1991 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 1991 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 32nd conference playoff in league history and 39th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between March 1 and March 11, 1991. First round games were played at home team campus sites while all 'Final Four' matches were held at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Northern Michigan was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Format
The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. The team that finished ninth in the conference was not eligible for tournament play. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 8 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top four seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.
The winners of the first round series advanced to the semifinal and championship rounds held at the Civic Center. All Final Four games used a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top remaining seed matched against lowest remaining seed in one semifinal game while the two other semifinalists meeting with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers competing in a Third Place contest. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Conference Standings[4]
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
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Conference |
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Overall |
GP |
W |
L |
T |
PTS |
GF |
GA |
GP |
W |
L |
T |
GF |
GA |
Northern Michigan†* | 32 | 25 | 3 | 4 | 54 | 185 | 89 | | 47 | 38 | 5 | 4 | 283 | 133 |
Minnesota | 32 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 49 | 151 | 97 | | 45 | 30 | 10 | 5 | 215 | 142 |
Wisconsin | 32 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 40 | 132 | 108 | | 44 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 174 | 143 |
North Dakota | 32 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 38 | 148 | 127 | | 43 | 24 | 17 | 2 | 207 | 171 |
St. Cloud State | 32 | 12 | 16 | 4 | 28 | 124 | 152 | | 41 | 18 | 19 | 4 | 170 | 186 |
Minnesota-Duluth | 32 | 11 | 15 | 6 | 28 | 114 | 133 | | 40 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 142 | 164 |
Michigan Tech | 32 | 9 | 21 | 2 | 20 | 105 | 134 | | 41 | 13 | 25 | 3 | 139 | 164 |
Colorado College | 32 | 9 | 22 | 1 | 19 | 106 | 139 | | 40 | 13 | 26 | 1 | 129 | 169 |
Denver | 32 | 5 | 25 | 2 | 12 | 95 | 182 | | 38 | 6 | 30 | 2 | 109 | 224 |
Championship: Northern Michigan † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll |
Bracket
Teams are reseeded after the first round
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First Round March 1-3 |
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Semifinals March 10 |
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Championship March 11 |
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|
|
|
1 |
Northern Michigan |
7 |
6 |
— |
|
1 |
Northern Michigan |
8 |
|
|
8 |
Colorado College |
0 |
3 |
— |
|
4 |
North Dakota |
4 |
|
|
|
2 |
Minnesota |
5 |
6 |
— |
|
7 |
Michigan Tech |
3 |
5 |
— |
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|
1 |
Northern Michigan |
4 |
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|
|
2 |
Minnesota |
2 |
|
|
3 |
Wisconsin |
5 |
5 |
— |
|
6 |
Minnesota-Duluth |
1 |
2 |
— |
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Third place |
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|
4 |
North Dakota |
2 |
10 |
7 |
|
2 |
Minnesota |
3 |
|
5 |
St. Cloud State |
4 |
2 |
4 |
|
3 |
Wisconsin |
2 |
|
|
3 |
Wisconsin |
2 |
|
4 |
North Dakota |
5 |
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Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
First Round
(1) Northern Michigan vs. (8) Colorado College
Northern Michigan won series 2–0 |
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(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan Tech
(3) Wisconsin vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth
(4) North Dakota vs. (5) St. Cloud State
North Dakota won series 2–1 |
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Semifinals
(1) Northern Michigan vs. (4) North Dakota
(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Wisconsin
Third Place
(3) Wisconsin vs. (4) North Dakota
Championship
(1) Northern Michigan vs. (2) Minnesota
Tournament awards
- Bill Pye (Northern Michigan)
See also
References
External links