The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular season has concluded after a weekend of hectic and competitive results. The Mason Cup tournament bracket is set.
It was the final weekend in which teams could control their Mason Cup tournament seedings, and teams did what they could to gather any momentum before entering a do-or-die situation.
Minnesota State jumps to first in CCHA
The Minnesota State Mavericks took advantage of the opportunity to climb the standings table. The Mavericks traveled to Marquette, Michigan, to take on the three-win Northern Michigan Wildcats.
Northern Michigan gave a scare to Minnesota State by taking Friday’s game to a shootout, though Minnesota State was still able to take the shootout win. The Mavericks followed it up with a shutout win Saturday.
The five series points pushed Minnesota State from fourth to first place in the CCHA. The Mavericks finished with 51 points, one point above St. Thomas and Augustana.
Michigan Tech defends home ice advantage through tiebreak
Bowling Green swept the Michigan Tech Huskies over the weekend. Bowling Green completed a defensive, 1-0 win on Friday and won Saturday’s game 4-3 in overtime. But, BG had to win both games in regulation to clinch home ice advantage for the Mason Cup quarterfinals over Michigan Tech,
After the Falcons took only five of the six series points, the Huskies were able to secure fourth place in the conference standings. Michigan Tech was the last team to earn home ice advantage for the CCHA Mason Cup quarterfinals. Bowling Green was the first team out of having home ice advantage, finishing fifth in the conference standings.
The first tiebreaker between two tied CCHA teams is the head-to-head regular-season record. Bowling Green would have held the head-to-head tiebreaker from winning the series 5-1 in points.
However, if two teams were to have played an uneven number of home and away CCHA games, the tiebreaker goes to whichever team won more games in regulation. The Huskies finished with 16 regulation wins, and the Falcons finished with 15.
Bemidji State protects sixth seed
Bemidji State took four of the six series points on the road versus St. Thomas. The Beavers upset the Tommies with a 3-1 shootout win on Friday, but lost in a 2-2 shootout Saturday.
The Beavers were only up three points on Lake Superior State entering the weekend. They controlled their own destiny and, after taking four points out of the series, Lake Superior State could not catch up in hindsight.
The Mason Cup Playoffs Bracket
No. 1 seed Minnesota State will host Ferris State for the first round of the Mason Cup tournament. Ferris State finished second-to-last in the CCHA, keeping Northern Michigan out of the playoffs.
The Bowling Green Falcons will return to Houghton, Michigan, for a rematch versus the Huskies. The Huskies will enter the series with a chip on their shoulder after BG took the series sweep this past weekend.
Augustana fell to third in the CCHA after having the last weekend of the regular season off. The Vikings will take on Bemidji State for the Mason Cup quarterfinal round.
St. Thomas enters the Mason Cup tournament after losing their last series of the regular season 4-2 in points. The Tommies will be back at home to host Lake Superior State.
