WCHA names new playoff trophy for Sauer

Minnesota State and the other Western Collegiate Hockey Association men’s teams won’t be playing for the Broadmoor Trophy this postseason, which begins on Friday.

No, they've checked out of the Broadmoor and decided to honor some more recent history.

On Thursday, the conference announced that a new trophy, one named after longtime WCHA coach and contributor Jeff Sauer, will be the prize that goes to the winner of the WCHA playoffs from now on.

The 3-foot-tall, 46-pound award officially will be called the Jeff Sauer WCHA Championship Trophy.

“This is a truly proud and joyful day for the WCHA,” league commissioner Bill Robertson said in a league press release. “Jeff Sauer embodied all that is wonderful about hockey and everything we strive to represent in the WCHA. A legendary coach and ambassador for the game, Jeff was, above all, a wonderful person. All who knew him are better for the experience,and Jeff’s legacy — his passion, generosity, camaraderie and commitment — live on today.”

Sauer played and coached at Colorado College before spending 20 seasons as the head coach at Wisconsin where he won two national championships. He also spent 14 years, until his death in 2017, in various consulting capacities with the WCHA.

Sauer is the WCHA’s all-time winningest coach with 665 victories over 31 seasons with the Tigers and Badgers. His teams won two WCHA regular-season titles and six playoff championships.

“Through his lifelong relationship with the league, first as a player, then a coach, and finally an administrator, Jeff valued the league’s heritage of success and the active role that the WCHA took in the growth of college hockey for both men and women,” Sauer’s family said in a statement. “We are honored that the WCHA has chosen to name the Championship trophy in Jeff’s name, ensuring that his spirit will carry forward as a reminder of both the league’s distinguished history and as a guide for the future.”

The new trophy, presented by Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup, was designed by Jostens, and the winning team will possess it for one year. The previous Broadmoor Trophy will be retired by the WCHA.

Suess, LaCouvee are WCHA champs

The All-WCHA teams and individual award winners won't come out for another week or so, however, two awards, based on regular-season numbers are known.

For the first time in Minnesota State history, one of its players in the league scoring champion. Senior center C.J. Suess led the WCHA in scoring in conference play with 36 points on 19 goals and 17 assists.

Senior goaltender Connor LaCouvee, meanwhile, is the conference's goaltending champion with his 1.67 goals-against average in league play. He joins former Mavericks Stephon Williams and Cole Huggins in winning that award. Williams and Huggins each won it twice.

Mavericks move up to third

Minnesota State is ranked No. 3 in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online poll as well as the USA Today/USA Hockey rankings. The rankings that really matter are the Pairwise, of course, and the Mavericks are fourth there and if they remain there would be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./February 26, 2018

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 St. Cloud State           (47)   21- 6-5   996     1
 2 Cornell                   ( 2)   23- 4-2   905     2
 3 Minnesota State           ( 1)   26- 7-1   876     4
 4 Denver                           17- 8-7   865     3
 5 Notre Dame                       23- 9-2   797     5
 6 Ohio State                       21- 8-5   792     6
 7 Minnesota Duluth                 18-13-3   654     9
 8 Northeastern                     21- 8-5   603    11
 9 Providence                       20-10-4   586     7
10 Clarkson                         20- 8-6   584    10
11 Minnesota                        19-15-2   487     8
12 Michigan                         18-13-3   463    13
13 North Dakota                     14-11-9   355    12
14 Omaha                            16-14-2   318    14
15 Penn State                       16-13-5   299    18
16 Union                            21-13-2   232    19
17 Bowling Green                    20-10-6   210    15
18 Boston College                   18-13-3   194    20
19 Northern Michigan                21-12-3   177    16
20 Boston University                17-13-4    47    NR

Others receiving votes: Mercyhurst 29, Western Michigan 15,
UMass Lowell 7, Harvard 5, Bemidji State 2, Colorado College
1, Maine 1.

WCHA playoffs set

Late Saturday night, Alaska Anchorage pulled off the surprising sweep of its rival Alaska, winning 3-2 in Fairbanks. That kept Alaska in the eighth and final playoff position, meaning the Nanooks will come to Mankato this week for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The best-of-three series will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary).

Minnesota State and Alaska split their only series of the season Jan. 12-13 in Fairbanks. MSU's loss that weekend was its last one; it has gone unbeaten in 11 games since. The Mavericks and Nanooks also met in the first round last year with MSU winning 3-0 and 4-1.

Here are the first-round matchups:

8-Alaska at 1-Minnesota State
7-Alabama Huntsville at 2-Northern Michigan
6-Ferris State at 3-Bowling Green
5-Michigan Tech at 4-Bemidji State

Alaska Anchorage and Lake Superior State are out of the the playoffs, and their seasons are over.

Mavericks 2, Beavers 2 (BSU wins in shootout)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Ready the for second season: Minnesota State has had to play some tight games going into the playoffs, including both games against Bemidji State. Friday's 2-1 win and Saturday's 2-2 overtime tie perhaps were good signs for what's to come. Add to those a 4-2 win in the second game against Ferris State and the overtime win a week earlier at Alabama Huntsville, and MSU looks like a team that has the stomach for close games. They scored twice in the third period after falling behind 2-0 to the stingy Beavers, getting a power-play goal from C.J. Suess and a short-handed score from Marc Michaelis. Michaelis had two goals in the series and now had nine goals and 11 points in eight games against BSU.

2. 'Tender mercies: Connor LaCouvee stopped 17 of 19 shots in the game, trying, once again to outplay Michael Bitzer, who stopped 38 of 40 shots. Both goalies made some impressive saves, even though Bitzer saw more rubber. "I don’t think the amount is what you should be focused on," coach Mike Hastings said. "It should be the saves and when he made them. I think we learned a little bit about (LaCouvee) this weekend, which I think’s really important because we’re going to need it. You have to have great goaltending when you get down to the playoffs." LaCouvee finishes the regular season with a 20-3-1 record.

3. Extra point: Bemidji State in five rounds of sudden-death shootout to get the extra point for the WCHA standings, with Leo Fitzgerald beating LaCouvee in the final round, followed by Bitzer stopping Brad McClure. That was the only goal that was scored. The shootout followed five minutes of 3x3 overtime in which the players looked absolutely gassed. The 3x3 followed a regular OT session. Minnesota State had power plays in both OTs but couldn't score. The fans seemed to like the tiebreaker (the first time MSU had been involved in one all year), but my deadline sure didn't!

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 3, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Michigan Tech 3, Northern Michigan 2 ... Ferris State 4, Lake Superior State 2 ... Alaska Anchorage at Alaska (late)

Live: Minnesota State vs. Bemidji State

The MacNaughton Cup-winning Mavericks will close out their regular season tonight against the Beavers. Fourth-ranked MSU goes into the game on a 10-game winning streak. Follow along with the action below tonight's lines.

MINNESOTA STATE
20-Michaelis, 15-Suess, 10-Kuntson
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 6-Tuomie
23-Rivera, 11-Spooner, 19-McClure
22-Gerads, 26-French, 12-Coatta

8-Brickley, 18-Scheid
2-Mackey, 25-Zmolek
4-Lewis, 3-McNeely

37-LaCouvee
39-Pawloski
29-Nelson

Scratches: Bigelbach, Cooper, Gerard, Hookenson, Duehr, Schwalbe, Vanko

BEMIDJI STATE
27-Brady, 8-Harris, 11-Combs
6-Dickman, 14-Bauman, 26-M. Fitzgerald
19-L. Fitzgerald, 23-Sjodahl, 16-Miller
13-Soucier, 7-Roo, 15-Heller

3-Muck, 2-Billett
29-Baudry, 32-Whitecloud
20-Eichstadt, 18-Johnson

1-Bitzer
35-Johnson

***

Mavericks 2, Beavers 1

Photo by Jackson Forderer

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Mac is back: For the third time in four years and the third time in five years of the WCHA's current incarnation, Minnesota State has won the MacNaughton Cup as the conference's regular-season champion. Unlike the last time the Mavericks won it, there's no sharing it. With one game to go in the season, they celebrated on the Verizon Center ice with style. Remember: the first time they won it was in Bemidji, and the second time, they locked up a share of the title and celebrated, only to to not get it outright the next night. As coach Mike Hastings said, it's a hard trophy to win. MSU is 22-5-0 in the league, but it came down to the final weekend, and second-place Northern Michigan won on Friday, putting added pressure on the Mavericks.

2. Battling Bitzer: Few goaltenders have had the consistent career that Michael Bitzer has had for Bemidji State. He became that program's all-time saves leader on Friday night and was looking sharp as his team had a 1-0 lead. Minnesota State capitalized off a turnover and a power play to take a 2-1 lead, but wasn't able to extend it after the goalie made some huge stops among his 31, including ones on Zeb Knutson and Brad McClure. Reggie Lutz was stoned on six shots on goal. But Connor LaCouvee matched wits with Bitzer all night, only allowing a goal on a 2-on-1 rush off a turnover and stopping 26 shots, including 10 in a scoreless third period. A good chunk of my game story is about LaCouvee (link below).

3. Freshman growing up: Marc Michaelis scored MSU's first goal, tying the game, but rookie Dallas Gerads got the game-winning, popping back the rebound of a shot by fellow freshman Reggie Lutz during a power play late in the second period. It was the fifth goal of the season for Gerads is really coming on for the Mavericks. He extended his point streak to seven games and has four goals and four assists over that stretch. Michaelis, by the way, has been on a tear, too, with nine points in his last five games and 15 points, including six goals, in MSU's 10-game winning streak

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 2, Michigan Tech 1 ... Alabama Huntsville 3, Bowling Green 2 ... Ferris State 4, Lake Superior State 1 ... Alaska Anchorage at Alaska (late)