CCHA Pick ‘Em 2025-26: 8.5 Arrivederci Rico!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Congrats on calling out last night's tie, mbenecke...you were the only one.

[mbenecke]

Congrats on calling out last night's tie, mbenecke...you were the only one.

They say I know a thing or two about puck.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

As we await the results of Sunday afternoon's tilt between the Wildcats and Lakers, here are the week 14 links for you early birds.

Week 14
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Congratulations and a hearty Ay Ziggy to mbenecke, our week 13 winner who lead the way with 29 points. Roll Along! Stick taps to CFBHome who was the only contestant to correctly pick Air Force to carpet bomb Tech in the first round of the Desert Classic and to mbenecke who was the only contestant to correctly pick the BG/tOSU tie on Friday. Well played! Jeers to the entire field as zero contestants picked UMass-Lowell to top the Mavs in the first round of the Cactus Cup.

And we have a new leader to chase as mbenecke stakes his claim to the MacNaughton cup. NoClue is now 4 points behind in second and iowabasedtraveller is 10 points behind. NoClue stays in the lead in the Battle for the Beagan with a blistering .700 pick percentage. mbenecke is in second with puckdude40 in third. GoNanooks has fallen off the pace lately but remains in 4th.

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Contestant   Points %   Games
NoClue        .700       131
mbenecke      .689       131
puckdude40    .673       131
GoNanooks     .672       117

With no bonus this week there is no change in the Race for the Sauer. The bonus is back this week and is the fields next chance to knock iowabasedtraveller from atop the leaderboard.

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Contestant         Bonus
iowabasedtraveler    26
SweeneyHawksHockey   23
StevieYnot           22
iwearpurple          21
beaverhockeyfan      21

Week 14
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Let's rise to our feet and give a rousing applause to GoNanooks and Icd80 who were our week 14 co-winners posting 19 points each. Well done! Not much in the way of stick taps this week other than Footballguy51, Manurespreader, and Tommiealum93 were the only three contestants to pick the Tommies to thump the Mavs. mbenecke remains atop the leaderboard though his lead over NoClue has stretched to 7 points with puckdude40 and MTUHuskyGold starting to close the gap a bit. NoClue remains in first in the Battle for the Beagan with a .693 points percentage but mbenecke lurks just one point back at .690. Here's how that race is shaping up:

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Contestant   Points %   Games
NoClue        .693       138
mbenecke      .690       138
puckdude40    .675       138
GoNanooks     .674       124
MTUHuskyGold  .673       138

Moving on to the bonus, there were 26 goals scored by the away teams this weekend while there were only 9 (nine!!) scored by the home teams in 7 games. Wow. Congrats to Soulbeaver who lead the way with 5 points. Stick taps to SectionP who was the only contestant to pick up any bonus points on that impressive performance by the CCHA's home teams this weekend.

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Contestant       Away  Home  Total
Soulbeaver         5     0     5
Bronco Hockey Fan  4     0     4
GoNanooks          4     0     4
Icd80              4     0     4
giwan              3     0     3
John J. MacInnes   3     0     3
MTUHuskyGold       3     0     3
puckdude40         3     0     3
BillyLP            2     0     2
CFBHome            2     0     2
Hockey John        2     0     2
Footballguy51      1     0     1
Manurespreader     1     0     1
SectionP           0     1     1
SweeneyHawksHockey 1     0     1
TalonsUpPuckDown   1     0     1

In the Race for the Sauer, iowabasedtraveller remains in first however, having gone 0-fer in the bonus this week created an opening for SweeneyHawksHockey (1 point) and Icd80 (4 points) to make up some ground:

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Contestant          Bonus
iowabasedtraveler     26
SweeneyHawksHockey    24
Icd80                 24
StevieYnot            22
SectionP              21
iwearpurple           21
beaverhockeyfan       21

There are seven (7!) weeks remaining in the regular season. It looks like 6 playoff byes will be up for grabs. You want one of those coveted first round byes? Then get your picks in! Playoff rules are listed below the scoreboard this week.

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Contestant      Finishing Top 6
mbenecke              65%
puckdude40            55%
NoClue                52%
iowabasedtraveler     44%
MTUHuskyGold          38%
SweeneyHawksHockey    38%
StevieYnot            30%
TalonsUpPuckDown      27%
giwan                 25%
Bronco Hockey Fan     23%
SectionP              21%
Tommiealum93          20%
Everyone Else        <20%

Week 15
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CCHA Pick 'Em Playoffs

Now that we’re into the second half of the season it’s time to start thinking about bringin' home the hardware. As mentioned at the beginning of the season there are 4 awards:
o MacNaughton Cup - Awarded to the regular season champion as determined by total points
o Bill Beagan Trophy - Awarded to the contestant with the highest points percentage (based solely on picks, no bonus) during the regular season (must participate in 75% of the games to be eligible)
o Jeff Sauer Trophy - Awarded to the contestant with the most bonus points
o Mason Cup - Awarded to the playoff champion

Playoff Eligibility
This year all contestants will make the playoffs. Additionally, a contestant has to have been reasonably active in making weekly picks throughout most of the season, especially during the second half. I'm trying to keep this fair for contestants who've been involved all year while keeping it open for late arrivals who are showing a commitment without writing down a ton of rules. Final decisions are at the discretion of the commissioner. So far, everyone who has been submitting picks the past couple of weeks is currently in.

Playoff Seeding
Matches are head-to-head, single elimination with snake seeding for bracket pairings (1 vs. 32, 2 vs. 31, etc.). Seeding and tie breakers are determined in the following manner based on regular season results:
1) Total Points (including bonus)
2) Points Percent (excluding bonus)
3) Total Points earned during the final 2 (or 3, or 4, or…) weeks of the CCHA regular season including bonuses until the tie is broken. Basically the “hotter” player down the stretch is favored
4) Based on the total number of playoff contestants, top seeds may earn a bye in the first round

Playoff Rounds
o The first round will be based on the Friday, March 6th CCHA Quarterfinal playoff games with bonuses (4 games total, field reduced to 16).
o The second round will be based on the Saturday, March 7th CCHA Quarterfinal playoff games with bonuses (4 games total, field reduced from 16 to 8)
o Quarterfinals will be based on the first CCHA Semifinal playoff game with bonuses listed on CCHA.com held on Saturday, March 14th (1 game, field reduced from 8 to 4).
o Semifinals will be based on the second CCHA Semifinal playoff game with bonuses listed on CCHA.com held on Saturday, March 14th (1 game, field reduced from 4 to 2).
o The championship matchup will be based on the CCHA Championship game on March 20th plus bonuses.

Scoring
o 3 pts for a win, 0 pts for a loss.
o 2-3 bonus questions for each round worth 1-5 points.
o In all cases, ties go to the higher seed.

Good luck!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Congratulations to Tommiealum93 who wins week 15 with 20 points! Stick taps to CFBHome and Soulbeaver who were the only two contestants to pick the Lakers to top the Falcons on Saturday. There were 6 contestants who correctly picked the Huskies to sweep the Mavs. mbenecke remains atop the leaderboard in the fight for the MacNaughton though NoClue has closed the lead to only 4 points.

After Friday night, it looked like the bonus was in play for 2/3 of the field. Then Saturday happened. Yeah. 140 PIMs in the BG/Lake State game alone. 59 PIMs in the Tommie/'Dawg series. 237 PIMs in total for all games this weekend. Suffice it to say no one picked up any bonus points. We my try that one again at a later date. That means no change in the Race for the Sauer with iowabasedtraveller still in the lead by two over SweeneyHawksHockey and Icd80.

NoClue is back atop the leaderboard in the Battle for the Beagan with a .695 points percentage. mbenecke is next up at .686.

The bonus is a little different this week. How full will the Mac and Berry be for the #1 rivalry in the CCHA? Tough to say other than the four options available occurred the exact same number of times over the previous 4 seasons. Good luck!

Week 16
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[footballguy51]

I guessed 190 minutes and thought I was going to be way over, but I wanted to be dangerous because we seem to get penalties galore. I’m shocked I was under with my guess.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I guessed 190 minutes and thought I was going to be way over, but I wanted to be dangerous because we seem to get penalties galore. I’m shocked I was under with my guess.

You were the closest.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Holy sh!t we're back! I was afraid that was the end.

Congratulations to NoClue who won the week with a whopping 25 points - 4 points ahead of the second best finisher. Wow and congrats! Stick taps to Footballguy51 and Section P who were the only contestants to correctly pick the Tech/Northern split. Also, congratulations to NoClue who with this weekly win now finds themselves atop the leaderboard with mbenecke now lurking just 2 points back.

On to the bonus. At the time these results are being published the CCHA is listing 16 special teams goals while both USCHO and CHN are listing 15. As Meatloaf says, two out of three ain't bad so the staff at Pick 'EM HQ will go with the majority of 15 special teams goals. On Friday, 4,163 fans crammed into the Berry to see Tech top Northern while on Saturday 4,071 fans stuffed themselves into the Mac to see the 'Cats upset the Huskies. Add 'em up and you get 8,101 - 8,300. Hats off to Berger21 and NoClue who were a perfect 10 on the bonus this week! Here's how the bonus paid out:

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Contestant    PP, SH, EA, EN Goals      Tech/NMU Attendance      Total
Berger21                5                       5                  10
NoClue                  5                       5                  10
TalonsUpPuckDown        2                       5                   7
giwan                   1                       5                   6
iwearpurple             1                       5                   6
Footballguy51           0                       5                   5
Puck Master             0                       5                   5
StevieYnot              0                       5                   5
mbenecke                4                       0                   4
MTUHuskyGold            4                       0                   4
Soulbeaver              4                       0                   4
Bronco Hockey Fan       3                       0                   3
Icd80                   3                       0                   3
iowabasedtraveler       3                       0                   3
puckdude40              3                       0                   3
BillyLP                 2                       0                   2
SectionP                1                       0                   1

In the Race for the Sauer, iowabasedtraveller remains atop the leaderboard though there are now three contestants lurking just two points back:

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Contestant          Bonus
iowabasedtraveler    29
StevieYnot           27
iwearpurple          27
Icd80                27
SweeneyHawksHockey   24
Soulbeaver           23
mbenecke             23

NoClue remains in the lead in the Battle for the Beagan with mbenecke and MTUHuskyGold in second/third:

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Contestant     Points %   Games
NoClue          .696       153
mbenecke        .687       153
MTUHuskyGold    .671       153
puckdude40      .667       153
Tommiealum93    .662       142

There are only 5 weeks remaining in the regular season. Bracketology will be making its first appearance in the couple of weeks.

Week 17
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[footballguy51]

I picked up an account at USCHO in case the site goes dark for an extended time. I don't want to not post my well-researched and highly respected predictions and slide even further down the standings.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Let's give it up for our week 17 winner beaverhockeyfan who won the week with 24 points. Very nice! Also, let's give a vigorous round of stick taps to John J. MacInnes who, out of two ties on the weekend, was the only contestant to pick up any points from the Bowling Green/Notre Dame series. As Dan Rather would say, "Courage!" If you were wondering, six contestants correctly picked Northern to win on Friday. "Courage!"

We have a new leader at the top of the standings, our very own mbenecke posted 22 points on the week to take over the top spot from NoClue by 2 points. It looks like this is going to be a dogfight all the way to the finish. Puckdude40 is making a late run, 13 points back - is there enough time to catch the leaders? Same with iowabasedtraveller who slipped a bit this week.

At the 5:52 mark of the third period on Friday (45:52 total elapsed time), BG's Noah Morneau scored the game tying goal in South Bend. At the 19:51 mark of the second period on Saturday (39:51 total elapsed time), BG's Brayden Crampton scored the game tying goal in Bowling Green. Add 'em up and divide by 2 and you get 42:52 which equals 43 minutes when rounded up to the next minute. Congratulations to John J. MacInnes who hit the nail on the head and picks up all 5 bonus points. Here's how the bonus paid out this week:

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Contestant        Bonus
John J. MacInnes    5
Icd80               4
Manurespreader      4
beaverhockeyfan     3
puckdude40          2
SectionP            2
Soulbeaver          2
Bronco Hockey Fan   1
CFBHome             1
mbenecke            1

And with that 4-point performance this week we now see Icd80 in the drivers seat in the Race for the Sauer with longtime leader iowabasedtraveller trailing by 2 points and StevieYNot and iwearpurple lurking just 4 points back.

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Contestant         Bonus
Icd80               31
iowabasedtraveler   29
StevieYnot          27
iwearpurple         27
Soulbeaver          25

Since the field did such a rotten job last time we did total PIM's we'll run it again - but with only 6 games this time. We gotta do better on this one, gang.

In the Battle for the Beagan NoClue remains in first though mbenecke has made up some ground.

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Contestant   Points %   Games
NoClue        .690       163
mbenecke      .688       163
puckdude40    .669       163
Tommiealum9   .657       152
MTUHuskyGold  .654       163
GoNanooks     .653       149

There are only 4 weeks left in the regular season.

Week 18
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Week 18 congratulations go out to our very own BillyLP who walked away a winner by posting a score of 20!! Stick taps go to Berger21 and iwearpurple who were the only two contestants to pick Ferris to win over Bemidji on Friday and went 3-for-3 on the Friday picks. Also, stick taps to a lot of contestants who went 3-for-3 on the Saturday picks. Unfortunately, those sets were mutually exclusive; no one scored 100% on the final this week. With three weeks left in the season mbenecke still remains the leader with NoClue in second though iowabasedtraveller is making a late season push.

We reran the PIM bonus this week since the first time we did it no one got any points. Not this time, folks. There were a cool 100 penalty minutes on the weekend aided by two 10-min misconduct penalties in the BG/St. Thomas series (one for a really scary hit on Friday and one 'cause a dude shot a puck at the ref after the final whistle blew on Saturday). Three contestants got this one correct so let's give it up for BillyLP, iowabasedtraveller, and Soulbeaver! Here's how the bonus played out:

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Contestant          Bonus
BillyLP              10
iowabasedtraveler    10
Soulbeaver           10
beaverhockeyfan       8
Berger21              6
John J. MacInnes      6
mbenecke              5

The Race for the Sauer is now very different from last week. iowabasedtraveller now leads the way with 39 bonus points with Soulbeaver lurking just 4 opints back[/b]. Here's how it looks this week:

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Contestant          Bonus   
iowabasedtraveler    39
Soulbeaver           35
beaverhockeyfan      32
Icd80                31
mbenecke             29

In the Battle for the Beagan there was no movement between the top contestants; NoClue still leads mbenecke with puckdude40 in third.

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Contestant     Points %     Games
NoClue          .687         169
mbenecke        .675         169
puckdude40      .667         169
GoNanooks       .658         155
Tommiealum93    .656         158

There's no bonus question this week, the yearly bonus will be added to everyone's scores instead. Also, later in the week the first bracketology will be posted.

Week 19
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Our first look at the playoff brackets is out. Not happy you don't have a first round bye? Well, pick better. Don't like who you're paired with? Well, pick better!

[footballguy51]

Not happy you don't have a first round bye? Well, pick better.

So that's what I've been doing wrong!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Not happy you don't have a first round bye? Well, pick better.

So that's what I've been doing wrong!

You and me both...