The 2024–25 Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings men's ice hockey season was the second season of play for the program and 2nd in the CCHA. The Vikings represented Augustana University, played their home games at Midco Arena and were coached by Garrett Raboin in his second season.
Season In the off-season, the CCHA announced that the timeline for Augustana was being moved up. Rather than become a full conference member in 2025–26, the Vikings would be eligible for the conference tournament in 2024–25. As schedules had already been set before the announcement, the CCHA would use point percentage to determine Augustana's place in the standings. With that decided, Augustana entered its second season of varsity ice hockey.
From the very beginning, the Vikings were exceeding expectations. Picked to finish 6th in the preseason poll, the team got a sizable boost from the vastly improved play of Josh Kotai. The Sophomore netminder recorded his first two career shutouts in the first two weeks of the season. At the same time, the team also earned its first ever weekend sweep of a ranked team when they shut down Omaha and climbed into the top 10 of the PairWise rankings, albeit temporarily. After a bit of a lull to end the month, Augustana's defense settled down and the team was able to post a winning record in the first half of the season.
At the beginning of January, the Vikings earned another surprising sweep when they took down Colorado College. The two wins over a top-10 opponent lifted the team up into the top 20 of the PairWise rankings and gave the club an outside chance to earn its way into the NCAA tournament. While Augustana didn't lose over the next three weeks, their weak opponents caused the Vikings' ranking to slip. However, when the team was set to face Minnesota State for a battle of conference supremacy, they had not only climbed back into the top 20 but they were also appearing in the national polls themselves. The series against the Mavericks could have propelled Augustana towards an at-large bid, however, the Vikings were unable to get their offense on track and scored just one goal in each match (both losses). Due primarily to their weak schedule, the team had very little chance for an appearance on merit afterwards. What little chance they had evaporated in the final weekend of the year when they were swept by Alaska and dropped into the bottom half of the PairWise.
With their last remaining chance at the postseason being a conference championship, Augustana was at least able to rely on their 2nd-place finish to get favorable seeding in the quarterfinals. The Vikings opened with a comfortable win over Bemidji State but the Beavers fought back to capture the second game. The deciding match saw both teams take a 1-goal lead, however, by the end of regulation the score remained tied and Augustana found itself it the program's first elimination game. It didn't take long as just over 4 minutes into overtime, Kotai was beat by a quick shot from the wall and the Vikings' season was suddenly over.
Departures Chase Brand Forward Graduation (signed with Reading Royals) Shay Donovan Forward Graduation (retired) Jack Jensen Forward Signed professional contract (Idaho Steelheads) Ryan Naumovski Forward Graduation (signed with Kalamazoo Wings) Ethan Perrault Defenseman Transferred to Buffalo State Zack Rose Goaltender Graduation (retired) Anthony Stark Defenseman Graduation (retired) Arnaud Vachon Forward Graduation (signed with Greenville Swamp Rabbits)
Recruiting Owen Baumgartner Defenseman 22 Owatonna, MN; transfer from Air Force Joey DelGreco Forward 20 Grand Rapids, MN Garett Drotts Forward 20 Grand Rapids, MN Tyler Hennen Forward 20 Hallock, MN Nace Langus Forward 19 Jesenice, SLO Christian Manz Goaltender 20 Blaine, MN Payton Matsui Forward 24 Lakeville, MN; transfer from Alaska Carter Theissen Defenseman 21 Plymouth, MN Easton Young Defenseman 21 Grand Rapids, MN
Roster As of July 30, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=";" |
Scoring statistics F 35 10 13 23 14 F 35 7 16 23 2 F 34 8 13 21 2 F 34 13 7 20 14 F 32 7 10 17 6 C 29 6 10 16 8 RW 32 5 11 16 2 F 35 7 8 15 20 D 34 3 12 15 29 F 28 6 7 13 21 D 33 3 10 13 25 F 23 6 6 12 8 D 21 2 9 11 21 D 35 1 10 11 24 F 32 6 3 9 27 D 24 2 6 8 12 D 33 1 7 8 8 LW 20 1 6 7 8 D 35 0 4 4 16 F 18 1 2 3 6 F 12 1 1 2 2 F 23 1 1 2 17 G 31 0 1 1 2 D 6 0 0 0 0 D 22 0 0 0 6 G 5 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 6 Total 97 173 270 306
Goaltending statistics 31 1808:58 17 10 3 58 843 3 .936 1.92 6 295:34 1 3 1 14 118 0 .894 2.84 Empty Net - 24:45 - - - 3 - - - - Total 35 2129:17 18 13 4 75 961 3 .928 2.11
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRRV1917RVRVRVNRNRNRNR-NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRRVRV17RV20NRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors Josh KotaiCCHA Second Team Luke Mobley
References