With the regular season coming to a close, Missouri’s club hockey team has captured a second consecutive berth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association national championships. The Tigers locked up the top seed in Pool D and are ranked No. 4 overall going into the championships. The tournament will take place in St. Louis, Missouri and will feature the top 16 teams in Division III. 

Missouri will kick off group play with its matchup against the No.13 ranked Michigan State Spartans on March 7 at 5:15 p.m. After the opener, they’ll be back in action the following two nights facing off against Central Maine and Air Force. After all four teams have faced each other, only the team with the best record in those games will qualify for the semi-finals, set to take place on March 11.

The toughest opponent in the group will be the fifth-seeded Air Force Falcons. This appearance will be their sixth in the last seven years. Air Force have proven to be a force in these playoffs before and are led this year by forward Brett Oberle who has pocketed 31 goals in the campaign. Air Force will be hungry for revenge after falling to Missouri in the national tournament last year by a score of 7-5.

Because the Missouri hockey team is a club, it can be overshadowed by the D1 sports. The Tigers have found plenty of success in recent history as they have won back-to-back MACHA conference championships in 2023 and 2024. 

This year they took down KU in the MACHA championship game on Feb. 11, by a score of 12-7. This helped them qualify for their second straight ACHA playoff appearance. But, this year, the team has different expectations heading into the ACHA playoffs. Sophomore forward Trigg Johnson spoke about the feeling around this year’s team.

“Our expectations this year are the highest they can be,” Johnson said. “Last year, we got knocked out of Nationals in pool play by Hope College and ended up finishing eight in the nation. Anything less than first this year means we failed our pre-season expectations.”

Not only is a national championship the expectation for this team, but they have shown all year that they are capable of bringing a title back to Columbia. Missouri boasts a record of 22-4-1 and has shown success against multiple tough opponents.

Two major contributors to Missouri’s success this year have been forwards Nick Spolec and Andrew Knapp. The two players alone have combined for 120 points and Spolec is averaging 2.6 points per game. Spolec has assisted on 45 goals this season in just 25 games and many of those assists have found the stick of Knapp, who has netted 34 goals this year to lead Missouri in scoring. 

Despite the amount of success that has come from the team recently, they are still in need of funding as hockey at Missouri is only a club sport. Much of the funding for the team comes from events run by the players. The team organized a GoFundMe where anyone can contribute to the expenses of their national trip. With the recent success of the team comes new opportunities for Missouri club hockey’s future. They are looking to move from Division III to Division II ahead of the 2024-25 season. 

In the last game of the regular season on Feb. 29, Missouri suffered a 6-4 loss to the Jayhawks. This loss should give the team a spark heading into the playoffs, where they’ll look to take home the hardware.

Edited by Grace Ainger | gainger@themaneater.com 

Copy edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com 

Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com