2017 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

2017 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 3–18, 2017
Teams	8
Finals site	MacInnes Student Ice Arena Houghton, Michigan
Champions	Michigan Tech (10th title)
Winning coach	Mel Pearson (1st title)
Most Outstanding Player	Shane Hanna (Michigan Tech)
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 3 and March 18, 2017, on campus locations. By winning the tournament, Michigan Tech was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The first two rounds of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. The top 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 higher seeded teams each earn home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams.

The final was a single game held at the campus site of the highest remaining seed.

Conference standings

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

2016–17 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings v t e
	Conference record									Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	SOW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Bemidji State†	28	20	6	2	2	64	71	44		41	22	16	3	94	79
#19 Michigan Tech*	28	15	7	6	3	54	80	59		45	23	15	7	131	100
Minnesota State	28	15	9	4	2	51	89	68		39	22	13	4	119	95
Bowling Green	28	14	13	1	1	44	79	65		41	21	18	2	120	102
Ferris State	28	12	12	4	2	42	78	74		37	13	19	5	95	101
Alaska	28	11	13	4	3	40	67	84		36	12	20	4	79	113
Lake Superior State	28	8	13	7	4	35	78	87		36	11	18	7	103	119
Northern Michigan	28	10	15	3	1	34	69	75		39	13	22	4	93	108
Alabama–Huntsville	28	9	16	3	0	30	68	95		34	9	22	3	74	120
Alaska Anchorage	28	6	16	6	2	26	52	80		34	7	21	6	59	102
Championship: March 18, 2017 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup); * indicates conference tournament champion (Broadmoor Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 6, 2017

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

	Quarterfinals March 3–5							Semifinals March 10–12							Championship March 18
	1	Bemidji State	3	2	3
	8	Northern Michigan	0	4	1
								1	Bemidji State	3	1	—
								4	Bowling Green	4*	2	—
	2	Michigan Tech	6	8	—
	7	Lake Superior State	4	0	—
															2	Michigan Tech	3**
															4	Bowling Green	2
	3	Minnesota State	3	4	—
	6	Alaska	0	1	—
								2	Michigan Tech	5	0	4
								3	Minnesota State	1	1	1
	4	Bowling Green	6	5	—
	5	Ferris State	1	3	—

Note: * denotes overtime periods

Results

Quarterfinals

(1) Bemidji State vs. (8) Northern Michigan

March 3	Bemidji State		3–0		Northern Michigan	Sanford Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(G. Fitzgerald, Harms) Leo Fitzgerald (6) - GW - 01:22 (Marinaccio, G. Fitzgerald) Zach Whitecloud (3) - PP - 08:20 (Marinaccio, Baudry) Kyle Bauman (13) - 12:36		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 30 saves / 30 shots ) Michael Bitzer		Goalie stats			Atte Tolvanen ( 24 saves / 27 shots )

March 4	Bemidji State		2–4		Northern Michigan	Sanford Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			17:25 - Shane Sooth (5) (Hanson, Shine)
(Harms) Nate Arentz (6) - SH - 01:32		Second period			01:04 - PP - Gerard Hanson (7) (Hannoun, Shine) 17:25 - GW PP - Dominik Shine (19) (Hanson, Sooth)
(Muck, G. Fitzgerald) Dan Billett (2) - GW - 13:37		Third period			18:27 - EN - Dominik Shine (20) (Hanson, Yaremko)
( 17 saves / 20 shots ) Michael Bitzer		Goalie stats			Atte Tolvanen ( 46 saves / 48 shots )

March 5	Bemidji State		3–1		Northern Michigan	Sanford Center	Recap
(Arentz, Muck) Myles Fitzgerald (5) - 05:18 (L. Fitzgerald, G. Fitzgerald) Brendan Harms (8) - GW - 05:52		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			17:40 - PP - Brock Maschmeyer (5) (Shine, Payne)
(unassisted) Phillip Marinaccio (10) - EN - 19:42		Third period			No scoring
( 19 saves / 20 shots ) Michael Bitzer		Goalie stats			Atte Tolvanen ( 25 saves / 27 shots )

Bemidji State wins series 2–1

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (7) Lake Superior State

March 3	Michigan Tech		6–4		Lake Superior State	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
(L'Esperance, Watson) Alex Smith (7) - 03:34 (Hanna, Jackson) Reid Sturos (9) - 04:54 (L'Esperance, Watson) Alex Gillies (5) - 09:35 (Hanna, Lucchini) Mitch Reinke (6) - PP - 10:53 (Sturos, Neville) Jake Jackson (7) - GW - 11:33		First period			07:28 - Mitch Hults (11) (Saccoman, Bindulis) 15:36 - PP - Luke Morgan (7) (Hults, Cuglietta)
(Neville, Sturos) Jake Jackson (8) - 01:19		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			03:47 - Gage Torrel (14) (Hults, Bindulis) 05:12 - Gus Correale (6) (Hults)
( 14 saves / 17 shots ) Angus Redmond / ( 0 saves / 1 shots ) Matt Wintjes		Goalie stats			Gordon Defiel ( 14 saves / 20 shots ) / Nick Kossoff ( 31 saves / 31 shots )

March 4	Michigan Tech		8–0		Lake Superior State	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
(Jackson, Watson) Reid Sturos (10) - GW - 03:30 (Roy, Auk) Joel L'Esperance (9) - PP - 18:38		First period			No scoring
(Sturos, Hanna) Mike Neville (6) - SH - 08:34		Second period			No scoring
(Neville, Roy) Shane Hanna (7) - 01:42 (Roy, Auk) Gavin Gould (7) - PP - 05:49 (L'Esperance, Smith) Mark Auk (4) - PP - 11:56 (Gould) Chris Leibinger (8) - 12:08 (Heinonen, Lucchini) Joel L'Esperance (10) - 19:48		Third period			No scoring
( 16 saves / 16 shots ) Angus Redmond		Goalie stats			Gordon Defiel ( 30 saves / 38 shots )

Michigan Tech wins series 2–0

(3) Minnesota State vs. (6) Alaska

March 3	Minnesota State		3–0		Alaska	Verizon Wireless Center	Recap
(Foguth, Stepan) Sean Flanagan (5) - GW - 02:05 (Huntebrinker, Flanagan) Parker Tuomie (7) - PP - 12:47		First period			No scoring
(Nelson, Flanagan) Parker Tuomie (8) - 15:15		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 23 saves / 23 shots ) Jason Pawloski		Goalie stats			Davis Jones ( 30 saves / 33 shots )

March 4	Minnesota State		4–1		Alaska	Verizon Wireless Center	Recap
(Tuomie, Coatta) Jordan Nelson (4) - 09:51		First period			No scoring
(Brickley, Franklin) Zeb Knutson (14) - GW PP - 08:24		Second period			No scoring
(Nelson) Max Coatta (5) - 15:10 (Brickley, Tuomie) Max Coatta (6) - EN - 19:45		Third period			03:47 - Ross Heidt (14) (Frye, Thompson)
( 29 saves / 30 shots ) Jason Pawloski		Goalie stats			Davis Jones ( 33 saves / 36 shots )

Minnesota State wins series 2-0

(4) Bowling Green vs. (5) Ferris State

March 3	Bowling Green		6–1		Ferris State	Slater Family Ice Arena	Recap
(Spezia, Walker) Matt Pohlkamp (9) - 06:46 (Mercier, Friedman) Stephen Baylis (3) - GW - 09:15		First period			12:47 - PP - Jared VanWormer (9) (McDonald, Mayhew)
(D'Andrea, Spezia) Matt Pohlkamp (10) - PP - 02:58 (Pohlkamp) Sean Walker (10) - GW - 03:50 (McLain, Pohlkamp) Alec Rauhauser (4) - 05:49 (Walker, D'Andrea) Lukas Craggs (7) - 17:47		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 27 saves / 28 shots ) Chris Nell		Goalie stats			Justin Kapelmaster ( 9 saves / 11 shots ) / Darren Smith ( 18 saves / 22 shots )

March 4	Bowling Green		5–3		Ferris State	Slater Family Ice Arena	Recap
(Pohlkamp, Smith) Joe McKeown (1) - 03:39		First period			No scoring
(Dufour, Pohlkamp) Pierre-Luc Mercier (6) - PP - 01:23		Second period			11:48 - PP - Mitch Maloney (9) (Mayhew, Dorantes)
(McLain, Mercier) Kevin Dufour (14) - 17:12 (Mercier, Walker) Alec Rauhauser (5) - GW PP - 17:48 (Pohlkamp, Friedman) Tyler Spezia (8) - PP EN - 19:26		Third period			11:20 - PP - Jason Tackett (4) (Dorantes, Rutkowski) 12:24 - Trevor Recktenwald (4) (Hetz)
( 27 saves / 30 shots ) Chris Nell		Goalie stats			Darren Smith ( 24 saves / 28 shots )

Bowling Green wins series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Bemidji State vs. (4) Bowling Green

March 10	Bemidji State		3–4	OT	Bowling Green	Sanford Center	Recap
(Bauman, O'Connor) Phillip Marinaccio (11) - 14:09		First period			09:08 - Kevin Dufour (15) (Rauhauser)
(Bauman) Myles Fitzgerald (6) - PP - 04:45		Second period			No scoring
(M. Fitzgerald, Struthers) Nate Arentz (11) - 01:45		Third period			00:32 - Matt Pohlkamp (11) (Spezia) 13:30 - Kevin Dufour (16) (Dalton, Pohlkamp)
No scoring		First overtime period			17:23 - GW - Kevin Dufour (17) (Smith, Schilling)
( 30 saves / 34 shots ) Michael Bitzer		Goalie stats			Chris Nell ( 45 saves / 48 shots )

March 11	Bemidji State		1–2		Bowling Green	Sanford Center	Recap
(L. Fitzgerald, Whitecloud) Gerry Fitzgerald (13) - 03:16		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			01:35 - Kevin Dufour (18) (Friedman, Spezia)
No scoring		Third period			03:49 - GW - Matt Pohlkamp (12) (McLain, Baylis)
( 30 saves / 32 shots ) Michael Bitzer		Goalie stats			Chris Nell ( 25 saves / 26 shots )

Bowling Green wins series 2–0

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (3) Minnesota State

March 10	Michigan Tech		5–1		Minnesota State	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
(Smith, Gillies) Mark Auk (5) - 14:55		First period			17:31 - Charlie Gerard (3) (Lewis)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Gillies, Birks) Reid Sturos (11) - GW - 03:31 (L'Esperance, Hanna) Jake Jackson (9) - 06:55 (Auk, Redmond) Gavin Gould (8) - 10:07 (Roy, Smith) Dane Birks (2) - SH - 15:20		Third period			No scoring
( 22 saves / 23 shots ) Angus Redmond		Goalie stats			Jason Pawloski ( 22 saves / 26 shots )

March 11	Michigan Tech		0–1		Minnesota State	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			06:29 - GW - Zeb Knutson (15) (Lewis)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 22 saves / 23 shots ) Angus Redmond		Goalie stats			Jason Pawloski ( 15 saves / 15 shots )

March 12	Michigan Tech		4–1		Minnesota State	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
(Beretta, Auk) Gavin Gould (9) - 07:10		First period			07:59 - Ian Scheid (3) (Brickley, Pawloski)
(L'Esperance, Auk) Gavin Gould (10) - GW PP - 09:28 (Roy, Smith) Gavin Gould (11) - 10:53		Second period			No scoring
(Neville) Chris Leibinger (9) - EN - 18:28		Third period			No scoring
( 20 saves / 21 shots ) Angus Redmond		Goalie stats			Jason Pawloski ( 18 saves / 21 shots )

Michigan Tech wins series 2–1

Championship

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (4) Bowling Green

March 18	Michigan Tech		3–2	2OT	Bowling Green	MacInnes Student Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(Gillies) Joel L'Esperance (11) - 04:53 (Neville, Hanna) Jake Jackson (10) - 12:25		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			06:36 - Joe McKeown (2) (Rauhauser, Spezia) 07:00 - Matt Pohlkamp (13) (unassisted)
(Roy, Neville) Shane Hanna (8) - GW - 06:35		Second overtime period			No scoring
( 36 saves / 38 shots ) Angus Redmond		Goalie stats			Chris Nell ( 27 saves / 30 shots )

Tournament awards

Most Outstanding Player

Shane Hanna (Michigan Tech)

References