St. John’s hockey clinches regular season MIAC conference title

The SJU hockey team wrapped up their 2025-26 regular season with a sweep of Concordia-Moorhead, securing the Johnnies their 10th MIAC regular season championship, and the number one seed for the upcoming MIAC playoffs tournament. This postseason appearance will be the Johnnies eighth in the last 10 seasons.

Head coach Doug Schueller said that winning the MIAC conference championship was a huge accomplishment, and the team was consistent throughout the year. He complemented goaltender, Jon Howe, for playing every game and remaining steady.

“To win a MIAC championship, you need to be doing something right,” Schueller said. “I thought the guys played great all year.”

Schueller was very pleased with his team’s performance. He said the team found its identity by committing to how they want to play throughout the season. One key moment that Schueller highlighted was the series against Trine, a non-conference opponent, and a Top 10 team in the country.

He described it as the best hockey of the year that the Johnnies played as they swept the series at home. The two games in the series boosted the team’s confidence in playing against any team in the country. This defining moment allowed the team to see and feel the success of playing against a top team in the country.

Schueller’s main goal for the team is to make it to the NCAA tournament by winning each MIAC playoff game. He said that the team has already accomplished the goal of clinching the conference title, but there is still plenty more to achieve.

“We haven’t accomplished all our goals, but we’re progressing in the right direction to accomplish those goals,” Schueller said.

Senior goaltender Jon Howe explained how the team got off to a fast start, winning their first five games of the season despite two of the games going into a shootout which went into the record as ties even though they ended up winning. He mentioned how the team had lost only one or two games before break and then came back and swept nationally ranked Trine which gave them confidence heading into the second half of the season.

Howe said the biggest strength that the team showed was resilience, where the team was dealing with a couple of injuries during break, as well as games that seemed out of reach for them in years past. Resilience was a huge difference this year compared to previous years in terms of having the will to compete and keeping the team together.

Howe explained how team chemistry was a large part of their success this season, especially helping freshmen adjust to the team by hanging out on weekends. According to Howe, the main challenge for the team was overcoming injuries.

One particular injury that impacted the team was losing their assistant captain, Parker Gnos. Howe described Gnos as being a huge impact player and a great leader. Losing Gnos was an opportunity for teammates to step up and fill in the void. Howe’s mindset going into the playoffs—both physically and mentally—is to outwork the other team and play playoff-style hockey.

Senior defenseman Mason Campbell said the team’s season went well with the ups and downs that they have had. The season was more on the upside, which helped the team keep their confidence up all year.

Campbell elaborated on how the confidence from the regular season will give the team a great opportunity to play confidently in the postseason. He mentioned how the offseason workouts in the fall developed the team’s agility to compete against good MIAC teams. An aspect that stood out to Campbell was the willingness to win. Campbell described the team’s mindset for the postseason as staying confident and being selfless.

The Johnnies will face off against the Bethel Royals in the second round of the MIAC playoff tournament on Feb. 28 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The two teams each won one game during their regular season series against each other on Dec. 4-5, 2025.