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. The conference tournament began on March 4 and ended on March 19, 2022.

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. 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. 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. Within two weeks time, St. Thomas applied for and was approved as the 8th member of the conference to begin play this season.

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.

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. At the start of his tenure with St. Thomas, Blasi was just 2 wins shy of 400 for his career.

Records Team Head coach Season at school Record at school CCHA recordBemidji State 21 335–307–92 0–0–0Bowling Green 3 41–23–5 0–0–0Ferris State 30 462–538–107 247–277–72 Lake Superior State 8 99–133–27 0–0–0 Michigan Tech 5 74–64–13 0–0–0 Minnesota State 10 236–90–24 0–0–0 Northern Michigan 5 75–64–10 0–0–0 St. Thomas 1 0–0–0 0–0–0

Standings

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 TotalBemidji State 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–1–0 1–5–0 2–6–0Bowling Green 0–0–0 0–2–0 2–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–0–1 3–3–2Ferris State 1–1–0 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–3–0 2–6–0Lake Superior State 0–0–0 0–2–0 3–0–1 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–1–0 4–3–1Michigan Tech 0–0–0 2–2–1 1–1–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 3–3–1Minnesota State 0–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 3–0–0 2–0–0 3–1–0 8–2–0Northern Michigan 0–0–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 2–0–0 0–0–0 2–0–0 6–1–0St. Thomas 0–0–0 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–4–0 0–2–0 0–8–0Overall 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 Player Class Team GP G A Pts PIM Senior 26 16 20 36 18 Senior 22 13 21 34 0 Junior 22 13 20 33 18 Senior 26 10 22 32 24 Senior 25 10 21 31 18 Sophomore 26 9 21 30 8 Junior 26 11 18 29 8 Senior 22 9 19 28 10 Junior 26 10 18 28 25 Senior 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 Player Class Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA Senior 25 1482 23 2 0 26 6 .942 1.05 Junior 26 1503 16 8 2 50 5 .911 1.99 Sophomore 16 953 8 8 0 36 3 .925 2.27 Sophomore 11 658 5 5 0 29 0 .911 2.64 Freshman 14 686 5 3 0 32 0 .907 2.80

Bracket

Note: * denotes overtime periods

NCAA tournament

Regional semifinal

East

West

Regional final

East

National semifinal

National championship

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MSUSam Morton (9) – PPSowder and Sandelin 13:59 1–0 MSU 2nd None 3rd DENRyan Barrow (8)Benning and Devine 44:46 1–1 DENMichael Benning (15) – GWBuium and Wright 47:33 2–1 DEN DENMassimo Rizzo (12)Mazur and Lee 53:34 3–1 DEN DENBrett Stapley (18) – ENunassisted 57:28 4–1 DEN DENCameron Wright (23) – ENMazur 58:00 5–1 DEN Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st DENMichael BenningTripping 12:23 2:00 MSUNathan SmithRoughing 15:28 2:00 2nd MSUBenchToo Many Men 27:07 2:00 3rd MSUSam MortonTripping 45:26 2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Denver 3 5 12 20 Minnesota State 8 10 10 28

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice DEN Magnus Chrona 27 1 60:00 MSU Dryden McKay 15 3 58:22

Ranking

USCHO 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 14Minnesota 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 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 14Minnesota 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 Bemidji State 14 49 39 24 26 19 13 14 17 16 21 23 20 18 26 26 27 26 29 29 30 29 29Bowling Green 14 38 29 19 20 9 19 14 24 23 25 30 31 32 32 31 32 31 34 36 35 34 34Ferris State 13 44 51 45 42 36 43 48 49 47 47 46 46 48 44 47 48 50 51 48 49 49 49Lake Superior State 12 31 23 21 29 22 30 34 34 33 32 31 32 38 38 33 34 33 32 30 31 32 32Michigan Tech 14 25 7 11 9 14 16 10 10 12 14 13 15 11 9 7 8 10 12 12 10 12 12Minnesota State 5 9 10 6 6 6 5 4 5 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 2Northern Michigan 14 15 25 35 39 34 34 30 29 25 26 28 27 26 24 26 26 28 25 26 25 26 25St. 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.

Awards

NCAA Award RecipientHobey Baker Award Dryden McKay, Minnesota StateSpencer Penrose Award Mike Hastings, Minnesota State West First Team Position TeamDryden McKayGMinnesota StateNathan SmithFMinnesota State West Second Team Position TeamBrian Halonen FMichigan Tech

CCHA Award Recipient Player of the Year Dryden McKay, Minnesota StateForward of the Year Nathan Smith, Minnesota StateDefenseman of the Year Jake Livingstone, Minnesota StateGoaltender of the Year Dryden McKay, Minnesota StateRookie of the Year Bradley Marek, Ferris StateCoach of the Year Mike Hastings, Minnesota State First Team   Position   Second TeamDryden McKay, Minnesota State GBlake Pietila, Michigan TechJake Livingstone, Minnesota State DColin Swoyer, Michigan TechElias Rosén, Bemidji State DJacob Bengtsson, Lake Superior StateNathan Smith, Minnesota State FOwen Sillinger, Bemidji StateBrian Halonen, Michigan Tech FLouis Boudon, Lake Superior StateJulian Napravnik, Minnesota State FTrenton Bliss, Michigan Tech FAJ Vanderbeck, Northern Michigan Rookie Team   Position   Mattias Sholl, Bemidji State GCharlie Glockner, Northern Michigan GEric Parker, Bowling Green DBennett Zmolek, Minnesota State DBradley Marek, Ferris State FAusten Swankler, Bowling Green FJosh Nixon, Lake Superior State F

NCAA tournament Player Pos Team Jack McNeely D Minnesota State Sam Morton F Minnesota State

2022 NHL entry draft

7 217 Reese Laubach† Minnesota State San Jose Sharks 7 219 Cade Littler† Minnesota State Calgary Flames † incoming freshman

References

External links