On Saturday, March 18, 1978, Bowling Green from the fledgling CCHA conference hosted and won an NCAA tournament game, defeating Colorado College 5-3. It was the first NCAA victory of any kind for a CCHA team, and it earned coach Ron Mason’s Falcons a trip to the NCAA semifinals in Providence, RI, a major coming-out party for the young league. 

The Falcons did not embarrass themselves or their circuit, defeating the reigning champion Wisconsin Badgers in the consolation game. It was their second NCAA tournament scalp in as many weeks over WCHA programs, the nation’s most powerful conference. It sent a beacon to the hockey world that there was a new force to be reckoned with out west. 

Coach Mason guided the Falcons to three straight NCAA tournaments in the late 1970s, creating a spotlight for the CCHA due in large part to Mason’s star recruits, like Miracle on Ice stalwarts Ken Morrow and Mark Wells, as well as future NHL All-Star Mike Liut.

It is only fitting that this past Wednesday that the CCHA announced their tournament champions would be awarded the Ron Mason Cup, named after the man who won the 1986 NCAA Championship for then-CCHA superpower Michigan State. The trophy was established in 2001 and then awarded 12 more times until the CCHA was disbanded in 2013. It makes perfect sense for the CCHA to dust off the trophy that honors their USA Hockey Hall of Fame legend.

“Ron Mason was one of the most influential coaches in the history of college hockey, and we could not be happier to continue to honor his legacy,” said CCHA commissioner Don Lucia via press release. 

When Mason retired as a bench coach in 2002 to become the Spartans athletic director, he left the game as the winningest Division I coach in history (surpassed by Jerry York in 2012). His CCHA accomplishments were prodigious: 10 regular-season titles and a record 13 CCHA tournament championships.

Travis Walsh, a standout defenseman from Michigan State, is pleased that the trophy honoring his beloved grandfather is coming off the shelf.

“I think it’s a great thing, and well deserved from everything he did,” said Walsh, who just retired from pro hockey. “Growing up, it was just all CCHA. To me, that was the elite conference of the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s.”

The Mason Cup now gives the CCHA two historic trophies to honor its champions. Last month they announced that the MacNaughton Cup — the oldest trophy in college hockey — will be awarded to the CCHA regular-season champions. The silver bookends give the revamped league instant gravitas, assuming there are no title sponsors to sully legends MacNaughton or Mason.

The renaissance continues for the new/old CCHA. The conference athletic directors voted unanimously to upgrade the production value for all its member schools’ broadcasts, including motion graphics and the addition of new overhead cameras for all goal reviews. It has also just launched its user-friendly website, CCHA.com. A quick perusal reveals a 2021-22 schedule which includes some appointment viewing. Here are three games worth uploading to your digital calendars: NCAA tourney upstart Bemidji hosts Bowling Green on October 29; WCHA tourney champion Lake Superior traverses the Upper Peninsula to take on rival Michigan Tech on November 29; and Rico Blasi’s St. Thomas Tommies travel to Northern Michigan for their Division I debut on October 8. 

Blasi will be featured on exclusively on FloHockey in the next edition of CCHA RinkRap.

Tim Rappleye is the author of two books: Jack Parker's Wiseguys and Hobey Baker, Upon Further Review. You can find him on Twitter.