CCHA Pick ‘Em 2024-25: 8.5 Teams This Year!

[footballguy51]

Early congratulations to iwearpurple. You get the coveted 9th bye week. I’ll be submitting picks, but we all know it won’t matter.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Early congratulations to iwearpurple. You get the coveted 9th bye week. I’ll be submitting picks, but we all know it won’t matter.

So sayeth the contestant who has the pick of the year three seasons in a row…

[mbenecke]

The reverse jinx is deadly, 51. I know your tricks.

[footballguy51]

The reverse jinx is deadly, 51. I know your tricks.

Ssshhhhhhhh. Don’t give away my secrets.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

footballguy51's matchup is set with iwearpurple. It'll come down to the home/away bonus.

Code: Select all

      Footballguy51     iwearpuple
      Minnesota State   Minnesota State
      Augustana         Augustana
      Ferris State      Ferris State
      Michigan Tech     Michigan Tech
Away        9                 6
Home       12                10
S/O         0                 0

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

BillyLP's match with beaverhockeyfan is set. This one could go either way.

Code: Select all

	BillyLP          beaverhockeyfan
	Minnesota State	 Minnesota State
	Bemidji State	 Augustana
	St. Thomas	 St. Thomas
	Bowling Green	 Michigan Tech
Away	     14	              11
Home	     18	              13
S/O	      0	               1

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Every year I do a writeup on each contestant and their first round matchups over on USCHO. Here's the details for your reading/ignoring pleasure.


Let’s get in-depth on these matchups and see what’s what. First up is the Mankato bracket.

(1) TUPD vs. Bye – Our 2024-25 MacNaughton Cup champion and Bill Began Award winner finally put it all together by picking with his head instead of his heart. He led the way with a league best pick percentage of .652 and piled up a third best 53 bonus points. After finishing fourth in week 1, he was either in first or second the rest of the season including spending 17 weeks in the pole position. None of this matters because BIllyLP or beaverhockeyfan have a good chance at the “upset” in the second round.

(8) StevieYNot vs. Bye – The 24-25 ROY award goes to this first time contestant screen name who squeeked into the last bye seed by .002 percentage points over MTUHuskyGold. Spending most of the season outside the top 10, the last three weeks is the best time to get hot. The winner of the MTUHuskyGod/AgentClass match will face a contestant who booked one weekly win along with a .600 pick percentage and 43 bonus points.

(16) BillyLP vs (17) beaverhockeyfan – This season we welcome BillyLP back to the contest after taking last year off. Two weekly wins were a good sign along with a .596 pick percentage and 43 bonus points. Missing a week left this contestant mired in the third quartile throughout most of the season but it’s clear the mojo is still there. Veteran contestant beaverhockeyfan started the year hot and ended the season with 7 top-5 finishes (including a weekly win), but spent most of the season in the middle of the field. A .585 pick percentage with 36 bonus points compares a little less favorably to BillyLP’s numbers so this matchup will come down to whichever contestant can leverage their years of experience.

(9)MTUHuskyGold vs. (24) AgentClass - Our 2024-25 Jeff Sauer winner, MTUHuskyGold, spent the first part of the season towards the bottom of the standings before catching fire midway through and rocketing up the leaderboard. Driven by 60! bonus points and a .598 pick percentage, it’s clear he comes at you with all guns blazing. Not to be outdoneAgentClass dropped in the standings after taking a bit of a breather. Their .581 pick percentage and 29 bonus points may look to be on the low side, but prior to the sabbatical they were hovering around the 14/15 spot for multiple weeks. This matchup is a lot closer than it first appears.


Next up is the Sioux Falls bracket.

(2) Bronco Hockey Fan vs. Bye – Our MacNaughton Cup runner up made it to the semi-finals in 2021-22 where he lost to eventual Mason Cup winner SweeneyHawksHockey. Spending all 21 weeks within the top 4 and 14 weeks in the co-pilot’s seat might make one think that yes, this could be the year. And don’t forget the .630 pick percentage and 54 bonus points which was good enough to finish as the runner up in the Race for the Sauer. It’s been a bridesmaid season so far. Will this be the year Bronco Hockey Fan makes it over the hump?

(7) Icd80 vs. Bye – While finishing with the same .600 pick percentage as StevieYNot, it was the 49 bonus points that put Icd80 solidly in line for the #7 seed (and only one point short of capturing the #6 seed). As one of the most consistent contestants in the field, Icd80 had eleven top-10 finishes and spent 17 weeks within 2 places of that 7th spot.

(15) John J. MacInnes vs (18) potternmu – Aside from being the week 1 winner, this season has been a bit of a struggle for John J. MacInnes. While 50 bonus points is solid, the .563 pick percentage is definitely below par. On the other side we see potternmu with similar but opposite struggles. A respectable .605 pick percentage but a disappointing 26 bonus points pits each contestant’s strength against their opponents’ weakness. Digging a bit deeper we find…who am I kidding, it’s a Husky/Wildcat matchup! Forget about stats, forget about numbers, this is a “two men enter, one man leaves” grudge match for the ages.

(10) iwearpurple vs. (23) Footballguy51 – Six top-5 finishes and a formidable pick percentage of .628 should be good enough to earn iwearpurple a coveted first round bye, right? Normally that’s true, but a lackluster 27 bonus points torpedoed what was otherwise a rock solid season. On the other side we see Footballguy51 posting a similar 29 bonus points but with a “challenging” .499 pick percentage. On paper you’d have to give this one to iwearpurple, however, for the third year in a row, Footballguy51 came away with the pick of the year when he was the only contestant to pick the NMU sweep over Bemidji. Do no overlook the possibility of a Hail Mary being thrown on the last play of the game.


On to the Mendota Htsbracket.

(3) SweeneyHawksHockey vs. Bye – Last year’s Mason Cup champion gave it a real run at the end but came up just short finishing just one point behind Bronco Hockey Fan for the #2 spot. Are we looking at a little revenge on the way to a repeat? Well, 9(!) top 5 finishes and two weekly wins coupled with a .632 pick percentage and 52 bonus points would indicate that, yes, this could be SweeneyHawksHockey’s year…again.

(6) puckdude40 vs. Bye – Our #6 seed took a roundabout way to securing a bye spending the first part of the season mired towards the bottom of the field. The turnaround came in week 6, finishing second and never looking back rising as high to third in the standings before settling into his current spot. What does the winner of the Manurespreader/[Puck Master[/b] match have to look forward to? A string of 11 straight weeks with a pick percentage greater than .610. The only crack in the armor is 42 bonus points ranks middle of the pack.

(14) Soulbeaver vs (19) PokeCheck – The #14 seed never seemed to find the mojo finishing with a .568 pick percentage. Soulbeaver’s picking just wasn’t up to par this year with an uncharacteristic 19 weekly finishes in the bottom half of the field. The positive is the 48 bonus points posted for the year. On the other side of the aisle we find PokeCheck who has a nearly identical .569 pick percentage and 40 bonus points. On paper this is statistically the closest matchup in the field – a true Pick ‘Em pick ‘em. Winner gets SweeneyHawksHockey so you got that goin’ for ya.

(11) Manurespreader vs. (22) Puck Master – The oddsmaker like Manurespreader’s rock solid .622 pick percentage, two weekly wins and 44 bonus points, but what they find concerning is the drop from the 5th position in week 9. Puck Master posts a .559 pick percentage and only 11 bonus points, but has been consistent throughout the season. This matchup comes down to the contestant who can pull it all together.


Let’s finish up with the Bowling Green bracket.

(4) mbenecke vs. Bye – Last year’s Mason Cup runner up got his wish – finish in a position where he plays his first playoff series at home. Starting off at the back of the pack, by week 5 mbenecke found his mojo and was challenging for both the MacNaughton and Beagan every week. Coming up short in the Battle for the Beagan by 2 points has to sting, but two weekly wins, two weekly second place finishes, and that .643 pick percentage sets him up well for a short, one-game match. The only chink in the armor – a middling 39 bonus points.

(5) giwan vs. Bye – The 2021-22 MacNaughton Cup champion recorded another solid year, picking up yet another first round bye. giwan never once found himself outside the top 10 and his 4 weekly wins was tied for the most. Finishing third in the standings for the Beagan with a .637 pick percentage is something to be feared, though the 47 bonus points is slightly off his traditional average.

(13) Hockey John vs (20) Tommiealum93 – Last year’s MacNaughton Cup and Began winner picked up right where he left off with solid play through the first 18 weeks of the season. It looked like he had a bye all locked up but he ended up stumbling across the finish line the last three weeks of the season. Averaging .631 on the pick percentage through week 18 was enough of a cushion to offset the 35 bonus points, but the question is which Hockey John will show up come playoff time. It was a rather uncharacteristic year for Tommiealum93 who finished well off their historical norms with a .608 pick percentage and only 22 bonus points, but this was accomplished in 16 fewer games than most. Add in five top-5 finishes and this matchup looks to be a tossup.

(12) GoNanooks vs. (21) CriticalThinker – Our last matchup of the playoffs pits .587/48 GoNanooks against .531/35 Critical Thinker; one contestant’s strength vs. their opponent’s weakness. Each contestant spent the better part of the season within 3 spots of where they finished and each contestant had a couple of solid weeks (GoNanooks had a weekly win while Critical Thinker had two second place finishes). Boil it all down and you get yet another tossup match.

[mbenecke]

Good luck this weekend to the gentlemen from around these parts that play. If it can’t be me, I hope it’s someone else that roots for BG.

Thanks for putting this together, TUPD. A bunch of fun every year!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Good luck this weekend to the gentlemen from around these parts that play. If it can’t be me, I hope it’s someone else that roots for BG.

Thanks for putting this together, TUPD. A bunch of fun every year!

Reminder that us AZZ'ers will have our own one-off contest through the balance of the playoffs. If you bomb out of the CCHA Pick 'Em, keep filling out those forms!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

We're waiting on a couple more entries, but here's how the Mankato and Sioux Falls brackets look going into Friday's games:

Code: Select all

                                          Mankato                                                                                    Sioux Falls
             BillyLP      beaverhockeyfan         MTUHuskyGold      AgentClass                     John J. MacInnes Potternmu                 iwearpuple      Footballguy51
        Minnesota State  Minnesota State        Minnesota State  Minnesota State                   Minnesota State  Minnesota State        Minnesota State  Minnesota State
        Bemidji State    Augustana              Augustana        Bemidji State                     Augustana        Augustana              Augustana        Augustana
        St. Thomas       St. Thomas             St. Thomas       St. Thomas                        St. Thomas       St. Thomas             Ferris State     Ferris State
        Bowling Green    Michigan Tech          Michigan Tech    Michigan Tech                     Michigan Tech    Michigan Tech          Michigan Tech    Michigan Tech
Away           14               11                     11                8                                 8               11                      6                9
Home           18               13                     16               12                                15               14                     10               12
S/O             0                1                      0                0                                 0                0                      0                0

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

​The Mendota Hts bracket is in:

Code: Select all

                                          Mendota Hts
              Soulbeaver        PokeCheck           Manurespreader     Puck Master
            Minnesota State  Minnesota State        Minnesota State  Minnesota State
            Bemidji State    Augustana              Bemidji State    Bemidji State
            St. Thomas       St. Thomas             St. Thomas       Ferris State
            Michigan Tech    Michigan Tech          Bowling Green    Bowling Green
Away            11                9                     12               16
Home            13               14                     15               18
S/O              0                0                      0                1

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

We still have one outstanding entry, but here's how the BG bracket shapes up:

Code: Select all

                                          Bowling Green                                                                             
           Hockey John   Tommiealum93               GoNanooks    Critical Thinker
        Minnesota State                         Minnesota State  Minnesota State                   
        Bemidji State                           Bemidji State    Bemidji State                    
        St. Thomas                              St. Thomas       St. Thomas                     
        Bowling Green                           Michigan Tech    Bowling Green                    
Away            7                                      10               10                               
Home           14                                      12               14                              
S/O             0                                       0                0                           [/

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

The first round of the 2024-25 playoffs are in the books. All the favored seeds won their first round matches except for #19 PokeCheck pulling the upset over #14 Soulbeaver and #21 Critical Thinker officially donning the Cinderella slipper as the highest remaining seed in the field by virtue of his win over #12 GoNanooks. Stick taps to our #2 seed Bronco Hockey Fan who would have posted the top score of 14 first round points had he not faced a first round bye. Officially, MTUHuskyGold gets the stick tap recognition with his first round score of 12 points. Congrats!

Looking at the second round, we see way too many AZZ participants squaring off against each other. You got TUPD vs. BillyLP and mbenecke vs. Hockey John. Only Critical Thinker faces a non-AZZ contestant with Footballguy51 relegated to watching from the sidelines with his 9-7 loss to iwearpurple. Don't lose hope, we're still doing our little AZZ contest so keep filling out those forms. With all that said, everyone, including TUPD, is now cheering for BillyLP to pull the upset. Why? Well, besides "just because," it likely means our Falcons have swept the dreaded Huskies. Go BillyLP!

Here are how the second round matchups stack up:

Code: Select all

                                             Mankato                                                                                      Sioux Falls
       TalonsUpPuckDown        BillyLP              StevieYnot         MTUHuskyGold                Bronco Hockey Fan    John J. MacInnes           icd80             iwearpuple
     Minnesota State     Minnesota State       Minnesota State     Minnesota State                Minnesota State     Minnesota State       Minnesota State     Minnesota State
     Augustana           Augustana             Augustana           Bemidji State                  Augustana           Augustana             Augustana           Augustana
     St. Thomas          St. Thomas            St. Thomas          St. Thomas                     St. Thomas          St. Thomas            St. Thomas          St. Thomas
     Michigan Tech       Bowling Green         Michigan Tech       Bowling Green                  Bowling Green       Bowling Green         Bowling Green       Michigan Tech
Away          8                   11                    9                   10               Away          11                  7                     9                   6
Home          10                  16                    12                  14               Home          17                  16                    14                  13
S/O           1                   1                     0                   1                S/O           1                   1                     1                   0



                                             Bowling Green                                                                                Mendota Hts
           mbenecke      Hockey John                  giwan          Critical Thinker              SweeneyHawksHockey      PokeCheck             puckdude40        Manurespreader
     Minnesota State     Minnesota State       Minnesota State     Minnesota State                Minnesota State     Minnesota State       Minnesota State     Minnesota State
     Augustana           Augustana             Augustana           Bemidji State                  Bemidji State       Augustana             Bemidji State       Bemidji State
     St. Thomas          St. Thomas            St. Thomas          St. Thomas                     Ferris State        St. Thomas            St. Thomas          St. Thomas
     Bowling Green       Michigan Tech         Bowling Green       Michigan Tech                  Michigan Tech       Bowling Green         Bowling Green       Michigan Tech
Away          13                  6                     7                   14               Away          13                  10                    8                   11
Home          18                  11                    12                  14               Home          13                  15                    13                  15
S/O           1                   1                     1                   1                S/O           1                   1                     1                   1

Finally, here's the latest bracket updates:

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

"DOWN GOES FRAZIER!" goes boxing's most famous call and WOW, is it appropriate this year. Three, count 'em THREE #1 seeds fell in the second round. It looks like that bye caused more harm than good as #16 BillyLP took down the #1 seed and MacNaughton/Bill Beagan winner TUPD 9-7, #15 John J. MacInnes beat #2 Bronco Hockey Fan 11-9, and #19 and current Cinderella story Poke Check knocked off #3 SweeneyHawksHockey 10-7. So to recap, the #1, #2, and #3 seeds are OUT while the #15, #16, and #19 seeds stay alive.

Edit/Author's Note: I've never been so happy to bomb out of this goddamn tournament as I am this year. Glad you brought home the "W", BillyLP!

Also advancing are our #9 seed MTUHuskyGold who doubled up rookie StevieYnot 14-7, #7 Icd8 who outlasted iwearpurple 11-9, #6 puckdude40 who beat Manurespreader 14-10. It's the Bowling Green bracket where we see the two favorites going at it with #4 mbenecke sending Hockey John home for the season and #5 giwan finishing off Critical Thinker.

Stick taps to MTUHuskyGold and puckdude40 who tied for the highest number of points this round with 14. Congrats!

Forms for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be available after Sunday's Beaver/Tommie game is done.

[BillyLP]

I hate to take out another Falcon, considering it was at the hands of BG winning their series, I certainly hope it softens the blow!