2023 CCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 2023 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 44th tournament in the history of the men's Central Collegiate Hockey Association. It began on March 3 and ended on March 18, 2023. All games were played at home campus sites. Minnesota State won the tournament and received the CCHA's automatic bid for the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

2023 CCHA men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 3–18, 2023
Teams	8
Finals site	Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Mankato, Minnesota
Champions	Minnesota State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Mike Hastings (2nd title)
CCHA men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2022 2024 →

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format, while the semifinals and final are single games held at the campus sites of the highest remaining seeds. All eight conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams are seeded No. 1 through No. 8 according to their final conference standings, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The higher-seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower-seeded teams. The teams that advance out of the quarterfinals are reseeded according to the regular season standings. The semifinals and final are single-elimination games. The winners of the semifinals play one another to determine the conference tournament champion.

Conference standings

2022–23 Central Collegiate Hockey Association Standings
	Conference record											Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#12 Minnesota State †*	26	16	9	1	2	4	1	52	83	56		39	25	13	1	126	81
#13 Michigan Tech	26	15	7	4	0	1	0	50	68	54		39	24	11	4	103	88
Bowling Green	26	12	12	2	0	2	1	41	89	76		36	15	19	2	114	114
Northern Michigan	26	14	12	0	3	0	0	39	82	77		38	21	17	0	123	103
Bemidji State	26	12	11	3	3	1	2	39	73	63		36	14	17	5	94	97
Ferris State	26	9	14	3	1	2	3	34	62	91		37	14	19	4	92	131
St. Thomas	26	10	14	2	1	1	0	32	69	81		36	11	23	2	86	117
Lake Superior State	26	8	17	1	2	1	1	25	52	80		36	9	25	2	71	118
Championship: March 18, 2023 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Mason Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the semifinals

	Quarterfinals March 3–5							Semifinals March 11					Championship March 18
	1	Minnesota State	6	2	–
	8	Lake Superior State	1	1	–
								1	Minnesota State	7
								6	Ferris State	2
	2	Michigan Tech	1	5	–
	7	St. Thomas	0	4	–
													1	Minnesota State	3*
													4	Northern Michigan	2
	3	Bowling Green	3	1	–
	6	Ferris State	4*	2*	–
								2	Michigan Tech	0
								4	Northern Michigan	4
	4	Northern Michigan	7	2*	–
	5	Bemidji State	3	1	–

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

Note: All game times are local.

Quarterfinals

(1) Minnesota State vs. (8) Lake Superior State

March 3, 2023 7:07 PM

Minnesota State

6–1 (2–0, 1–1, 3–0)

Lake Superior State

Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Attendance: 3,948

Game reference
	Keenan Rancier	Goalies	Ethan Langenegger	Referees: Stephen McInchak Rick Nelson Linesmen: Matt Tyree Eric Standke
	(Carroll) – David Silye – 03:13 1–0 (Bellini, Furry) – Andy Carroll – PP, GW – 10:38 2–0 2–1 22:14 – Brandon Puricelli (Borshyov, Boudon) (Fitzgerald, Silye) – Akito Hirose – PP – 22:58 3–1 (Fitzgerald, Pavel) – Zach Krajnik 4–1 (Eisele) – Simon Tassy – 46:14 5–1 (unassisted) Christian Fitzgerald – 50:51 6–1
	9 min	Penalties	10 min
	32	Shots	18

March 4, 2023 6:07 PM

Minnesota State

2–1 (0–0, 1–1, 1–0)

Lake Superior State

Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Attendance: 3,798

Game reference
	Keenan Rancier	Goalies	Seth Eisele Ethan Langenegger	Referees: Stephen McInchak Rick Nelson Linesmen: Matt Tyree Eric Standke
	(Livingstone, Hirose) Christian Fitzgerald – PP – 28:30 1–0 1–1 30:31 – Jack Jeffers (Tritt) (Livingstone, Fitzgerald) Ryan Sandelin – GW, PP – 58:43 2–1
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	40	Shots	18

Minnesota State wins series 2–0

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (7) St. Thomas

March 3, 2023 7:07 PM

Michigan Tech

1–0 (0–0, 0–0, 1–0)

St. Thomas

MacInnes Student Ice Arena Attendance: 2,338

Game reference
	Blake Pietila	Goalies	Aaron Trotter	Referees: Scott Roth Michael Forys Linesmen: Tyler Landman Nathan Voll
	(J. Pietila, Kukkonen) Brett Thorne – GW – 51:28 1–0
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	32	Shots	30

March 4, 2023 6:07 PM

Michigan Tech

5–4 (3–1, 1–1, 1–2)

St. Thomas

MacInnes Student Ice Arena Attendance: 2,587

Game reference
	Blake Pietila	Goalies	Aaron Trotter	Referees: Scott Roth Micheal Froys Linesmen: Tyler Landman Nathan Voll
	0–1 08:25 – Mack Byers (Braccini) (Orr, Lipe) Tristan Ashbrook – 09:36 1–1 (J. Pietila, Ashbrook) Jack Works – 17:32 2–1 (Saretsky, O'Connell) Tristan Ashbrook – 19:41 3–1 (L. Pietila, J. Pietila) Kyle Kukkonen – SH – 38:12 4–1 4–2 39:18 – PP – Luc Laylin (Recchi) (J. Pietila, Crespi) Kyle Kukkonen – GW – 47:49 5–2 5–3 49:22 – Matthew Jennings (Pepper) 5–4 58:51 – PP – Mack Byers (Braccini, Lee)
	13 min	Penalties	8 min
	34	Shots	34

Michigan Tech wins series 2–0

(3) Bowling Green vs. (6) Ferris State

March 3, 2023 7:07 PM

Bowling Green

3–4 (OT) (2–1, 0–1, 1–1, 0–1)

Ferris State

Slater Family Ice Arena Attendance: 1,686

Game reference
	Christian Stoever	Goalies	Noah Giesbrecht	Referees: Derek Berkebile Brady Johnson Linesmen: Kyle Bushee Pat Giles
	(Burke) Dalton Norris – PP – 04:44 1–0 (Gresock, O'Hara) Austen Swankler – 08:49 2–0 2–1 17:22 – Jacob Badal (Schleppe, Cooper) 2–2 20:29 – Jason Brancheau (MacLaren, Venuto) 2–3 54:54 – Travis Shoudy (Marek) (Burke, Vinnell) Taylor Schneider – 58:38 3–3 3–4 74:04 – GW – Nick Nardecchia (Schultheis, Deelstra)
	14 min	Penalties	14 min
	42	Shots	40

March 4, 2023 7:07 PM

Bowling Green

1–2 (OT) (0–0, 0–0, 1–1, 0–1)

Ferris State

Slater Family Ice Arena Attendance: 1,638

Game reference
	Christian Stoever	Goalies	Noah Giesbrecht	Referees: Derek Berkebile Brady Johnson Linesmen: Kyle Bushee Pat Giles
	0–1 47:13 – Brenden MacLaren (Dirks, Slick) (Swankler, Vinnell) Chase Gresock – 58:43 1–1 1–2 64:04 – GW – Jason Brancheau (Venuto)
	6 min	Penalties	14 min
	33	Shots	30

Ferris State wins series 2–0

(4) Northern Michigan vs. (5) Bemidji State

March 3, 2023 7:07 PM

Northern Michigan

7–3 (2–2, 1–0, 4–1)

Bemidji State

Berry Events Center Attendance: 3,116

Game reference
	Béni Halász	Goalies	Mattias Sholl	Referees: Bruce Vida Jr TJ Likens Linesmen: Jamie Grace Eric Froberg
	0–1 04:35 – Kyle Looft (Corcoran, Martan) (Vanderbeck, Funk) Rylan Van Unen – 11:36 1–1 (Shlaine, Papp) Joey Larson – 12:13 2–1 2–2 13:20 – Carter Jones (unassisted) (Enns, Vescio) Michael Colella – 36:59 3–2 3–3 46:32 – Ross Armour (Pickering, Roed) (Shlaine, Ghantous) Joey Larson – PP, GW – 49:43 4–3 (Ghantous, Kjellberg) Michael Colella – 50:47 5–3 (Eddy) Andre Ghantous – 56:04 6–3 (Frye, Keefer) Michael Van Unen – EN – 57:09 7–3
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	24	Shots	31

March 4, 2023 6:07 PM

Northern Michigan

2–1 (OT) (0–0, 1–1, 0–0, 1–0)

Bemidji State

Berry Events Center Attendance: 2,269

Game reference
	Béni Halász	Goalies	Mattias Sholl	Referees: Bruce Vida Jr TJ Likens Linesmen: Jamie Grace Eric Froberg
	(M. Van Unen, Vanderbeck) Alex Frye – 30:00 1–0 1–1 36:16 – PP – Ross Armour (Jones, Zmolek) (Papp, Enns) David Keefer – GW – 61:07 2–1
	12 min	Penalties	6 min
	23	Shots	36

Northern Michigan wins series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Minnesota State vs. (6) Ferris State

March 11, 2023 6:07 PM

Minnesota State

7–2 (2–1, 2–1, 3–0)

Ferris State

Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Attendance: 4,468

Game reference
	Keenan Rancier	Goalies	Noah Giesbrecht	Referees: Scott Roth Michael Forys Linesmen: Nathan Voll Tyler Landman
	0–1 15:32 – Connor McGrath (Marek, Slick) (Silye, Sandelin) Christian Fitzgerald – 18:32 1–1 (Livingstone, Fitzgerald) David Silye – PP – 19:00 2–1 (Sowder, Carroll) Brendan Furry – GW, PP – 23:27 3–1 (Sowder, Furry) Cade Borchardt – 29:07 4–1 4–2 30:51 – PP – Stepan Pokorny (Slick, Brancheau) (Livingstone) Ondrej Pavel – 52:17 5–2 (Furry, Livingstone) Lucas Sowder - 55:14 6–2 (Sandelin, Fitzgerald ) Jake Livingstone – PP – 56:42 7–2
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	39	Shots	21

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (4) Northern Michigan

March 11, 2023 6:07 PM

Michigan Tech

0–4 (0–3, 0–0, 0–1)

Northern Michigan

MacInnes Student Ice Arena Attendance: 3,930

Game reference
	Blake Pietila	Goalies	Béni Halász	Referees: TJ Likens Brude Vida Linesmen: Matt Tyree Eric Standke
	0–1 04:44 - GW – Rylan Van Unen (unassisted) 0–2 07:45 – PP – Andre Ghantous (Larson, Zinger) 0–3 11:07 – Michael Van Unen (unassisted) 0–4 58:00 – EN – Simon Kjellberg (unassisted)
	10 min	Penalties	10 min
	44	Shots	25

Championship

(1) Minnesota State vs. (4) Northern Michigan

March 18, 2023 6:07 PM

Minnesota State

3–2 (OT) (0–0, 0–1, 2–1, 1-0)

Northern Michigan

Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Attendance: 4,805

Game reference
	Keenan Rancier	Goalies	Béni Halász	Referees: Scott Roth Michael Forys Linesmen: Nathan Voll Tyler Landman
	0–1 36:21 – Alex Frye (Keefer) 0–2 47:27 – Alex Frye (Gallacher, Vescio) (Tassy, Carroll) Ondrej Pavel – 57:41 1–2 (Livingstone, Furry) Christian Fitzgerald – 59:02 2–2 (Borchardt) Zach Krajnik – GW – 61:08 3–2
	4 min	Penalties	10 min
	33	Shots	25

Tournament awards