There have been a number of league alignment changes because Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State will be joining the new Big Ten Conference next season. Minnesota and Wisconsin from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association along with former hockey independent Penn State will form the new league.
Penn State will play their home games at the new 6,000 seat Pegula Ice Arena in University Park. They went 13-14 this year including a 3-2 overtime win at Wisconsin in their last game of the year.
The CCHA will celebrate the storied traditions of college hockey at a Saturday post game reception at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Alumni from all of the previous 41 championship teams will be on hand. Nine of the CCHA’s current schools have won the playoff trophy, now named the Mason Cup. The last CCHA Championship will be on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena. Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan and Miami are the semi-finalists with a chance to advance and claim the last title. Saturday’s games will be at 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. also at Joe Louis Arena.
Austin Czarnik (11-22-33 scoring), a sophomore forward for Miami, was designated as one of the CCHA Players of the Month (October) this season and was a first team All-CCHA selection.
The Western Michigan hockey team landed three on the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Conference list, with Dan DeKeyser, Luke Witkowski and Frank Slubowski all being honored. DeKeyser, a junior defenseman, earned First Team All-CCHA honors.
Slubowski and Witkowski both earned Second Team All-CCHA honors for the first time in their careers. Witkowski partnered with DeKeyser on the blue line to help shutdown opponents and led the Broncos with 53 blocked shots in the regular season. The senior captain tallied 10 points on two goals and eight assists.
Slubowski started all 36 games during the regular season and finished with a 15-7-6 record in conference play. His 1.93 goals against average ranked him third in the conference. Slubowski finished CCHA play with a .923 save percentage and two shutouts.
The University of Illinois-Chicago used to have varsity hockey. They joined the CCHA in 1982-83 and skated for 14 seasons. Their final season was in 1995-96. They would finish as high as third in their 14 seasons and made it the CCHA Championship at Joe Louis Arena in 1989. UIC lost to Lake Superior, 6-3, in the semi-finals and fell to Bowling Green, 5-3, in the consolation game.
Grapic courtesy of WMU Athletics
