MANKATO, Minn. – For the tenth time in program history, Minnesota State won the MacNaughton Cup as Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season champions. The Mavericks defended their 2024-25 title and celebrated a 3-0 victory over Northern Michigan in front of 4,872 fans at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
 
Senior goaltender Alex Tracy, along with defensemen Campbell Cichosz and Mason Wheeler lift the MacNaughton Cup for the third time in their MSU careers and Tracy made 20 saves Saturday night for his 12^th career shutout (second all-time in program history).
 
The Mavericks (18-9-7, 14-7-5 CCHA) finished the regular season with 51 points for the top seed in the CCHA quarterfinals, ahead of St. Thomas (50 pts), Augustana (50 pts), Michigan Tech (49 pts) and Bowling Green (49 pts). The team will host No. 8 seed Ferris State (7-25-2, 6-18-2 CCHA) in a best two of three series starting Friday in Mankato.
 
"Just a ton of resilience by the group," said head coach Luke Strand. "Winning is hard. It takes a whole village of people and guys stepped up and did their job. You can put some things in fate and others hands but eventually you have to do the work yourself, so I was super happy for the guys for that."
 
Evan Murr tucked in his eighth goal of the season for a 1-0 lead, the eventual game-winner. Luigi Benincasa and Liam Watkins added assists to the 4-on-4 goal 6:16 into the opening period for the Mavericks.
 
The Mavericks cemented the game with a pair of third period markers. Ean Somoza scored unassisted at 18:11. Goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton made a dash for the NMU bench, then attempted to return to the crease before Somoza's shot. Tristan Lemyre added an empty net tally 44 seconds later with assists by Liam Watkins and Jakob Stender.
 
Both teams were scoreless on the power play and the Mavericks outshot the Wildcats 35-20.
 
"It was a new experience for 17 guys this year," Strand said. "Tonight, I thought they capitalized on what they learned last night and took advantage of it."