# 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 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

2021–22 Central Collegiate Hockey Association Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall 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
| 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
| 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 | Quarterfinals March 4–6 | Quarterfinals March 4–6 | Quarterfinals March 4–6 | Quarterfinals March 4–6 | | | Semifinals March 12 | Semifinals March 12 | Semifinals March 12 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 |
| 1 | Minnesota State | 3 | 8 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | St. Thomas | 2 | 2 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | St. Thomas | 2 | 2 | - | | | 1 | Minnesota State | 8 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 5 | Northern Michigan | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Michigan Tech | 3* | 3** | - | | | 5 | Northern Michigan | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Ferris State | 2 | 2 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Ferris State | 2 | 2 | - | | | | | | 1 | Minnesota State | 2* |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 1 | Minnesota State | 2* |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 3 | Bemidji State | 1 |
| 3 | Bemidji State | 1 | 4 | 3 | | | | | | | | | 3 | Bemidji State | 1 |
| 6 | Bowling Green | 2 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Bowling Green | 2 | 2 | 1 | | | 2 | Michigan Tech | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 3 | Bemidji State | 5 | | | |
| 4 | Lake Superior State | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | 3 | Bemidji State | 5 | | | |
| 5 | Northern Michigan | 5 | 2 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime periods

## NCAA tournament
### National championship

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 | None | None | None | None |
| 3rd | DEN | Ryan Barrow (8) | Benning and Devine | 44:46 | 1–1 |
| 3rd | DEN | Michael Benning (15) – GW | Buium and Wright | 47:33 | 2–1 DEN |
| 3rd | DEN | Massimo Rizzo (12) | Mazur and Lee | 53:34 | 3–1 DEN |
| 3rd | DEN | Brett Stapley (18) – EN | unassisted | 57:28 | 4–1 DEN |
| 3rd | 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 |
| 1st | 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 |
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

| 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.

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Hobey Baker Award | Hobey Baker Award | Dryden McKay, Minnesota State |
| Spencer Penrose Award | Spencer Penrose Award | Mike Hastings, Minnesota State |
| AHCA All-American Teams |||
| 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

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Player of the Year | Dryden McKay, Minnesota State |
| Forward of the Year | Forward of the Year | Nathan Smith, Minnesota State |
| Defenseman of the Year | Defenseman of the Year | Jake Livingstone, Minnesota State |
| Goaltender of the Year | Goaltender of the Year | Dryden McKay, Minnesota State |
| Rookie of the Year | Rookie of the Year | Bradley Marek, Ferris State |
| Coach of the Year | Coach of the Year | Mike Hastings, Minnesota State |
| All-CCHA Teams |||
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Dryden McKay, Minnesota State | G | Blake Pietila, Michigan Tech |
| Jake Livingstone, Minnesota State | D | Colin Swoyer, Michigan Tech |
| Elias Rosén, Bemidji State | D | Jacob Bengtsson, Lake Superior State |
| Nathan Smith, Minnesota State | F | Owen Sillinger, Bemidji State |
| Brian Halonen, Michigan Tech | F | Louis Boudon, Lake Superior State |
| Julian Napravnik, Minnesota State | F | Trenton Bliss, Michigan Tech |
| | F | AJ Vanderbeck, Northern Michigan |
| Rookie Team | Position | |
| Mattias Sholl, Bemidji State | G | |
| Charlie Glockner, Northern Michigan | G | |
| Eric Parker, Bowling Green | D | |
| Bennett Zmolek, Minnesota State | D | |
| Bradley Marek, Ferris State | F | |
| Austen Swankler, Bowling Green | F | |
| Josh Nixon, Lake Superior State | F | |

### 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