Maryland Heights, MO – The CMCC Men's Hockey team wrapped up a successful 2024-25 season by picking up their second win at the ACHA National Championships in St. Louis, MO, beating the Colorado School of Mines 5-2 on Thursday afternoon. The victory at the Centene Community Ice Center, practice facility of the NHL's St. Louis Blues, gave the #12 seeded Mustangs a 2-1-0 record and a runner-up finish in Group D behind #4 Oakland University, who went 3-0-0.

"I am so proud of this group," said head coach Jordy Knoren. "We faced a lot of adversity this year, but they came together and played their hearts out. Being able to pick up two wins at nationals is something we should be proud of, and I am sure we will appreciate it a little more when everything has settled down. It's an honor to coach this group."

With only one squad advancing to the semifinals from each of the four-team groups, the Mustangs bring their campaign to an end with a 24-8-0 overall record. The pair of victories at the national tournament are the first in the program's history, after going 0-2-1 in their first appearance last year.

Thursday's win avenged a pair of defeats at the hands of the Orediggers win the early part of the season. The Colorado School of Mines made the trip out to New England way back in October, beating Central Maine 6-4 and 5-2 at Norway Savings Bank Arena. They were the only losses the Mustangs would suffer on home ice all year.

Coming off a shutout loss to the Golden Grizzlies, CMCC wasted no time getting on the board in the first period. Captain Diego Alonso threw a shot towards the net from the right wing that goaltender Gage Oyler got his blocker to. Dylan Blue corraled it at the top of the crease only to see his attempt saved, with the rebound trickling through the netminder's pads in the crease. Forward Zach Jones was on hand to sweep it home on the backhand for a 1-0 lead after just 2:20.

The Mustangs added one more before the first intermission. Oyler attempted to clear a dump-in up the boards, but Mikita Kalmykov knocked it down at the right circle. The Minsk, Belarus native skated to the side of the crease before sending a pass over to Colby Pawson who one-timed it into the net. It was the forward's third goal of the tournament to make it 2-0 with 5:43 remaining.

Central Maine made it a 3-0 lead less than four minutes into the second. Alonso deflected a breakout pass, keeping the puck in the offensive zone and quickly chipping it ahead to Jones for a two-on-one. The transfer from UNE repaid the favor to D. Blue, passing across the slot to set him up for the goal this time. The Lewiston High School product still had a lot to do, taking the pass off his left skate, but snapped his shot just inside the far post past the goaltender's glove.

Things went from bad to worse for Colorado with 6:06 left in the middle frame. Forward Andrew Brekken received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Ethan Blue, drilling the defenseman with a hit from behind into the corner.

The Orediggers got a route back into the game with a rare penalty shot in regulation time. Ripken Renner forced a turnover at the point and raced in on a breakaway before being hooked by Kalmykov. The forward made no mistake on the penalty shot attempt, slowly cruising into the zone and throwing a series of fake shots before deking around goaltender Sebastian Couturier. His goal with 1:19 left in the period made it 3-1 going into the third.

The #13 seeded team kept that momentum going with another tally early in the third. Less than a minute in, defenseman Kellen Gormley kept a clearing attempt in the zone and quickly picked out Nicholas Malaniuk with a pass on the doorstep. He cut to the top of the crease and flipped a shot into the top corner to cut the deficit down to one with nearly a full period still to play.

The Mustangs held onto their 3-2 lead but did not go into a defensive shell, still looking for opportunities to add an insurance marker. That paid off with two nearly identical goals near the midway point of the period.

First, the two alternate captains from Lewiston combined on a quickfire strike. Michael Belleau won an offensive zone face-off back to former Blue Devils teammate Evan Knowlton, who hammered a shot home past the surprised goaltender with 9:06 remaining.

Less than a minute later, Pawson tallied his second of the night from the same area to put the game away. Leading scorer Aaron Higgins took the face-off from the right circle this time, sending it towards the net rather than pulling it back. Oyler attempted to knock it away, but the Messalonskee High School product beat him to the puck, pushing it in for his 13th goal of the season.

Central Maine held on from there, surviving a two-minute long 6-on-4 stretch in the final minutes to seal a 5-2 win and their second victory in three days at the national tournament.

The Mustangs will have a lot to look back on fondly in the offseason. Besides setting a new program record for wins in a campaign, they also had some individual accolades. ACHA 2nd-Team All-Athletic forward Higgins rounded out his first year at CM with 62 points, the most ever tallied in a single season. Senior forward Cody Ivey departs with the all-time career record of 93 points. Junior goaltender Couturier finishes his tenure with the team, leaving behind a team record of 45 career wins.