This weekend in the CCHA: two Top-10 Pairwise powers clash in Mankato, college hockey royalty pays a visit to Northern Michigan, and a French superstar continues his stellar campaign.

Minnesota Duluth Vs Northern Michigan

After completing his media chores last Friday night, Michigan Tech coach Joe Shawhan checked his club’s Pairwise ranking before leaving the rink. His victory over Ferris, coupled with Bemidji’s win over Arizona State before Thanksgiving, elevated Tech to 8th place nationally. When Shawhan awoke Saturday morning he saw that his Huskies had fallen to 11th place. How could that be? 

While he was sleeping, ASU knocked off Bemidji, causing all the Pairwise comparison factors to kick in. Non-conference results trigger massive swings in the all-important Pairwise rankings, and the king of this season’s Pairwise—Minnesota Duluth—invades Northern Michigan for a non-conference series. The Pairwise implications for every CCHA school cannot be understated. Should the Wildcats manage a split, it will create a rising tide that will raise all ships within the league. Beating the Bulldogs, however, is no easy task. 

Duluth is a veteran squad that has made a habit of winning, winning so often that it’s hard to recall the last time they weren’t in the Frozen Four (2016, for the record). They compete—and usually win—inside the vaunted NCHC conference, thrusting them to the top of this year’s Pairwise rankings. And just because you find yourself tied or in a one-goal game against the Bulldogs does not mean they are vulnerable; Scott Sandelin’s club absolutely thrives in tight games. These will be hard-earned points.

Northern bench boss Grant Potulny knows the Sandelin method better than most from his time as assistant coach of Duluth rival Minnesota. Currently, his Wildcats are playing their best hockey since the Atte Tolvanen era, with two lines full of elite scorers. Potulny claimed that Friday night’s thumping of Bowling Green was the Cats best game of the season. 

The matchup is simple: can Northern’s elite scorers, led by A.J. Vanderbeck (12 goals) and Mikey Colella (11 goals) puncture Duluth’s supreme goaltender Ryan Fanti (.946 save percentage)? If they can outscore Duluth in a single game, then the chance of an additional CCHA team making the national tournament grows exponentially. Even Northern’s fiercest league rivals are rooting for the Cats this weekend. It’s all about the Pairwise.

Michigan Tech Vs Minnesota State

The CCHA’s two national Pairwise leaders—Michigan Tech (No. 10) and Minnesota State (No. 5)—meet in the league’s best series of the first half. Tech’s only challenge this year had been a month-long goal scoring drought, and that’s now long forgotten. In the past five games, the Huskies have averaged nearly five goals per game, as snipers Brian Halonen, Trenton Bliss and Tristan Ashbrook have all gotten greedy around the net. This weekend’s enemy coach Mike Hastings has feared Tech since before the season started. 

“When the pre-season poll came out, as a coach you have to fill out who you think is going to be the league champion, and my vote was for Michigan Tech,” said Hastings in his mid-week presser. Coach Hasty then proceeded to laud every element of Tech’s team, from its coaches to its special teams (90 percent on the PK).

Shawhan, whose Yooper mannerisms put him in the ”crazy like a fox” category, has studied the front-running Mavericks like a mad scientist. “If you look at a heat map of a game with Minnesota State, you’d find that there’d be a lot of play on the walls. They’ll grind you down there and win a battle and create a 2-on-1.” 

Desperate grinding for puck possession is exactly what the Mavs did to Lake Superior last Saturday, holding the home team to a minuscule five shots in 60 minutes. This weekend will be a test of wills, as Shawhan said in his radio show, “a heavyweight slugout.”

A final note from this week’s oral exam from the high-profile combatants. In his love-letter about Tech’s hockey team, Mike Hastings mistakenly called Tech goalie Blake Pietila a .920 goalie, an easy error. Huskies junior Pietila was actually over .930 the first month of the season, but as the campaign slogged into December, Pietila’s save percentage numbers have been tracking south. First to .920, and now down to .910. Shawhan has conceded that Pietila is losing trust in his defensemen, causing him to slip further back in his crease. It has reduced his efficiency while pucks leak in behind him.

Just like last season, Tech will look to challenge in two low scoring games, but the Mavericks will exploit their edge in goal, and likely sweep the Huskies. Look for Minnesota State to take two large strides toward another MacNaughton Cup. 

Lake Superior State Vs Ferris State

In a series between two bottom-half CCHA clubs, fans might wonder, “why bother watching?” There is an excellent reason to watch, and his name is Louis Boudon, the Lakers captain. A native of Grenoble, France, Boudon has carried the Laker fortunes during their time of severe disruption. While teammates dropped all around him due to a variety of illnesses and quarantine, Boudon has kept up a torrid scoring pace, second in the CCHA with 21 points. He is also a premier penalty killer for the Lakers. 

Last week he may have saved the Lakers season on a single rush. Mired in a five-game losing skid and facing the nation’s No. 1 team, Boudon picked off a pass at the defensive blue line while killing a penalty. He dashed 100 feet with the puck before calmly depositing a short-handed goal in the back of the Mavericks’ net. Boudon’s eighth goal of the season was the only tally for either side, resulting in three gigantic points in the standings, halting LSSU’s downward spiral.

He is a global talent that represents France at every turn on the world stage. The CCHA is lucky to have him in their league; Boudon is clearly worth watching every time he dons a Lakers jersey.