Michigan Tech Wins CCHA Championship, Earns NCAA Tournament Bid
Michigan Tech Wins CCHA Championship, Earns NCAA Tournament Bid
Michigan Tech earned a 2-1 win over Bemidji State in the Mason Cup Final to claim the CCHA title and earn an NCAA tournament bid.
The Michigan Tech Huskies are going dancing. After a tense 2-1 win over Bemidji State on the road in the Mason Cup Final, the Huskies won the CCHA postseason championship and claimed an automatic bid to the NCAA men’s hockey tournament.
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Bemidji State, the regular season champions of the CCHA, earned the right to play on home ice and took advantage by scoring the game’s first goal. Kasper Magnussen sent the Sanford Center into hysterics with his goal 14:07 into the first period, but the buzz was short lived.
Only 52 seconds after Bemidji took the 1-0 lead, Chase Pietila answered for Michigan Tech, following a rebound and slamming it into the net to knot things up in the first period.
Midway through the second period, Ryland Mosely cut to the inside and sent a low backhand shot through Beavers goalie Mattias Sholl for a stunning goal that gave Tech the lead.
🚨 HUSKIES HAVE THE LEAD!
— FloHockey (@FloHockey) March 23, 2024
Ryland Mosley puts @mtuhky in front midway through this one 🫣
📺: https://t.co/q98NjECzrR@CCHAHockey @NCAAIceHockey#CCHA #MasonCup #CollegeHockey pic.twitter.com/YVA9q0PcL6
After that, as he has so many times before, Michigan Tech’s fifth-year goaltender Blake Pietila took over the game.
Bemidji State poured 28 shots on net in the second and third periods and Pietila turned aside each of them. He finished the game with 34 saves to hoist the Mason Cup for the first time in his final collegiate season.
The Huskies will now turn their focus to Sunday when they will find out when and what team they will play in the NCAA tournament.
Michigan Tech will be making its third-straight trip to the NCAA tournament after getting in as an at-large entry in each of the last two seasons. This time, their only path to the tournament was winning the Mason Cup.
The Michigan Tech Huskies are Mason Cup Champions! 🏆#CCHAHockey | #Masoncup pic.twitter.com/1K3vMjz9Uv
— CCHA (@CCHAHockey) March 23, 2024
As of right now, Michigan Tech sits second-lowest among still-active teams in the Pairwise ratings that help determine the field for the NCAA tournament. Tech would likely be either the No. 15 or No. 16 overall seed in the tournament and will most likely play one of Boston College or Boston University.
Stay tuned for a full recap and look-ahead to the NCAA tournament from FloHockey’s resident CCHA expert, Tim Rappleye coming this week.
When Is The 2024 NCAA Hockey Tournament Selection Show?
The Selection Show is at 6:30 p.m. EST on March 24.
How To Watch The 2024 NCAA Hockey Tournament Selection Show
The Selection Show will be on ESPNU and streaming on ESPN+.
How Does The NCAA Hockey Tournament Work?
Of the 16 teams, 6 conference champions will receive automatic qualification with the remaining best 10 teams being selected on an at-large basis by the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee. A total of 4 teams will be seeded with each of the seeded teams being placed at 1 regional site.
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