{"id":139022,"date":"2023-02-22T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=139022"},"modified":"2023-02-21T21:47:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T03:47:20","slug":"this-week-in-ccha-hockey-macnaughton-cup-winner-coming-down-to-weekend-series-between-minnesota-state-michigan-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2023\/02\/22\/this-week-in-ccha-hockey-macnaughton-cup-winner-coming-down-to-weekend-series-between-minnesota-state-michigan-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in CCHA Hockey: MacNaughton Cup winner coming down to weekend series between Minnesota State, Michigan Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
MTU’s David Jankowski and Minnesota State’s Connor Gregga battle for position during the teams’ game on Nov. 25, 2022 (photo: Michigan Tech Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Head-to-head, winner-takes-all matchups between the top two teams in the conference in the regular season\u2019s final weekend don\u2019t happen all the time.<\/p>\n

But when they do, they should be savored.<\/p>\n

In the past decade, we\u2019ve seen this happen once before in the race for the MacNaughton Cup. The last time it happened \u2013 the 2019-20 season \u2013 Minnesota State had clinched at least a share of the title entering the final series but needed to sweep second-place Bemidji State to clinch outright. Instead, the Beavers won 3-1 in Bemidji and the season came down to Saturday\u2019s finale \u2013 a 4-1 MSU win.<\/p>\n

That was the penultimate year of the old WCHA, a season cut unceremoniously short by the pandemic. You\u2019d be forgiven for forgetting the details of how that season played out. Luckily, we haven\u2019t had to wait long for another similarly-exciting end-of-season series.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s CCHA series between first-place Minnesota State and second-place Michigan Tech in Mankato \u2013 in the midst of a late-winter blizzard raging across much of southern Minnesota \u2013 has all the hallmarks of an instant classic. Either team could win the MacNaughton Cup outright, adding to the intensity of the occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you looked at the voting at the beginning of the year, everybody in our league, maybe we didn\u2019t know who, but we just knew that at the end of the day, it would be close,\u201d MSU coach Mike Hastings said. \u201cIt\u2019s following that script. At the beginning of that year, you hope you\u2019re in that situation. Our first goal is to get home ice, and then your second goal is to hopefully be competing for the league championship and we\u2019re in that position now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks (20-11-1, 15-8-1 CCHA) currently lead the Huskies (21-8-4, 14-6-4 CCHA) by two points in the league standings. A regulation win on either day will clinch the MacNaughton outright for the Mavs, while the Huskies need five points to take it for themselves. A four-point weekend for Tech — say, a win and an overtime loss — and the teams share the cup.<\/p>\n

Tech already took four points from the Mavericks earlier this season in Houghton, which the Huskies say gives them some confidence going into this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy previous freshman and sophomore years, we didn\u2019t really get a sniff against Mankato, (so knowing we\u2019ve already beat them once), there\u2019s a mental side of things, thinking and knowing we can do it,\u201d Michigan Tech captain Brett Thorne said. \u201cThis year, we have a really deep team, and we know we can compete with some of the top teams in the nation like BU and Michigan State, teams like that, and obviously Mankato is right up there. So I think we\u2019re a little more confident this year, so we can bring that mental game to what we bring to the ice and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both teams seem to be playing their best hockey down the stretch in 2023: Michigan Tech is 9-2-1 while Minnesota State is 10-2. And both have been getting superb goaltending in Keenan Rancier and Blake Pietila.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows about Tech\u2019s Pietila. He\u2019s a Mike Richter Award finalist with eight shutouts on the season, has a 1.98 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlake is the best goalie I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with,\u201d Thorne said. \u201cHis work ethic is insane. Playing in front of Blake, knowing you have a goaltender that\u2019s so reliable and able to win you games by himself, it increases the confidence of the D core and the forwards in front of us. Knowing we can make mistakes and he\u2019s going to be there. Us on the D core have talked about it, we want to play for him. He has a really good chance of winning that award this year, and I think he should win it. We have a lot of respect for Blake and what he\u2019s been able to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rancier, on the other hand, has been a revelation since the calendar turned to 2023. He struggled in the first half of the year but has started every single game for MSU in the season\u2019s second half. His goals-against is No. 4 nationally at 1.89 and has a respectable .912 save percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don’t have (good goaltending) you can do a lot right and not find ways to win hockey games,\u201d Hastings said of Rancier. \u201cIf you do have that, it provides you some flexibility in your game, whether it’s more survival, more confidence, and he has been that guy for us. There\u2019s been some peaks and valleys from the start of the second half until now, but not nearly as many as there were in the first half. And I think that\u2019s been a big difference for us (in the second half). We\u2019ve defended better, he\u2019s done a really good job between the posts for us, and that combination has allowed us to garner a little bit more confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what should we expect this weekend?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a good job to get ourselves in opposition to possibly take home first place at the end of the season,\u201d Thorne said. \u201cSo mentally, it\u2019s a bit different this week. We know what\u2019s riding on this weekend, but in the room, we are basically doing the same thing that\u2019s brought us success over the past couple months. If we just stick to our game and do stuff the right way, I think we\u2019re going to get a good outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever happens, both teams know this isn\u2019t the end of the journey. In most ways, it\u2019s just the beginning. Both MSU and Tech have home-ice advantage for the first round of the CCHA\u2019s Mason Cup playoffs, and both are on the Pairwise bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to enjoy the opportunity, but understand that it\u2019s just the next step,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cWhether we do or we don\u2019t, our season isn\u2019t over, nor is Tech\u2019s. Is it important, absolutely. But we\u2019ve got hockey ahead of us also.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head-to-head, winner-takes-all matchups between the top two teams in the conference in the regular season\u2019s final weekend don\u2019t happen all the time. But when they do, they should be savored. In the past decade, we\u2019ve seen this happen once before in the race for the MacNaughton Cup. The last time it happened \u2013 the 2019-20 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":139023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[854],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in CCHA Hockey: MacNaughton Cup winner coming down to weekend series between Minnesota State, Michigan Tech - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Head-to-head, winner-takes-all matchups between the top two teams in the conference in the regular season\u2019s final weekend don\u2019t happen all the time. 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