2017 NCHC Tournament

2017 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
2017 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 10–18, 2017
Teams	8
Finals site	Target Center; Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (1st title)
Winning coach	Scott Sandelin (1st title)
MVP	Alex Iafallo (Minnesota-Duluth)
	NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 NCHC Tournament was the fourth tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and March 18, 2017. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Minnesota-Duluth received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. All eight conference teams participate in the tournament. Teams are 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 earn home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advance to the Target Center for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff uses a single-elimination format. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.^[1]

Conference standings

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

2016–17 National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings v t e
	Conference record								Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	SOW	PTS	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#1 Denver†	24	18	3	3	2	59	82	42	44	33	7	4	152	80
#2 Minnesota–Duluth*	24	15	5	4	3	52	83	56	42	28	7	7	140	95
#10 Western Michigan	24	13	9	2	1	42	79	75	40	22	13	5	113	114
#9 North Dakota	24	11	12	1	1	35	69	63	40	21	16	3	127	104
St. Cloud State	24	10	13	1	0	31	64	69	36	16	19	1	105	109
Omaha	24	9	13	2	0	29	74	89	39	17	17	5	122	128
Miami	24	5	14	5	3	23	57	80	36	9	20	7	91	113
Colorado College	24	4	16	4	1	17	43	77	36	8	24	4	70	120
Championship: March 18, 2017 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 6, 2017

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

Quarterfinals March 10–12					Semifinals March 17			Championship March 18

1	Denver	4	4	—

8	Colorado College	0	0	—
					1	Denver	0

					4	North Dakota	1
2	Minnesota-Duluth	5*	5	—

7	Miami	4	3	—
								4	North Dakota	3
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
								2	Minnesota-Duluth	4
3	Western Michigan	1	5	2*

6	Omaha	2*	2	1
					2	Minnesota-Duluth	5	Third Place

					3	Western Michigan	2
4	North Dakota	5	6*	—				1	Denver	3

5	St. Cloud State	2	5	—				3	Western Michigan	1

* denotes overtime periods

Results

All times are local.

Quarterfinals

(1) Denver vs. (8) Colorado College

March 10	Denver		4 – 1	Colorado College	Magness Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period		No scoring
(Borgström, Gambrell) Troy Terry - 01:37 (Terry, Butcher) Liam Finlay - GW PP - 06:48 (Terry) Blake Hillman - 09:11		Second period		10:56 - Westin Michaud (Israel, Gooch)
(Lukosevicius, Gambrell) Matt Marcinew - PP - 12:36		Third period		No scoring
( 21 saves / 22 shots ) Tanner Jaillet		Goalie stats		Alex Leclerc ( 42 saves / 46 shots )

March 11	Denver		4 – 0	Colorado College	Magness Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period		No scoring
(McLellan, VanVoorhis) Logan O'Connor - GW - 04:48 (McLellan, Hammond) Logan O'Connor - 10:09		Second period		No scoring
(Borgström, Cowley) Troy Terry - SH - 00:18 (unassisted) Troy Terry - PP - 11:50		Third period		No scoring
( 17 saves / 17 shots ) Evan Cowley		Goalie stats		Alex Leclerc ( 27 saves / 31 shots )

Denver won series 2–0

(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (7) Miami

March 10	Minnesota–Duluth		5 – 4	OT	Miami	AMSOIL Arena	Recap
(unassisted) Parker Mackay - 05:21		First period			05:50 - Zach LaValle (Green, Switzer) 06:25 - Carson Meyer (Louis, Dornbrock)
(Wolff) Riley Tufte - 03:44 (Raskob, Molenaar) Alex Iafallo - 16:37		Second period			15:54 - Gordie Green (Hutton, Brandt)
(Kuhlman, Peterson) Riley Tufte - 12:19		Third period			11:14 - Ryan Siroky (Hutton, Bachman)
(Iafallo) Dominic Toninato - GW - 07:24		First overtime period			No scoring
( 18 saves / 22 shots ) Hunter Miska		Goalie stats			Ryan Larkin ( 7 saves / 8 shots ) / Chase Munroe ( 29 saves / 33 shots )

March 11	Minnesota–Duluth		5 – 3	Miami	AMSOIL Arena	Recap
(Iafallo, Toninato) Brenden Kotyk - 02:49		First period		No scoring
(Mackay, Osterberg) Nick Wolff - GW - 08:59		Second period		10:42 - Justin Greenberg (Hutton, Sherwood)
(Osterberg, Wolff) Jared Thomas - 13:25 (Anderson, Wolff) Alex Iafallo - GW - 15:37 (Anderson, Pionk) Dominic Toninato - EN - 18:55		Third period		01:25 - Kiefer Sherwood (LaValle, Green) 03:17 - Anthony Louis (Knierim, Dornbrock)
( 21 saves / 24 shots ) Hunter Miska		Goalie stats		Chase Munroe ( 31 saves / 35 shots )

Minnesota–Duluth won series 2–0

(3) Western Michigan vs. (6) Nebraska-Omaha

March 10	Western Michigan		1 – 2	OT	Nebraska-Omaha	Lawson Arena	Recap
(Conrad) Paul Stoykewych - 15:34		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			09:38 - Jake Randolph (Nogard)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			04:17 - GW - Justin Parizek (Morelli)
( 35 saves / 36 shots ) Ben Blacker		Goalie stats			Evan Weninger ( 27 saves / 28 shots )

March 11	Western Michigan		5 – 2	Nebraska-Omaha	Lawson Arena	Recap
(Allison, McGing) Colt Conrad - 07:56 (Conrad, Allison) Hugh McGing - 10:49		First period		00:48 - Tyler Vesel (Parizek, Morelli)
No scoring		Second period		00:13 - Austin Ortega (Pope, Olofsson)
(Schueneman) Wade Allison - GW - 00:52 (Conrad, Moldenhauer) Hugh McGing - 12:21 (Conrad, Bafia) Michael Rebry - 13:11		Third period		No scoring
( 36 saves / 38 shots ) Ben Blacker		Goalie stats		Evan Weninger ( 27 saves / 32 shots )

March 12	Western Michigan		2 – 1	OT	Nebraska-Omaha	Lawson Arena	Recap
(unassisted) Griffen Molino - 19:31		First period			06:31 - Tyler Vesel (Ortega, Pope)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
(Courtnall, Moldenhauer) Michael Rebry - GW - 00:34		First overtime period			No scoring
( 22 saves / 23 shots ) Ben Blacker		Goalie stats			Evan Weninger ( 30 saves / 32 shots )

Western Michigan won series 2–1

(4) North Dakota vs. (5) St. Cloud State

March 10	North Dakota		5 – 2	St. Cloud State	Ralph Engelstad Arena	Recap
(Bowen, Poolman) Rhett Gardner - 13:39 (unassisted) Shane Gersich - 14:53		First period		No scoring
(Poolman, Hoff) Brock Boeser - GW PP - 16:27		Second period		09:43 - PP - Jacob Benson (Eyssimont, Schuldt)
(Gersich, Ausmus) Austin Poganski - 12:18 (Boeser) Joel Janatuinen - EN - 19:15		Third period		10:48 - PP - Jimmy Schuldt (Jackson, Winiecki)
( 26 saves / 28 shots ) Cam Johnson		Goalie stats		Jeff Smith ( 31 saves / 35 shots )

March 11	North Dakota		6 – 5	OT	St. Cloud State	Ralph Engelstad Arena	Recap
(Jost, Wolanin) Austin Poganski - PP - 19:16		First period			15:11 - Nick Poehling (Widman, Poehling)
(Poganski) Tyson Jost - SH - 00:53 (Gardner, Johnson) Brock Boeser - 10:37		Second period			08:46 - Patrick Newell (Jackson, Winiecki)
(Olson) Shane Gersich - 10:28 (Simonson, Smith) Christian Wolanin - 15:58		Third period			17:12 - Jon Lizotte (Storm, Wahlin) 11:30 - Jon Lizotte (unassisted) 11:30 - Nick Poehling (unassisted)
(Simonson, Smith) Trevor Olson - GW - 07:38		First overtime period			No scoring
( 30 saves / 35 shots ) Cam Johnson		Goalie stats			Jeff Smith ( 35 saves / 41 shots )

North Dakota won series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Denver vs. (4) North Dakota

March 17	Denver		0 – 1	North Dakota	Target Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period		No scoring
No scoring		Second period		No scoring
No scoring		Third period		02:30 - GW - Austin Poganski (Poolman, Jost)
( 23 saves / 24 shots ) Tanner Jaillet		Goalie stats		Cam Johnson ( 21 saves / 21 shots )

(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (3) Western Michigan

March 17	Minnesota–Duluth		5 – 2	Western Michigan	Target Center	Recap
(Iafallo, Johnson) Dominic Toninato - PP - 13:09 (Hilderman, Johnson) Kyle Osterberg - 16:58		First period		16:34 - Taylor Fleming (Molino, Tiffels)
(Mackay, Pionk) Alex Iafallo - GW - 16:11		Second period		07:10 - Colt Conrad (Fleming, McGing)
(Johnson, Osterberg) Parker Mackay - 14:58 (unassisted) Jared Thomas - EN - 17:59		Third period		No scoring
( 24 saves / 26 shots ) Hunter Miska		Goalie stats		Ben Blacker ( 18 saves / 22 shots )

Third place

(1) Denver vs. (3) Western Michigan

March 18	Denver		3 – 1	Western Michigan	Target Center	Recap
(Davies, Hillman) Colin Staub - PP - 08:33		First period		No scoring
(McLellan, Janssen) Liam Finlay - GW - 06:37		Second period		05:29 - Mike McKee (Hadley, Molino)
(Davies, Hillman) Colin Staub - 14:42		Third period		No scoring
( 28 saves / 29 shots ) Evan Cowley		Goalie stats		Ben Blacker ( 18 saves / 21 shots )

Championship

(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (4) North Dakota

March 18	Minnesota–Duluth		4 – 3	North Dakota	Target Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period		13:03 - PP - Brock Boeser (Jost, Wolanin)
(Anderson, Iafallo) Dominic Toninato - 01:30 (Kuhlman, Peterson) Riley Tufte - 01:47 (Pionk, Iafallo) Adam Johnson - PP - 02:28		Second period		09:00 - PP - Tyson Jost (Olson, Boeser)
(Johnson, Pionk) Joey Anderson - GW - 19:09		Third period		17:14 - PP - Trevor Olson (Wolanin, Jost)
( 32 saves / 35 shots ) Hunter Miska		Goalie stats		Cam Johnson ( 19 saves / 23 shots )

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

F Alex Iafallo* (Minnesota-Duluth)
F Tyson Jost (North Dakota)
F Dominic Toninato (Minnesota-Duluth)
D Tucker Poolman (North Dakota)
D Neal Pionk (Minnesota-Duluth)
G Hunter Miksa (Minnesota-Duluth)

Notes:

* Most Valuable Player(s)

^[2]

References

^ "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
^ "Bulldogs capture 2017 Frozen Faceoff for first NCHC title". NCHC. March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[1] "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.

[2] "Bulldogs capture 2017 Frozen Faceoff for first NCHC title". NCHC. March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

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