Northern Michigan University’s Andre Ghantous, center, stuffs the puck past Augustana goalie Josh Kotai, right, to score his 50th collegiate goal during their game on Dec. 2 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

DEEPHAVEN, Minn. — The CCHA’s loss has become Augustana University’s gain.

And in the final analysis, actually the CCHA’s, too.

With the announcement of St. Thomas leaving the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the CCHA looked at and decided to invite Augustana in as a full member a year earlier than previously planned.

Now the Vikings will be considered a full member of the league starting this fall even as the South Dakota university doesn’t play a full slate of games.

Despite the apparent tradeoff of St. Thomas leaving and Augustana coming in, the CCHA will actually expand to nine teams for the next two seasons as St. Thomas remains in the CCHA through 2025-26.

St. Thomas becomes the second school to join the NCHC recently as Arizona State becomes a full member of that conference this fall. St. Thomas’ entry will bring the NCHC to 10 teams.

For the CCHA, its new lineup of nine teams doesn’t divide very evenly into a playoff system without byes or extra partial rounds, so the league decided to keep its playoff field at eight and leave out the last-place team from the field, at least for this season.

The CCHA announced in a Tuesday news release that the early acceptance of Augustana was recommended by the league’s Management Council and voted on by the Board of Directors. Keeping the playoff field at eight was also part of the decision.

“Augustana has followed through on everything asked of them by our CCHA members and this decision will allow the Vikings to continue to grow their program,” CCHA Commissioner Don Lucia said in the release. “The institution’s support of their hockey program across the board has been impressive and allowing them to compete for the MacNaughton Cup and Mason Cup is a reward for their commitment.”

The MacNaughton Cup is awarded to the regular-season champion and Mason Cup to the playoff titlist.

Then there was the matter of an uneven schedule. Already-established members like Northern Michigan University play 26 league games, as they face most of the league four games apiece.

Meanwhile, Augustana was only on the schedule for a single two-game series against each CCHA squad for a total of 16 games. Originally, for this season none of those games for any of the teams involved were going to count in the league standings.

Now they will. In order to even out the difference between 16 games and 26, the CCHA said in its release that it will use a points percentage to determine the standings. Basically, since a school like NMU plays 1.625 times more games, each of Augustana’s points will count 1.625 times more.

“Augustana, led by head coach Garrett Raboin, had a tremendous first year,” Lucia added in the release, alluding to the Vikings’ 12-18-4 record. “Allowing them to compete in our playoffs is the right thing to do for their student-athletes and program as they move forward as a CCHA member.”

In their overall record, Augustana went 7-7-2 vs. current CCHA members, including a 2-2 tie and 5-3 victory at NMU on Dec. 1-2. The Vikings also swept Bowling Green State at home in mid-October and St. Thomas at home in mid-February, while getting swept by Michigan Tech in early November and Ferris State in late January.

Using the system that the CCHA is adopting this season, the Vikings would’ve gained 26 points in 16 league games in 2023-24, which with the multiplier, would’ve placed Augustana in third place.

Augustana will play a full CCHA schedule in 2025-26, the year the Vikings were originally set to join the league as a full member. Schools usually set their schedules several years ahead of time, not allowing AU to add in an extra 10 games vs. the CCHA this late in the process.

“We couldn’t ask for better news as we get ready to start our second year of Augustana hockey,” AU director of athletics Josh Morton said in the CCHA release. “We are so appreciative of our colleagues and fellow members in the CCHA.

“This opportunity is a testament to the work put in by so many at Augustana and our community. Most importantly, it gives Coach Raboin, his staff and our student-athletes a championship to pursue.”

“We look forward to an elevated excitement that comes with countable points in CCHA competitions and a path forward to the playoffs,” Raboin said. “Our other league members felt that we deserved an opportunity to compete in the playoffs a year early, and we’ll look to continue to add value and represent the CCHA at the highest levels possible. Not only is this a tremendous piece of our build, but our athletes, fans and community could not be more thrilled.”

Augustana’s Midco Arena opened on Jan. 26 and hosted 10 games to close out last season. The facility seats 3,082 and includes coaches offices, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, team lounges and locker rooms for various athletic programs at the university.

Last season, Bemidji State captured its second MacNaughton Cup title, while Michigan Tech earned its third straight trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament by winning its first Mason Cup.

Quests for both prestigious pieces of hardware get underway on Oct. 5, when the Wildcats and Huskies meet in Houghton for a preseason exhibition.

Northern’s regular season opens Oct. 11-12 at Colorado College, its home opener Oct. 18-19 vs. Alaska-Anchorage, its CCHA opener on Nov. 1-2 vs. Michigan Tech (Friday home, Saturday away) and its meeting with Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Nov. 29-30.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.