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

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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

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

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

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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

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All times are local.

Quarterfinals

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(1) Denver vs. (8) Colorado College

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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

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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

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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

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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

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(1) Denver vs. (4) North Dakota

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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

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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

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(1) Denver vs. (3) Western Michigan

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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

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

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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

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Notes:

[2]

References

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  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]