2021–22 CCHA season
The 2021–22 CCHA season was the 43rd season of play for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and part of the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The regular season began on October 2, 2021, and concluded on February 26, 2022.[1] The conference tournament began on March 4 and ended on March 19, 2022.
2021–22 CCHA season | |
---|---|
Season | 2021–22 |
Conference | CCHA |
Division | Division I |
Sport | ice hockey |
Duration | October 2, 2021– April 9, 2022 |
Number of teams | 8 |
Regular season | |
Season champions | Minnesota State |
Season MVP | Dryden McKay |
Top scorer | Brian Halonen |
CCHA tournament | |
Tournament champions | Minnesota State |
Runners-up | Bemidji State |
Top scorer | Sam Morton (7) |
NCAA tournament | |
Bids | 2 |
Record | 3–2 |
Best Finish | National runner-up |
Team(s) | Minnesota State |
CCHA seasons « 2012–13 2022–23 » |
Revival
On February 18, 2020, 7 schools that had previously announced their departure from the WCHA after the 2020–21 season in order to form a new conference officially announced that their new conference would be a reestablished CCHA.[2] Bowling Green, which had been a founding member of the CCHA in 1971 and remained in the conference until its dissolution in 2013, had retained control of the name in the interim.
A year earlier, St. Thomas was involuntarily removed from the MIAC, which would take effect after the 2020–21 scholastic year.[3] In July 2020 the NCAA gave permission for the university to promote its athletic programs from Division III directly to Division I without the normal waiting period or ineligibilities.[4] Within two weeks time, St. Thomas applied for and was approved as the 8th member of the conference to begin play this season.[5]
After the conclusion of the 2020–21 season, Alabama–Huntsville, another WCHA team, submitted a bid to be accepted as the conference's 9th member. On May 5, 2021, the CCHA rejected Alabama–Huntsville's inclusion.[6]
Coaches
Enrico Blasi, formerly the head coach at Miami, was announced as St. Thomas' first head coach at the Division I level on April 2, 2021.[7] At the start of his tenure with St. Thomas, Blasi was just 2 wins shy of 400 for his career.[8]
Records
Team | Head coach | Season at school | Record at school | CCHA record |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bemidji State | Tom Serratore | 21 | 335–307–92 | 0–0–0 |
Bowling Green | Ty Eigner | 3 | 41–23–5 | 0–0–0 |
Ferris State | Bob Daniels | 30 | 462–538–107 | 247–277–72 |
Lake Superior State | Damon Whitten | 8 | 99–133–27 | 0–0–0 |
Michigan Tech | Joe Shawhan | 5 | 74–64–13 | 0–0–0 |
Minnesota State | Mike Hastings | 10 | 236–90–24 | 0–0–0 |
Northern Michigan | Grant Potulny | 5 | 75–64–10 | 0–0–0 |
St. Thomas | Enrico Blasi | 1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
Standings
Conference record | Overall record | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
#2 Minnesota State †* | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 115 | 28 | 44 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 178 | 60 | |
#14 Michigan Tech | 26 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 54 | 93 | 53 | 37 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 118 | 75 | |
Bemidji State | 26 | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 83 | 81 | 39 | 19 | 20 | 0 | 118 | 121 | |
Lake Superior State | 26 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 69 | 64 | 37 | 18 | 18 | 1 | 107 | 104 | |
Northern Michigan | 26 | 12 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 86 | 99 | 37 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 132 | 136 | |
Bowling Green | 26 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 67 | 87 | 37 | 15 | 19 | 3 | 94 | 119 | |
Ferris State | 26 | 9 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 66 | 99 | 36 | 11 | 24 | 1 | 90 | 135 | |
St. Thomas | 26 | 3 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 45 | 112 | 36 | 3 | 32 | 1 | 61 | 168 | |
Championship: March 19, 2022 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Mason Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |
Non-Conference record
Of the sixteen teams that are selected to participate in the NCAA tournament, ten will be via at-large bids. Those 10 teams are determined based upon the PairWise rankings. The rankings take into account all games played but are heavily affected by intra-conference results. The result is that teams from leagues which perform better in non-conference are much more likely to receive at-large bids even if they possess inferior records overall.
The CCHA was a bit of a mixed bag with their nonconference results. As many teams finished with losing records as winning marks and the league had nearly an even finish overall. The biggest drag on the CCHA was the performance against the Big Ten, which put the league in poor standings for the postseason. While the record was improved by their results against ECAC Hockey, that conference was one of the weakest for this season and didn't help as much as it might have in other years.
Regular season record
Team | Atlantic Hockey | Big Ten | ECAC Hockey | Hockey East | Independent | NCHC | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bemidji State | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–5–0 | 2–6–0 |
Bowling Green | 0–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 2–0–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–0–1 | 3–3–2 |
Ferris State | 1–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–3–0 | 2–6–0 |
Lake Superior State | 0–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 3–0–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 4–3–1 |
Michigan Tech | 0–0–0 | 2–2–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 3–3–1 |
Minnesota State | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 3–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 3–1–0 | 8–2–0 |
Northern Michigan | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 6–1–0 |
St. Thomas | 0–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–4–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–8–0 |
Overall | 1–1–0 | 2–12–1 | 8–1–2 | 5–1–0 | 3–5–0 | 9–12–1 | 28–32–4 |
Statistics
Leading scorers
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes[9]
Player | Class | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brian Halonen | Senior | Michigan Tech | 26 | 16 | 20 | 36 | 18 |
Julian Napravnik | Senior | Minnesota State | 22 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 0 |
Nathan Smith | Junior | Minnesota State | 22 | 13 | 20 | 33 | 18 |
Owen Sillinger | Senior | Bemidji State | 26 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 24 |
Trenton Bliss | Senior | Michigan Tech | 25 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 18 |
Brendan Furry | Sophomore | Minnesota State | 26 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 8 |
Cade Borchardt | Junior | Minnesota State | 26 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 8 |
Hank Crone | Senior | Northern Michigan | 22 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 10 |
Louis Boudon | Junior | Lake Superior State | 26 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 25 |
Alex Ierullo | Senior | Bemidji State | 26 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 20 |
Leading goaltenders
Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average[10]
Player | Class | Team | GP | Min | W | L | T | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dryden McKay | Senior | Minnesota State | 25 | 1482 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 6 | .942 | 1.05 |
Blake Pietila | Junior | Michigan Tech | 26 | 1503 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 50 | 5 | .911 | 1.99 |
Ethan Langenegger | Sophomore | Lake Superior State | 16 | 953 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 36 | 3 | .925 | 2.27 |
Seth Eisele | Sophomore | Lake Superior State | 11 | 658 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 0 | .911 | 2.64 |
Charlie Glockner | Freshman | Northern Michigan | 14 | 686 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 0 | .907 | 2.80 |
Bracket
Quarterfinals March 4–6 | Semifinals March 12 | Championship March 19 | ||||||||||||||
1 | Minnesota State | 3 | 8 | - | ||||||||||||
8 | St. Thomas | 2 | 2 | - | ||||||||||||
1 | Minnesota State | 8 | ||||||||||||||
5 | Northern Michigan | 1 | ||||||||||||||
2 | Michigan Tech | 3* | 3** | - | ||||||||||||
7 | Ferris State | 2 | 2 | - | ||||||||||||
1 | Minnesota State | 2* | ||||||||||||||
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Bemidji State | 1 | ||||||||||||||
3 | Bemidji State | 1 | 4 | 3 | ||||||||||||
6 | Bowling Green | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
2 | Michigan Tech | 2 | ||||||||||||||
3 | Bemidji State | 5 | ||||||||||||||
4 | Lake Superior State | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
5 | Northern Michigan | 5 | 2 | 5 |
Note: * denotes overtime periods
NCAA tournament
East
March 24, 2022 12:00 PM | (1) Minnesota State | 4 – 3 (2–0, 1–2, 1–1) | (4) Harvard | MVP Arena Attendance: 2,345 |
Game reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dryden McKay | Goalies | Mitchell Gibson | Referees: Joe Sullivan Dan Dreger Linesmen: Justin Hills Geoff Shultz | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
4 min | Penalties | 6 min | |||||||||||||||||||||
40 | Shots | 22 |
West
March 24, 2022 1:00 PM | (2) Minnesota Duluth | 3 – 0 (1–0, 0–0, 2–0) | (3) Michigan Tech | Budweiser Events Center Attendance: 3,138 |
Game reference | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryan Fanti | Goalies | Blake Pietila | Referees: Colin Kronforst Sean Fernandez Linesmen: Justin Cornell Pat Richardson | ||||||||
| |||||||||||
8 min | Penalties | 15 min | |||||||||
25 | Shots | 28 |
East
March 26, 2022 6:30 PM | (1) Minnesota State | 1 – 0 (1–0, 0–0, 0–0) | (3) Notre Dame | MVP Arena Attendance: 3,449 |
Game reference | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dryden McKay | Goalies | Matthew Galajda | Referees: Geno Bindo Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Bill Kingdon | ||
| |||||
6 min | Penalties | 2 min | |||
33 | Shots | 23 |
National semifinal
April 7, 2022 8:30 PM | (E1) Minnesota State | 5 – 1 (0–1, 2–0, 3–0) | (NE2) Minnesota | TD Garden Attendance: 17,850 |
Game reference | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dryden McKay | Goalies | Justen Close | Referees: Ryan Sweeney Michael Schubert Linesmen: Anthony Valle Shane Kanaly | |||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
0 min | Penalties | 0 min | ||||||||||||||||||
32 | Shots | 17 |
National championship
April 9, 2022 8:00 PM | (E1) Minnesota State | 1–5 (1–0, 0–0, 0–5) | (W1) Denver | TD Garden Attendance: 17,850 |
Game reference | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Referees: Geno Binda Jr. Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Bill Kingdon Kevin Briganti | ||||
Scoring summary | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
1st | MSU | Sam Morton (9) – PP | Sowder and Sandelin | 13:59 | 1–0 MSU |
2nd | None | ||||
3rd | DEN | Ryan Barrow (8) | Benning and Devine | 44:46 | 1–1 |
DEN | Michael Benning (15) – GW | Buium and Wright | 47:33 | 2–1 DEN | |
DEN | Massimo Rizzo (12) | Mazur and Lee | 53:34 | 3–1 DEN | |
DEN | Brett Stapley (18) – EN | unassisted | 57:28 | 4–1 DEN | |
DEN | Cameron Wright (23) – EN | Mazur | 58:00 | 5–1 DEN | |
Penalty summary | |||||
Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
1st | DEN | Michael Benning | Tripping | 12:23 | 2:00 |
MSU | Nathan Smith | Roughing | 15:28 | 2:00 | |
2nd | MSU | Bench | Too Many Men | 27:07 | 2:00 |
3rd | MSU | Sam Morton | Tripping | 45:26 | 2:00 |
|
|
Ranking
USCHO
Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bemidji State | 14 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 20 | NR | 20 | 20 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Bowling Green | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Ferris State | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Lake Superior State | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Michigan Tech | NR | NR | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 18 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
Minnesota State | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Northern Michigan | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 19 | NR | NR | NR | 19 | 20 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
St. Thomas | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
USA Today
Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bemidji State | 15 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Bowling Green | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Ferris State | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Lake Superior State | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Michigan Tech | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
Minnesota State | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Northern Michigan | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
St. Thomas | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Pairwise
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bemidji State | 14 | 49 | 39 | 24 | 26 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 21 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 29 |
Bowling Green | 14 | 38 | 29 | 19 | 20 | 9 | 19 | 14 | 24 | 23 | 25 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 32 | 31 | 34 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 34 |
Ferris State | 13 | 44 | 51 | 45 | 42 | 36 | 43 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 47 | 46 | 46 | 48 | 44 | 47 | 48 | 50 | 51 | 48 | 49 | 49 | 49 |
Lake Superior State | 12 | 31 | 23 | 21 | 29 | 22 | 30 | 34 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 32 | 38 | 38 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 32 |
Michigan Tech | 14 | 25 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 |
Minnesota State | 5 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Northern Michigan | 14 | 15 | 25 | 35 | 39 | 34 | 34 | 30 | 29 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 25 |
St. Thomas | 14 | 32 | 41 | 48 | 51 | 55 | 53 | 53 | 55 | 57 | 58 | 57 | 57 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 58 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 |
Note: teams ranked in the top-10 automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Teams ranked 11-16 can qualify based upon conference tournament results.[13]
Awards
NCAA
Award | Recipient | |
---|---|---|
Hobey Baker Award | Dryden McKay, Minnesota State | |
Spencer Penrose Award | Mike Hastings, Minnesota State | |
AHCA All-American Teams[14] | ||
West First Team | Position | Team |
Dryden McKay | G | Minnesota State |
Nathan Smith | F | Minnesota State |
West Second Team | Position | Team |
Brian Halonen | F | Michigan Tech |
CCHA
NCAA tournament
All-Tournament Team | ||
---|---|---|
Player | Pos | Team |
Jack McNeely | D | Minnesota State |
Sam Morton | F | Minnesota State |
2022 NHL Entry Draft
Round | Pick | Player | College | NHL team |
---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 217 | Reese Laubach† | Minnesota State | San Jose Sharks |
7 | 219 | Cade Littler† | Minnesota State | Calgary Flames |
† incoming freshman [18]
References
- "Composite Schedule". Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- "Seven NCAA hockey schools leaving WCHA rebranding themselves as new CCHA conference". USCHO.com. February 18, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
- "D-III Powerhouse St. Thomas Is Getting Kicked Out of Its Conference Because It's Too Good at Sports". Sports Illustrated. May 22, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- "At the rink, it's 'Tommie Time,' as St. Thomas moves hockey programs to Division I". Duluth News Tribune. July 15, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- "St. Thomas men's team moves to Division I, will join new CCHA for 2021-22 season". USCHO.com. July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- "As CCHA rejects Alabama Huntsville membership, Atlantic Hockey yet to respond, UAH suspends operations immediately". USCHO.com. May 5, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- "Staff and Board". You Can Play Project. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- "Men's Ice Hockey Coaching Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- "2021-2022 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". CCHA. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
- "2021-2022 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". CCHA. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
- "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- "USA Today Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- "Men's Division I PairWise Rankings". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- "Four players return to 2021-22 Division I men's All-American teams, led by three-time pick Dryden McKay". USCHO.com. April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
- "Six players earn All-CCHA First Team honors". CCHA. March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
- "Four teams represented on All-CCHA Second Team". CCHA. March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
- "Six teams represented on CCHA All-Rookie Team". CCHA. March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
- "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2022 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 9, 2022.