Season 6 Episodes 3 & 4 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Short Individual and Model of Consistency. This week Tim Braun, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender sat down with the Commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Don Lucia. In this episode they discussed rule changes for the 2024-2025 season, Midco becoming the new streaming service for the league, the potential for future roster size changes, Augustana being a full participant in the CCHA, the CCHA media and coaches pre-season polls, listener questions and what Don is excited for this upcoming league season.
Rule changes
The guys started by voicing their disappointment that, due to a recent NCAA rule change, they won’t be able to see a goalie take a faceoff in the future. They also talked about a number of the other rule changes for the 2024-2025 season including a change to the high stick rule which allows for pucks to be played with a players stick at shoulder height. Don picked apart this rule and asked the hypothetical question about a player on his knees and how the rule would apply.
Another rule change discussed was the ability of the officials to remove the center from the faceoff dot. Don talked about players intentionally delaying the faceoff being the reason behind this rule change. Perhaps the biggest rule change Don noted was the fact that officials can call two minute penalties after completing video reviews of a play (previously could only call a 5 minute major or nothing). Rob was very happy with this change and the tough spot the old rule put the refs in.
New kid on the block
The guys talked about the CCHA moving from FloSports to Midco for streaming the league’s games. Don talked about the history that Midco has with streaming and said the deal was a home-run for the league. One change Don talked about was the league not having to give up the media rights to the streams/games. Don also mentioned that the games will be available to stream in Europe, though it will be through a different provider. Don said European fans should follow the CCHA website for an announcement in the future on the streaming provider in their area.
The guys talked about the involvement Midco will have with the quality of the streams for each school. Don talked about Midco touring each of the CCHA school and their hockey facilities and were impressed by the previous requirements and equipment put into place. Don said that all the schools have the same equipment already and most of the issues came down to lighting at certain arenas.
Roster size
Tim had this weird obsession with Tech’s roster size during the episode. The guys talked about a potential limit to roster sizes in NCAA sports that would limit hockey rosters to 26 players, but allow scholarships for all the players. Don talked about the limit being a non-factor at the moment since it has been throw out in court. Don shared that he didn’t think hockey schools would actually increase to 26 scholarships due to a number of waterfall effects doing so would have. Ultimately, Don didn’t know what the future of the limit would be and said the league/universities can’t put together a plan until the picture is clearer. The guys talked about the differences in how the rule would affect larger, football driven schools, versus schools driven by smaller sports such as hockey.
Conference talk
The guys spent time talking about the CCHA, specifically Augustana and the scheduling in the future. Don talked about Augustana exceeding expectations and the league wanting to assist them in growing their program. Don also talked about the upcoming season and how the playoff teams will be determined on a points percentage basis due to Augustana not playing a full conference schedule.
The guys discussed the 2025-2026 season and the 26 games that each team will play. Don talked about the number of home and away games the teams will play and also said that the league will try and keep each of the teams as close to home as possible for the last weekend of the season.
The third conference topic the guys discussed was preseason polls. Don took no responsibility for the CCHA preseason player and standings polls and how they turned out. The guys talked about their shared distaste for preseason polls, especially when some teams don’t play games until multiple weeks into the season.
Listener questions
There were a couple listener questions for Don. The first asked Don about the feedback he’s received, from players, about the changes the CCHA implemented to the playoffs in order to make the games feel more neutral, even when played on campus rinks. Don said the feedback had been positive and said it was an important adjustment for the league to make. He talked about future changes he’d like to see which included finding a way to better highlight the entire league during the championship game’s intermissions.
The next question asked if the CCHA was happy with the league championship being on Friday. Tim noted that the fans were happy with this change and Don thought the staggered start time to the semi-finals worked well too. Don brought up the extra day of travel afforded to the teams by having the championship on Friday and the benefits that provided. Don also talked about the increased viewership for both the semi-finals and championship. The guys talked about Michigan Tech being a consistent team the past few seasons and regularly making the NCAA tournament.
A third listener question asked Don what mascot he think would make a great theme for a school. Don didn’t really give an answer, but talked about all the mascots at the various Minnesota schools and noted the absence of more “traditional” Minnesota animals such as bears, moose and eagles. The guys briefly discussed why a Husky was chosen as Michigan Tech’s mascot and some of the scary looking costumes in the school’s history.
The final listener question asked if Don ever had contact with the players’ family advisors about the CCHA and general league information. Don said he didn’t and that most kids had the family advisors before being recruited by CCHA schools. This lead to a larger conversation about NCAA rules on amateurism and whether players from the CHL or various European leagues should be eligible to play in the NCAA. The guys talked about the NCAA fighting to keep the eligibility rules. Tim thought that kids should be allowed to change their minds at 18 years old after playing in the CHL at 16 years old. Don talked about the possibility of leveling the college hockey playing field by allowing those kids to play and that the older players will still want to come play college hockey against other players their own age.
Final thoughts
Before Don left, Matt asked what he was excited for in this upcoming season. Don talked about being excited about bringing Augustana more into the fold, having a competitive league and getting to all of the arenas in the CCHA to watch games. The guys veered off on a tangent and briefly talked about the NCAA tournament and the frustrations around the quick turn around time after the conference tournaments are done and the locations where each team is playing are announced. The guys mostly blamed ESPN for the issue due to conflicting television schedules with other sports.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 18 minutes long. Rob did a deep dive into the sandwich he was eating. Matt talked about his future father in law’s meat smoking and slicing set up. There was extended conversation about smoking meats (noticing a theme yet?). The guys talked about football and their fantasy football leagues. There was more sandwich and food talk.
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