota State (12-4-2) has a better home record than the Vikings, and that’s because they’ve played six more home games than Augustana.
Luckily for the Vikings, they’ll be home for at least another two weekends. After they host Alaska in a nonconference serie this weekend, they will be at home in the first round of the Mason Cup playoffs. Their win against the Huskies on Friday night clinched at least a first-round playoff series.
“It’s not something we put a whole lot of stock into,” Raboin said when told the Vikings secured home ice for at least the first round of the Mason Cup playoffs after Friday’s 5-1 win. “We’re trying to play our best hockey late in the year. It’s great for our fans, let’s blow the roof off this place.
“But we still have (two) more games before we get there. We still have a lot of stuff that needs to get sorted out.”
Augustana finished its CCHA schedule and will only be able to watch as the rest of the league plays out the rest of their games against one another. The Vikings host Alaska this weekend and have a week off before the playoffs begin.
That means the Augustana doesn’t control its own fate when it comes to the league standings. The Vikings are currently in second place behind Minnesota State, with a points percentage of 0.625. The Mavericks are at 0.697. Minnesota State can clinch the MacNaughton Cup over the next two weekends with five points for at least a share of the MacNaughton and six points to win outright. They travel to Lake Superior State before hosting Bemidji State in the final weekend of the regular season.
