CCHA Reporter's Corner: MacNaughton Cup drama proves one thing — win more games

On a bonus episode (No. 52) of The CCHA Reporter's Corner, co-hosts Jared Rubado and Trent Singer welcome in Tech Hockey Guide's Tim Braun to discuss the fallout following a thrilling final week of regular-season action in the CCHA. Augustana was the only team that wasn't in league action on the final weekend. Still, somehow, the Vikings still found themselves sitting in first place in the CCHA standings following a Friday night in which none of the other four teams in contention for first place were able to leapfrog Augustana for the top spot. That set up a thrilling finish to the regular season Saturday night, with eyes from all across the college hockey landscape falling on the CCHA to witness how it would end. Bowling Green emerged with a 4-3 road win over MTU in overtime to capture five of six possible points, locking the Vikings into the No. 3 spot at the very least, before Minnesota State scored two late goals, including an empty-netter, to come away with a 3-0 win over Northern Michigan, which moved the Mavericks into at least a share of the MacNaughton Cup. That left a final game in Bemidji to carry a lot of weight. St. Thomas eventually claimed a shootout win over Bemidji State following a 2-2 tie, giving the Tommies the No. 2 seed and clinching MSU's eighth outright claim to the MacNaughton Cup in the last nine years. In the end, there were a pair of two-way tiebreakers to decide teams that finished with only one point of each other. UST won its tiebreaker over an Augustana team it went 0-1-2 against in the regular season, while MTU claimed its tiebreaker against BGSU despite the Falcons earning five of six possible points in the regular-season finale. Needless to say, the conference took a lot of flack for its tiebreaker scenarios in a season that was a bit of an anomaly. In this episode, Rubado, Singer and Braun recap the weekend from their own perspectives, sensibly address some of the backlash and close things out with questions from listeners. The CCHA Reporter's Corner is a weekly college hockey show that's brought to you by Rubado, Singer and producer Cordell Wright, featuring players and coaches from around the CCHA. To watch this show and to see clips and highlights from this episode, head on over to Midwest Sports Plus, the home of The CCHA Reporter's Corner. For the audio-only version, subscribe to The CCHA Reporter's Corner on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are available. Follow Singer and Rubado on X — @trentsinger and @JaredRubadoBP — and throughout the week, check out their work at siouxfallslive.com and bemidjipioneer.com.