The Columbia Ice Eagles pose with their trophy after defeating Collinsville on Thursday to finish the MVCHA regular season in first place with an 18-1-2 record. (submitted photo)

The regular season has ended in the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association with Columbia securing the top seed for the playoffs that begin this week.

The Ice Eagles defeated Collinsville on Thursday, 5-3, to conclude the regular season with a record of 18-1-2. Cam Nowak scored four goals with an assist. Jacob Matthews added two assists.

The team’s only loss during the regular season came Dec. 21 to Freeburg-Waterloo. 

With the top seed, Columbia receives a bye in the first round of the best-of-three-game MVCHA Varsity 2A playoffs and will take on the winner of Granite City vs. Collinsville starting Feb. 8 at the McKendree Rec Plex in O’Fallon.

“We’ve been on a pretty good run lately,” Ice Eagles head coach Kevin Feager said. “It was nice winning the regular season, but we know that won’t mean nearly as much if we don’t have a good showing in the playoffs.”

Sean Hofstetter leads Columbia in scoring with 31 goals and 18 assists. Hudson Miller is next with 26 goals and nine assists.

‘Dogs still hungry

Freeburg-Waterloo is limping into the playoffs following a loss to Granite City last Tuesday, 5-4, to end its regular season.

“We may have lost, but the score doesn’t do the game justice,” Raging Bulldogs head coach Scott Roberts said. “We outshot them 40-16, but couldn’t find the back of the net as much as we should have.”

Logan Crowl scored two goals for the Raging Bulldogs in defeat.

Freeburg-Waterloo finished in third place with a record of 14-5-2 after starting the season 13-0-1. The Raging Bulldogs will face sixth seed Belleville starting Thursday at Granite City. 

Game two of the three-game series takes place Monday in O’Fallon. Game three, if necessary, will take place Feb. 6 in Granite City.

“We hit a rough patch there for a few games. Playing two top teams in Columbia and O’Fallon four games in a row didn’t help,” Roberts said. “We just couldn’t find the back of the net. I believe we had too much confidence given our strong start and I’ll take full blame for that. We now know that we are beatable and that may turn out to be a good thing. We know what taking a loss feels like, and the boys don’t like it.”

Roberts said his team will have its hands full with a tough Belleville squad in the first round. Freeburg-Waterloo went 2-0-1 against Belleville during the regular season.

“We just have to come out from the second the puck drops and play our game,” he said. “We know we can beat anyone, as we have proven that by starting off 13-0-1.

“We will be ready to prove we are one of the best teams in the league once the playoffs start.”