Augustana hockey joins CCHA, eyes playoff contentions early
The Augustana men’s hockey team is set to hit the ice in their second season with conference contentions a year ahead of schedule.
The Vikings went 12-18-4 in their inaugural season against opponents ranging from Big Ten schools to National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) teams.
On July 15, 2024, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) announced that Augustana would join the conference as a full member a year ahead of schedule.
“It’s a great surprise,” head coach Garrett Raboin said. “There’s nothing better than telling our guys in the middle of the summer that there’s potential we could compete in the postseason.”
Raboin notes he said “potential,” as only the top eight of nine CCHA teams will compete in the playoffs for a chance at the Mason Cup.
“I think we’re pretty excited as a group,” senior forward Luke Mobley said. “I think last year, we felt we probably could have competed and maybe won it, so to be in a year early and to have a chance to compete for a championship is pretty exciting, especially because we’ve got some good players and we’ll be able to build on what we had last year.”
Mobley had a successful first year at Augustana. He was named an assistant captain, scored the first Viking goal in the Midco Arena on opening night and after, scored 16 goals and assisted in 24 goals across the inaugural season. Mobley also received CCHA All-Academic honors.
Mobley was named captain of the team in mid-September. Alongside him on leadership are assistant captains senior defenseman Brady Ziemer, senior defenseman Evan McIntyre and fifth-year forward Payton Matsui.
Augustana racked up 26 points from the 16 contests that were under the CCHA guidelines and went 7-7-2 against their future conference opponents. Based on the final record of last season, if the Vikings had been in the conference, they would have tied for third place with 1.63 points per game.
When the Vikings took to the ice in their first season, the CCHA planned for the Vikings to be playoff-eligible in year three.
Raboin explained that when the University of St. Thomas announced that they would be moving up to the NCHC by 2026, the league started exploring how the playoff scene would look once the Tommies departed.
Since the conference made the announcement mid-summer, the Vikings will keep their 16-game schedule modification, 10 games less than the typical conference schedule. When the Vikings take the ice in the 2025-2026 season, they will compete with the full 26-game schedule.
According to the CCHA release in July, the upcoming season will implement a points percentage scoring to allow for Augustana’s limited schedule and uneven amount of conference games to be taken into account for fair standings.
Josh Morton, vice president of athletics, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity.
“I think about our athletes that now have something that they can chase, but also it’s a credit to all those who put in so much work to build this program,” Morton said.
In early September, the hockey team was voted to finish sixth in CCHA preseason polls by league coaches. They were voted to finish seventh in CCHA media polls. This marks the first preseason poll in the team’s history as they did not qualify in their first season.
The Vikings will kick off their season with an exhibition game in Grand Forks, N. D., as they take on the Univeristy of North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Oct. 5.
The Vikings will face off against the Long Island University Sharks at home on Friday, Oct. 11, with the puck dropping at 7:07 p.m.
The Vikings will work towards the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs beginning March 12 and lasting until March 22.
