There’s been five seasons of the re-formed Central College Hockey Association, and in many ways, the league is going back to basics as it embarks on its sixth.
Instead of the relative uncertainty that has been a feature of the conference — changes in coaches, conference membership and the big change in what kind of recruits are now available to the programs — the sixth season sees the league back to realize stability.
With the departure of St. Thomas to the NCHA, the conference is back down to eight teams for the first time since 2023. And, for the first time in a few seasons, all eight coaches are back behind the bench for another year.
In theory, that means there shouldn’t be many surprises. CCHA commissioner Don Lucia called that returning coaching experience a strength of the league.
“We have continuity this year with our group,” Lucia said during the conference’s annual virtual media day last month. “They’re all returning, veteran, and experienced. Being in their programs now for multiple years — like you hear Brett (Riley, Ferris State head coach) at the end saying how much easier it’s going to be for him in Year 2, and Dave (Shyiak, his counterpart at Northern Michigan) in Year 3 — I think you’re going to see some real progress in their programs. So I’m just excited for our coaches and the group that we have. They’re outstanding people and outstanding coaches, and they certainly represent their institutions in a first-class manner. You’ll see very competitive teams across the board.”
Despite the fact that Minnesota State has won four of the last five MacNaughton Cup championships, the battle for the league title is typically close, as evidenced by last season, in which the top five teams were separated by just two points. Minnesota State nosed out St. Thomas and Augustana by a single point for the title.
That uncertainty is reflected in the preseason coaches and media polls this season. Michigan Tech was the favorite in both, but not by much. The coaches picked BG to finish second with just a 3-point difference, and the media chose Minnesota State to finish second by three (although six media members picked MSU to finish first compared to four for Tech, two for Augustana and one for Bowling Green).
“Last year, if Bowling Green would have won the shootout against Minnesota State two weeks before the end of the season, they would have won the MacNaughton Cup instead of Minnesota State.,” Lucia said. “That’s how close it was with those five teams at the end. And I do think we’re going to see something very similar. I don’t know if it’ll go to the end, but I’ve already looked at where teams are the final weekend to get a bit of a gauge because, I’m sure it’s going to go down to that final weekend.”
The league was also oh-so-close last season to having two teams in the NCAA tournament. Augustana was on the bubble until the very last day of the season, and would have been the last team in if results in other conference tournaments had gone their way. Lucia said he is optimistic CCHA teams can keep up with the rest of the country and play themselves into more at-large bids.
“Are we going to be a league that can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to players? Probably not,” Lucia said. “But the one thing I’ve heard loud and clear from our league members is that they want to continue to compete at the highest level. I work a little bit with Tim Danahey (former proprietor of http://www.collegehockeystats.net/) about the importance of non-conference games, and he showed me a stat from last year: if every one of our teams had won just one more non-conference game (or flipped our worst non-conference loss), as a league, we would have had three teams in the NCAA tournament a year ago. That is how close we are. I think our coaches and administrations understand that, so I really think we’re in a good spot right now.”
Lucia believes the equalizer can be the CHL recruiting pipeline opening up. We’re in year two with CHL recruits in the NCAA, and the impact they’ve made on the CCHA has been massive. Look no further than Oliver Peer, the league’s preseason player of the year. The forward was a revelation for Bemidji State last season, leading the team in points (36) and goals (20) after coming in from U-Sports, via a cup of coffee in the ECHL, via the OHL.
“I think it’s been a win for everybody,” he said. “The quality of play has never been better. Not only are more high-end players jumping to college hockey — like the number of first-round picks moving on to college hockey, which benefits North Dakota, Big Ten schools, BC, BU, Denver, and those types — but also the depth. That’s really been a help.”
CCHA
2025-26 regular season and tournament champion: Minnesota State (14-7-5, 22-11-7 overall; No. 1 tourney seed, defeated No. 2 St. Thomas 4-1).
2025-26 NCAA tournament teams: Minnesota State (AQ, lost 3-1 to Western Michigan in first round)
Preseason poll No. 1s: Coaches and media polls: Michigan Tech (four first-place votes in each)
Players to watch: Oliver Peer (Bemidji State, Sr., F, coaches and media preseason player of the year); Mazden Lezlie (Bowling Green, Fr., D, media preseason rookie of the year); Max Koskipirtti (Michigan Tech, Sr., F); Isaac Gordon (Michigan Tech, Sr., F); Breck McKinley (Bowling Green, Sr., D); Hayden Hennen (Augustana, Sr., D); Owen Bartoszkiewicz (Michigan Tech, Sr., G); Oliver Auyeung-Ashton (Northern Michigan, So., G)
USCHO 2026-27 PREDICTIONS:
Regular season champion: Augustana
Playoff champion: Bowling Green
Tournament teams: Augustana, Michigan Tech, Bowling Green
Dark horses: Minnesota State, Bemidji State