The end of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular season is just around the corner, but before the schedule ends, some history simply has to be made. Here are the last-minute shifts and achievements before saying goodbye to the 2024-25 regular season.
Mavericks cap their season with the MacNaughton Cup
With three games remaining in the regular season, The Minnesota State Mavericks seal their dominant season in their final road sweep, taking the MacNaughton Cup back and earning the title of regular season champs. This is the Maverick’s seventh cup in the last eight years, ninth in program history and the first cup under head coach Luke Strand.
This comes as no surprise as the nationally-ranked Mavericks have proven themselves time and time again resulting in a remarkable 22-8-2 record, dominating the CCHA almost all season and this weekend’s series is no exception.
Holding Lake Superior to a single goal in the series, Alex Tracy was able to secure his fourth shutout of the season on Friday. With this performance, Tracy is now nationally ranked second in save percentage. Although Lake Superior tried to fight back on Saturday’s game, they were no match to get the comeback done.
Michigan Tech and Bowling Green tied for third-seed
A swept Bowling Green and a split weekend for Michigan Tech are leaving the third seed up in the air being tied with a .556 points percentage (PTS%).
One of these teams will have to sweep their opponent this upcoming weekend while the other splits or is swept to claim the third seed. If the season ends with a tie in third then, according to the CCHA, the seeding will be determined by the team with the greater amount of wins against when facing each other.
If this were being decided today, Michigan Tech would be in the third seed.
Bemidji State’s historic Friday night victory
Adding to their four-game winning streak, Bemidji State became one of three programs with two head coaches with 400 or more wins after Friday night’s 3-2 victory over Bowling Green.
Head coach Tom Serratore became the 41st head coach in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Men’s Hockey to reach this milestone, second to R.H. “Bob” Peters in Bemidji State. According to Bemidji State Athletics, Peters was the first head coach to reach 700 or more wins at a single school with 744 wins in total (702 at Bemidji State alone).
In the post-game press conference, Serratore said the win was “gratifying” and, when asked about the win, stated “You know you never think about things like that. You never think about wins and how many, we (coaches) never talk about it… But it makes me proud because I did it at one place, Bemidji State University. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
This sweep helped Bemidji jump from seventh to sixth, surpassing the now-tied Ferris State and Lake Superior.
Full press conference and recap can be found here: Serratore earns 400th win as Beavers extend win streak in series opener against Falcons.
