2022–23 CCHA season explained


Color:	color:white; background:#143159;
Color Text:	white
Season:	2022–23
Season:	2022–23
Conference:	Central Collegiate Hockey Association
Shortconference:	CCHA
Division:	Division I
Sport:	ice hockey
Pixels:	250 px
Duration:	October 1, 2022– February 25, 2023
No Of Teams:	8
Tv:	FloSports
Regular Season:
Season Champs:	Minnesota State
Mvp:	Blake Pietila
Mvp Link:	CCHA Player of the Year
Top Scorer:	Austen Swankler
Tournament:
Tournament Champs:	Minnesota State
Tournament Place:	Northern Michigan
Top Scorer2:	Christian Fitzgerald (9)
Ncaa:
Bids:	2
Conf Rec:	0–2
Best:	Regional Semifinal
Ncaa Team:	Michigan Tech Minnesota State
Prevseason:	2021–22
Nextseason:	2023–24
Labelstyle:	background:#eeeeee;

The 2022–23 CCHA season was the 44th season of play for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and was part of the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The regular season began on October 1, 2022, and concluded on February 25, 2023.^[1] The conference tournament began on March 3.

Coaches

Records

Team	Season at school	Record at school	CCHA record
Bemidji State	22	354–327–92	14–12–0
Bowling Green	4	56–42–8	11–14–1
Ferris State	31	473–562–108	256–293–73
Lake Superior State	9	117–151–28	13–13–0
Michigan Tech	6	95–77–16	16–8–2
Minnesota State	11	274–96–24	23–3–0
Northern Michigan	6	95–80–11	12–13–1
St. Thomas	2	3–32–1	3–22–1

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 had a poor season in non-conference play. Just two teams finished with a winning record while half of the conference produced just 6 wins in a total of 31 games. The CCHA produced a winning record against just one other conference (ECAC) as well as the independent programs, however, many of those victories came against low-ranking opponents and only minimally improved the CCHA's standing.

Regular season record

Team							Total
Bemidji State	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–1–0	1–3–2	2–4–2
Bowling Green	0–0–0	1–3–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–2–0	3–5–0
Ferris State	1–1–0	1–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–3–1	2–4–1
Lake Superior State	0–0–0	0–3–0	1–1–0	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–1	1–6–1
Michigan Tech	0–0–0	1–0–0	2–0–0	1–0–0	3–0–0	0–1–0	7–1–0
Minnesota State	0–0–0	1–1–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	2–0–0	2–2–0	5–3–0
Northern Michigan	0–0–0	0–2–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	2–2–0	0–0–0	4–4–0
St. Thomas	0–0–0	0–2–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–3–0	0–2–0	1–7–0
Overall	1–1–0	4–11–0	7–1–0	1–1–0	9–6–0	3–14–4	25–34–4

Statistics

Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes^[2]

Class	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Sophomore	26	13	19	32	37
Junior	26	19	10	29	4
Senior	26	9	17	26	30
Junior	26	7	18	25	14
Freshman	25	12	13	25	6
Senior	26	15	9	24	12
Senior	26	8	14	22	6
Junior	26	5	17	22	26
Senior	26	4	17	21	12
Senior	25	9	12	21	33

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^[3]

Class	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Sophomore	21	1185:06	12	7	1	37	0	.908	1.87
Senior	24	1425:48	14	7	3	48	6	.929	2.02
Sophomore	24	1412:23	10	10	3	52	1	.910	2.21
Freshman	24	1302:41	13	10	0	55	2	.910	2.53
Sophomore	23	1362:40	9	12	2	60	1	.918	2.64

CCHA Tournament

See main article: 2023 CCHA men's ice hockey tournament.

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2023 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.

Regional semifinal

Midwest

Ranking

See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

USCHO

Bemidji State	NR	-	NR	NR	NR	NR	20	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
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	20	-	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	19	18	17	-	16	13	14	13	12	12	12	11	11	10	13	13	-	13
Minnesota State	3	-	5	5	2	8	6	6	8	10	11	16	16	-	19	17	17	14	13	14	13	12	13	13	12	10	-	12
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
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

^[4]

USA Today

Bemidji State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	20	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	20	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	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	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	NR	NR
Michigan Tech	NR	NR	20	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	20	18	18	17	16	16	13	14	13	12	12	13	11	11	10	13	13	13	13
Minnesota State	3	3	5	5	2	8	7	6	7	10	13	16	16	18	NR	18	17	14	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	9	12	11
Northern Michigan	20	20	NR	20	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	NR	NR

^[5]

Pairwise

Bemidji State	22	48	54	30	14	24	25	25	28	24	24	19	21	28	27	28	32	30	27	34	34	32	34
Bowling Green	9	13	37	32	36	33	25	27	28	23	27	30	30	24	26	26	27	26	27	31	38	39	39
Ferris State	19	23	32	22	34	37	39	40	43	31	38	33	35	32	36	42	31	33	41	42	37	38	38
Lake Superior State	22	50	55	55	52	57	55	53	56	58	57	58	61	60	60	59	58	59	59	58	57	57	57
Michigan Tech	22	44	32	29	12	17	21	18	15	16	16	20	17	12	12	11	10	12	11	11	11	10	bgcolor=gold	10
Minnesota State	22	31	6	25	22	13	14	15	17	27	20	24	18	14	14	13	13	13	12	15	12	13	bgcolor=gold	10
Northern Michigan	21	24	39	33	41	29	24	22	27	32	36	31	43	39	36	42	42	43	37	29	28	26	26
St. Thomas	22	38	50	49	42	47	51	49	47	46	47	46	47	46	45	45	46	47	46	47	49	50	49

Note: teams ranked in the top-10 automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Teams ranked 11-16 can qualify based upon conference tournament results.^[6]

Awards

NCAA

^[7]
Player	Position	Team
Blake Pietila	align=center	G	Michigan Tech

Jake Livingstone	align=center	D	Minnesota State

CCHA

Award	Recipient
		Blake Pietila, Michigan Tech
		David Silye, Minnesota State
		Jake Livingstone, Minnesota State
		Blake Pietila, Michigan Tech
		Kyle Kukkonen, Michigan Tech
		Joe Shawhan, Michigan Tech	-	--->

First Team^[8]	Position	Second Team^[9]
Blake Pietila, Michigan Tech	align=center	G	Mattias Sholl, Bemidji State
Jake Livingstone, Minnesota State	align=center	D	Akito Hirose, Minnesota State
Elias Rosén, Bemidji State	align=center	D	Brett Thorne, Michigan Tech
Ryland Mosley, Michigan Tech	align=center	F	Louis Boudon, Lake Superior State
David Silye, Minnesota State	align=center	F	Nathan Burke, Bowling Green
Austen Swankler, Bowling Green	align=center	F	André Ghantous, Northern Michigan
Rookie Team^[10]	Position
Béni Halász, Northern Michigan	align=center	G
Dalton Norris, Bowling Green	align=center	D
Josh Zinger, Northern Michigan	align=center	D
Kyle Kukkonen, Michigan Tech	align=center	F
Joey Larson, Northern Michigan	align=center	F
Lleyton Roed, Bemidji State	align=center	F

2023 NHL Entry Draft

See main article: 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

4	118	Hampton Slukynsky ^†	Northern Michigan	Los Angeles Kings
5	132	Eric Pohlkamp ^†	Bemidji State	San Jose Sharks
5	154	Chase Cheslock ^†	St. Thomas	New Jersey Devils

† incoming freshman^[11]

Notes and References

Web site: Composite Schedule . Central Collegiate Hockey Association . August 30, 2021.
News: 2022-2023 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics . CCHA . July 16, 2022.
News: 2022-2023 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics . CCHA . July 16, 2022.
Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: USA Today Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: Men's Division I PairWise Rankings . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
News: Two Northeastern players repeat as first-team All-Americans . USCHO.com . April 7, 2023 . April 8, 2023.
Web site: All-CCHA First Team Honorees Revealed . CCHA . March 14, 2023 . March 16, 2022.
Web site: Six Are All-CCHA Second Team Selections . CCHA . March 14, 2023 . March 15, 2023.
Web site: CCHA All-Rookie Team Announced . CCHA . March 13, 2023 . March 15, 2023.
News: NCAA player rankings, selections in 2023 NHL Draft . USCHO.com . July 9, 2022.