Jack Hittinger 
It’s almost a cliche at this point to point out the parity that exists in the CCHA. Sure, Minnesota State last season won their third MacNaughton Cup in the four seasons since the league was re-formed in 2022, but every year we’ve seen close races for the league title and for home ice in the … Read more
Fargo Regional, March 27-29 | SCHEELS Arena, Fargo, N.D. No. 1 Western Michigan (30-7-1) vs. No. 4 Minnesota State (27-8-3) | March 27, 5 p.m. ET (ESPNU) No. 2 Minnesota (25-10-4) vs. No. 3 Massachusetts (20-13-5) | March 27, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2) Fargo Regional Championship | March 29, 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. ET … Read more
MANKATO, Minn. -– Last time Josh Groll scored a goal in a Mason Cup final, it didn’t count. Groll’s overtime goal in the Mason Cup final against Bemidji State in 2022 was infamously overturned, despite the fact that the trophy had already been presented to his Minnesota State team and both teams were in their … Read more
The unique nature of this season’s CCHA Mason Cup playoffs are not lost on Luke Strand. The Minnesota State boss finds himself in a somewhat strange position for a college hockey head coach: Being out of an at-large position in the Pairwise rankings but still knowing with 100% certainty that his team is still going … Read more
Once you get to the semifinal round of college hockey’s conference tournament season, it’s a pretty decent guess that most of the teams left are playing their best hockey of the season. After all, teams that win best-two-of-three series generally don’t luck into winning those playoff series. It takes hard work to beat a team … Read more
Minnesota State’s first goal is complete. The Mavericks clinched the CCHA’s regular-season title two weeks ago with a sweep of Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. They celebrated with the MacNaughton Cup in the visitors’ locker room at Taffy Abel Arena, then brought the cup back with them to Mankato, Minn., where they … Read more
Bob Daniels knows his Ferris State team will be opening the 2025 Mason Cup playoffs on the road. Considering how well the Bulldogs seem to have played away from Big Rapids, Mich. — they’re 6-8-0 on the road compared to 5-8-2 at home — that’s just fine with Daniels. “We could finish as high as … Read more
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 … Read more
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. Maine rallies to beat UNH in ‘Border Battle’ Maine took five points from rivals New Hampshire in this weekend’s “Border Battle,” battling to a 1-1 tie on Friday before rallying to win Saturday’s game 5-2. After … Read more
College hockey is, almost more than anything, a game of momentum. The best teams have the ability to string together wins–even ones in which maybe they aren’t the better team on the night. For Minnesota State, finding ways to win a couple in a row had been eluding the Mavericks in the second half of … Read more
Bowling Green picked the best time to be playing its best hockey. Since being swept in their road series against Minnesota State on Dec. 6-7 in Mankato, Minn., the Falcons have turned the corner. They’ve lost just once in regulation since then (a 4-3 decision against Ferris State in Big Rapids in January) and have … Read more
Last weekend’s series at Slater Family Ice Arena in Bowling Green was a feast for goaltending fans. Occupying the nets across from one another were the No. 1 and No. 2 goalies in the nation in save percentage in Augustana’s Josh Kotai (.950) and Bowling Green’s Christian Stoever (.948). Fittingly, only three goals were scored … Read more
Don’t count out Northern Michigan just yet. Sure, the Wildcats struggled mightily to start the 2024-25 season, but that was to be expected. The coaching change at the end of the spring — Grant Potulny left to coach in the AHL and Dave Shyiak was hired to take his place in June — also caused … Read more
After a trying end to 2024, the new year has been kind to St. Thomas. The Tommies–who were picked by many observers to be one of the main contenders for the CCHA’s MacNaughton Cup this season–never seemed to find their footing in the first half of this season. They went 4-10-4 overall and just 3-6-3 … Read more
The holiday break is a strange time for college hockey. Some CCHA teams have played four official games since this column was last published about three weeks ago. Michigan Tech, for example, played in not one but two separate tournaments (the Huskies finished third in both the Great Lakes Invitational and the Coachella Valley Cactus … Read more
As the holiday break descends upon us, there is one thing that has stood out above all others: Minnesota State is the real deal. This isn’t a particularly “hot take,” in fact, one might argue that it’s the most obvious observation one could make. But sometimes, as a columnist, I’m supposed to take risks, and … Read more
During his weekly media session, Minnesota State coach Luke Strand was asked about the significance of this weekend’s matchup in Mankato, Minn., between his Mavericks and Lake Superior State. It’s a big matchup. After all, the Mavericks are in first place in the CCHA standings and riding high in the midst of a nine-game unbeaten … Read more
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. Minnesota blanks Michigan twice The sentence “Michigan was shut out on back-to-back nights” isn’t very common in the English language. In fact, the last time that happened in a series was way, WAY back in January … Read more
When Derek Mullahy arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for his first year of USHL junior hockey in 2019, he knew the Roughriders were going to be looking for a goaltender. Their previous netminder had just been a workhorse for them in the previous, playing in 47 games and leading them to a Clark Cup playoff … Read more
Up until two weeks ago, Kirklan Irey would have described his season as inconsistent. The Bemidji State junior winger had only scored one goal in nine games coming into BSU’s nonconference series against third-ranked Minnesota. In game one of that series, Irey found himself playing as the extra skater instead. That was something of a … Read more