The 1996 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 37th conference playoff in league history and 44th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between March 1 and March 9, 1996. First round games were played at home team campus sites while all 'Final Five' matches were held at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By winning the tournament, Minnesota was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 9 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top five seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advanced to the Bradley Center for the WCHA Final Five, the collective name for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds. The Final Five uses a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 5 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the semifinals and the remaining two playing in a quarterfinal game. The semifinal pitted the top remaining seed against the winner of the quarterfinal game while the two other teams that received byes were matched against one another with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers meeting in a Third Place contest. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

1995–96 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Colorado College†3226245617878423354225104
Minnesota*32219244155954230102204121
Denver3217123371201123922143149131
Minnesota-Duluth3216151331161093820171139125
North Dakota3216151331271263819181162155
Wisconsin3214153311101234017203145160
Michigan Tech3212146301081184218186145159
St. Cloud State3210184241061323913224135153
Alaska-Anchorage3282052086130379235103153
Northern Michigan325252126414739730283174
Championship: Minnesota
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

[4]

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

First Round
March 1–3		Quarterfinal
March 7		Semifinals
March 8		Championship
March 9
1Colorado College46—
10Northern Michigan31—
1Colorado College3
2Minnesota67—7Michigan Tech4*7Michigan Tech4
9Alaska-Anchorage41—8St. Cloud State3
3Denver1602Minnesota7
8St. Cloud State3447Michigan Tech2
4Minnesota-Duluth43—
7Michigan Tech54—2Minnesota4*
6Wisconsin3
5North Dakota54—
6Wisconsin65—

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals

(1) Colorado College vs. (10) Northern Michigan

March 1 Colorado College 4 – 3 Northern Michigan Cadet Ice Arena
March 2 Colorado College 6 – 1 Northern Michigan Cadet Ice Arena
Colorado College won series 2–0

(2) Minnesota vs. (9) Alaska-Anchorage

March 1 Minnesota 6 – 4 Alaska-Anchorage Mariucci Arena
March 2 Minnesota 7 – 1 Alaska-Anchorage Mariucci Arena
Minnesota won series 2–0

(3) Denver vs. (8) St. Cloud State

March 1 Denver 1 – 3 St. Cloud State DU Arena
March 2 Denver 6 – 4 St. Cloud State DU Arena
March 3 Denver 0 – 4 St. Cloud State DU Arena
St. Cloud State won series 2–1

(4) Minnesota-Duluth vs. (7) Michigan Tech

March 1 Minnesota-Duluth 4 – 5 Michigan Tech DECC
March 2 Minnesota-Duluth 3 – 4 Michigan Tech DECC
Michigan Tech won series 2–0

(5) North Dakota vs. (6) Wisconsin

March 1 North Dakota 5 – 6 Wisconsin Ralph Engelstad Arena
March 2 North Dakota 4 – 5 Wisconsin Ralph Engelstad Arena
Wisconsin won series 2–0

Quarterfinal

(7) Michigan Tech vs. (8) St. Cloud State

March 7 Michigan Tech 4 – 3 OT St. Cloud State Bradley Center

Semifinals

(1) Colorado College vs. (7) Michigan Tech

March 8 Colorado College 3 – 4 Michigan Tech Bradley Center

(2) Minnesota vs. (6) Wisconsin

March 8 Minnesota 4 – 3 OT Wisconsin Bradley Center

Third Place

(1) Colorado College vs. (6) Wisconsin

March 9 Colorado College 6 – 4 Wisconsin Bradley Center

Championship

(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan Tech

March 9 Minnesota 7 – 2 Michigan Tech Bradley Center

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Minnesota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Doug Woog Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ "WCHA Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
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