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1996 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

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1996 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
DatesMarch 1–9, 1996
Teams10
Finals siteBradley Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
ChampionsMinnesota[1] (10th title)
Winning coachDoug Woog[2] (3rd title)
MVPBrian Bonin[3] (Minnesota)
Attendance47,304
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments

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

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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

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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† 32 26 2 4 56 178 78 42 33 5 4 225 104
Minnesota* 32 21 9 2 44 155 95 42 30 10 2 204 121
Denver 32 17 12 3 37 120 112 39 22 14 3 149 131
Minnesota-Duluth 32 16 15 1 33 116 109 38 20 17 1 139 125
North Dakota 32 16 15 1 33 127 126 38 19 18 1 162 155
Wisconsin 32 14 15 3 31 110 123 40 17 20 3 145 160
Michigan Tech 32 12 14 6 30 108 118 42 18 18 6 145 159
St. Cloud State 32 10 18 4 24 106 132 39 13 22 4 135 153
Alaska-Anchorage 32 8 20 5 20 86 130 37 9 23 5 103 153
Northern Michigan 32 5 25 2 12 64 147 39 7 30 2 83 174
Championship: Minnesota
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

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Bracket

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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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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


Semifinals

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

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March 8 Colorado College 3 – 4 Michigan Tech Bradley Center


(2) Minnesota vs. (6) Wisconsin

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March 8 Minnesota 4 – 3 OT Wisconsin Bradley Center


Third Place

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(1) Colorado College vs. (6) Wisconsin

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March 9 Colorado College 6 – 4 Wisconsin Bradley Center


Championship

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(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan Tech

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March 9 Minnesota 7 – 2 Michigan Tech Bradley Center


Tournament awards

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All-Tournament Team

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* Most Valuable Player(s)

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See also

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References

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  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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