Going into Saturday, Notre Dame was the CCHA standings leader by two points. All the Fighting Irish needed was a regulation victory or a loss by Michigan to clinch the regular season CCHA title. Fortunately for the Wolverines, neither of those things happened.
↵As the news of Notre Dame's loss to Western Michigan made its way to Marquette, Michigan was already well on its way to a win over Northern Michigan. The Wolverines were rolling, so much so that starting goaltender Shawn Hunwick pulled himself with six minutes left in the third to give senior Bryan Hogan a chance to play. Hogan got injured right before the Big Chill was about to begin and hadn't seen any action since coming back. He finished the game on Saturday, though, and helped Michigan shut out the Wildcats for a 5-0 victory.
↵Because the Wolverines' win was in regulation, they received three points in the CCHA standings, bumping them ahead of Notre Dame for first place in the conference. This is Michigan's 11th CCHA regular season championship, and in the coming weeks it will look to add another CCHA playoffs title. The Wolverines made an amazing run at the end of last season to win the playoffs title, and this year they will start their quest for a repeat with a first-round bye and possession of the No. 1 seed.
↵Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Western Michigan and Ferris State have first-round byes. The round one matchups for the CCHA playoffs are as follows: Bowling Green at Northern Michigan, Michigan State at Alaska and Ohio State at Lake Superior. Ferris State will play at Western Michigan in two weeks, and Michigan, Notre Dame and Miami will play the winners of the other matchups. Because each round is reseeded, Michigan will get to face the lowest seed that advances.