The CCHA returned the Mason Cup to use with the CCHA but not without controversy.
Minnesota State scored the game winner at 3:02 of OT but the goalie inadvertently lifted the net during the save attempt allowing the puck to slide underneath instead of through the opening. The play was immediately reviewed and the referees incorrectly confirmed it to be a good goal.
26 minutes later, after the trophy had been presented, teams left the ice, fans left the building the league (against NCAA rules) decided to review the play again. This time with an additional TV angle they apparently did not have the first time, but first had to get officials to return to the building. After a 15 minute review they reversed the decision and gave everyone 20 minutes to get redressed and back on the ice. 1 hour after the game ended it restarted. Minnesota State won for a second time just 2 minutes later.
Thanks Prof…shoulda realized that the tourney was already set yesterday. So, CCHA gets #2 seed Minnesota State plus Michigan Tech. NCHC with 5 teams and B10 and Hockey East each with 3.
Another hypothetical question for the board: if we were in CCHA this year realistically where would we have finished up in the regular season? Last?? Slightly better due to lower level of competition?
They got 2 bids this year (#2 overall seed, #12 overall seed) and had that craziness in their championship game gone differently they would have gotten 3 on the auto qualifier. They got 3 bids last year, the third being the AQ, but that was the covid season and the Ivies didn’t play so they likely would have gotten 2. They got 2 bids the year before without the AQ. I’ve said it before, this is not the crappy old WCHA that we used to make fun of. The CCHA has been and will likely continue to be a 2-bid league.
Minnesota State would boat race us the way St. Cloud did. They split with St. Cloud and swept UMD. We could probably give Michigan Tech a decent game but we’d still get swept.
We have the Mercyhurst, Ferris and BUGS series along with the pairwise to guess where we would land in the CCHA. I think we finish ahead of Ferris. They beat us early in the season when everyone is still trying to figure things out but I think we’re better than they are. BUGS played us even at home and took it to us up there. Looking at final pairwise rankings I’m not sure we can hang with them, Bemidji, or Northern Michigan in a league setting at this time. We’d destroy Rico and St. Thomas. So I guess I’d put us 7th ahead of Ferris and St. Thomas and behind BUGS. We likely crack 10 wins overall but we’d still suck.
It would sure seem that we could climb back to respectability (i.e. .500 or better) much more quickly back in the CCHA…and of course winning begets more winning plus the students and alums could enjoy a few more wins in the process and hopefully build home attendance.
I realize the counter is that we won’t be able to recruit as well if we drop out of the country’s best league, but unless we can show some hope of winning, not seeing why top recruits are going to favor us no matter what league we are in.
Again, not a hockey guy (except for intramurals at Miami LOL!), so I am more interested in the discussion of the topic from those more knowledgeable about college hockey.
I will ask the coaching staff again this off-season but last September when this came up the answer was that Miami wanted to play both but neither OSU nor BUGS were interested in playing the RedHawks.
I’d love to contact both schools and pursue the issue further but with plenty of full-time work and this being a part-time, essentially pro bono gig, I have to pick my battles.