Loading AI tools
The 2002 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 43rd conference playoff in league history and 49th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The 2002 tournament was played between March 8 and March 16, 2002, at five conference arenas and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, the home of the NHL's Minnesota Wild. By winning the tournament, Denver was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 2002 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 8–16, 2002 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Finals site | Xcel Energy Center St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Champions | Denver (13th title) |
| Winning coach | George Gwozdecky[1] (5th title) |
| MVP | Wade Dubielewicz (Denver) |
| Attendance | 75,151 |
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference schools participated in the tournament with teams seeded No. 1 through No. 10 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 Xcel Energy 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.
Conference standings
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| #5 Denver†* | 28 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 43 | 108 | 63 | 41 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 158 | 86 | |
| #10 St. Cloud State | 28 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 117 | 65 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 179 | 99 | |
| #1 Minnesota | 28 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 39 | 113 | 84 | 44 | 32 | 8 | 4 | 197 | 119 | |
| #7 Colorado College | 28 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 34 | 95 | 74 | 43 | 27 | 13 | 3 | 147 | 97 | |
| Wisconsin | 28 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 27 | 88 | 90 | 39 | 16 | 19 | 4 | 123 | 120 | |
| Minnesota State-Mankato | 28 | 11 | 15 | 2 | 24 | 84 | 107 | 38 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 124 | 138 | |
| Alaska-Anchorage | 28 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 24 | 79 | 96 | 36 | 12 | 19 | 5 | 99 | 125 | |
| North Dakota | 28 | 11 | 15 | 2 | 24 | 103 | 100 | 37 | 16 | 19 | 2 | 134 | 136 | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 28 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 15 | 72 | 112 | 40 | 13 | 24 | 3 | 119 | 153 | |
| Michigan Tech | 28 | 4 | 22 | 2 | 10 | 66 | 134 | 38 | 8 | 28 | 2 | 92 | 177 | |
| Championship: Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll Top 15 Poll | ||||||||||||||
Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First round[2] March 8–9 | Quarterfinal[3] March 14 | Semifinals March 15 | Championship March 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Denver | 5 | 8 | – | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Michigan Tech | 1 | 1 | – | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Denver | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | St. Cloud State | 5* | 6 | – | 4 | Colorado College | 3* | 4 | Colorado College | 0 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 | 3 | – | 5 | Wisconsin | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota | 7 | 4* | – | 1 | Denver | 5 | |||||||||||||
| 8 | North Dakota | 4 | 3 | – | 3 | Minnesota | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Colorado College | 6 | 1 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Alaska-Anchorage | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | St. Cloud State | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Wisconsin | 3* | 7 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota State-Mankato | 2 | 3 | — | ||||||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
First round
(1) Denver vs. (10) Michigan Tech
| March 8[4] | Denver | 5 – 1 | Michigan Tech | Magness Arena | Recap | |||
| (Fulghum, Bull) Greg Keith - 15:19 (Bull, MacKenzie) Jussi Halme - GW - 19:36 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Adams) Chris Paradise - 19:05 | Second period | 15:10 - Frank Werner (Markham) | ||||||
| (James, Vines) Chris Paradise - 04:07 (Foster, Weber) David Neale - 17:16 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Wade Dubielewicz ( 13 saves / 14 shots ) | Goalie stats | Cam Ellsworth ( 35 saves / 40 shots ) | ||||||
| March 9[5] | Denver | 8 – 1 | Michigan Tech | Magness Arena | Recap | |||
| (Foster, Paradise) Connor James - 07:54 (Weber, Dubielewicz) David Neale - GW - 11:26 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Ulanski, MacKenzie) Lukas Dora - 00:18 (Doell, James) Greg Barber - 04:31 (Caldwell, Foster) Chris Paradise - PP - 13:25 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Foster, Neale) Matt Weber - 08:53 (Foster) David Neale - 10:36 (Caldwell, Ulanski) Kevin Doell - PP - 19:56 |
Third period | 18:39 - Colin Murphy | ||||||
| Wade Dubielewicz ( 18 saves / 18 shots ) / Andy Lemelin ( 0 saves / 1 shots ) | Goalie stats | Cam Ellsworth ( 23 saves / 31 shots ) | ||||||
| Denver won series 2–0 | |
(2) St. Cloud State vs. (9) Minnesota-Duluth
| March 8[6] | St. Cloud State | 5 – 4 | OT | Minnesota-Duluth | National Hockey Center | Recap | ||
| No Scoring | First period | 18:15 - Drew Otten (Petruic, Nelson) | ||||||
| (Doyle, Iannazzo) Peter Szabo - 01:45 (DiCasmirro, Hartigan) Joe Motzko - PP - 11:23 (Cullen, Motzko) Mark Hartigan - PP - 11:56 |
Second period | 04:20 - Drew Otten (Francisco, Geisler) 12:14 - Andy Reierson (Nelson, Anderson) | ||||||
| (Motzko, Eastman) Matt Gens - 11:02 | Third period | 16:52 - Mark Carlson (Geisler, Francisco) | ||||||
| (Malone, Cullen) Matt Gens - GW - 17:39 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Dean Weasler ( 36 saves / 40 shots ) | Goalie stats | Rob Anderson ( 31 saves / 37 shots ) | ||||||
| March 9[7] | St. Cloud State | 6 – 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | National Hockey Center | Recap | |||
| (Meyer, Brooks) Ryan Malone - 03:50 (Hartigan, Finger) Joe Cullen - PP - 06:09 (DiCasmirro, LaMere) Mark Hartigan - 17:07 |
First period | 18:44 - Junior Lessard (Nelson, Geisler) | ||||||
| (Hartigan, Motzko) Joe Cullen - GW - 07:33 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Hartigan, Motzko) Nate DiCasmirro - PP - 10:26 (DiCasmirro, Gens) Mark Hartigan - PP - 15:17 |
Third period | 08:40 - PP - Mark Carlson (Hambly, Geisler) 18:44 - PP - Judd Medak (Francisco, Reierson) | ||||||
| Jake Moreland ( 26 saves / 29 shots ) | Goalie stats | Rob Anderson ( 20 saves / 26 shots ) | ||||||
| St. Cloud State won series 2–0 | |
(3) Minnesota vs. (8) North Dakota
| March 8[8] | Minnesota | 7 – 2 | North Dakota | Mariucci Arena | Recap | |||
| (Anthony, Riddle) John Pohl - 02:17 (Anthony, Pohl) Troy Riddle - 04:57 |
First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Riddle, Pohl) Nick Anthony - GW - 00:18 (Koalska, Wendell) Barry Tallackson - 02:59 (Leopold, Martin) John Pohl - PP - 04:02 (Welch, Taffe) Keith Ballard - 06:08 |
Second period | 11:28 - Tim Skarperud | ||||||
| (Potulny) Jeff Taffe - 10:42 | Third period | 16:45 - Rory McMahon (Hale) | ||||||
| Adam Hauser ( 21 saves / 23 shots ) | Goalie stats | Josh Siembida ( 24 saves / 30 shots ) / Andy Kollar ( 15 saves / 16 shots ) | ||||||
| March 9[9] | Minnesota | 4 – 3 | OT | North Dakota | Mariucci Arena | Recap | ||
| No Scoring | First period | 01:10 - SH - Rory McMahon (Hale) | ||||||
| (Martin) Dan Welch - 01:15 (Taffe, Welch) Jordan Leopold - 12:02 |
Second period | 19:46 - Ryan Bayda | ||||||
| Jeff Taffe - 07:21 | Third period | 18:53 - EA PP - Chad Mazurak (Bayda, Lundbohm) | ||||||
| (Tallackson) Keith Ballard - GW - 18:36 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Adam Hauser ( 30 saves / 33 shots ) | Goalie stats | Andy Kollar ( 48 saves / 52 shots ) | ||||||
| Minnesota won series 2–0 | |
(4) Minnesota State vs. (7) Alaska-Anchorage
| March 8[10] | Colorado College | 6 – 1 | Alaska-Anchorage | Colorado Springs World Arena | ||||
| (Preissing, Kim) Peter Sejna - PP - 17:59 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Sejna, Preissing) Jesse Heerema - GW - 13:31 (Clarke, Liebel) Alex Kim - 15:36 |
Second period | 10:11 - Ryan Young | ||||||
| (Cullen) Jesse Heerema - 00:39 Noah Clarke - 01:14 (Cullen, Clarke) Peter Sejna - 08:01 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jeff Sanger ( 21 saves / 22 shots ) | Goalie stats | Kevin Reiter ( 39 saves / 45 shots ) | ||||||
| March 9[11] | Colorado College | 1 – 0 | Alaska-Anchorage | Colorado Springs World Arena | ||||
| (Kim, Clarke) Tom Preissing - GW - 10:51 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jeff Sanger ( 16 saves / 16 shots ) | Goalie stats | Chris King ( 31 saves / 32 shots ) | ||||||
| Colorado College won series 2–0 | |
(5) Wisconsin vs. (6) Minnesota State-Mankato
| March 8 | Wisconsin | 3 – 2 | OT | Minnesota State-Mankato | Alliant Energy Center | Recap |
| March 9 | Wisconsin | 7 – 3 | Minnesota State-Mankato | Alliant Energy Center | Recap |
| Wisconsin won series 2–0 | |
Quarterfinal
(4) Colorado College vs. (5) Wisconsin
| March 14[12] | Minnesota | 3 – 2 | Wisconsin | Xcel Energy Center | Recap | |||
| (Cullen) Colin Stuart - 17:35 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 03:49 - Rene Bourque (Leavitt, Boeser) | ||||||
| (Stuart, Cullen) Chris Hartsburg - 14:49 | Third period | 18:29 - Matt Doman (Davyduke, Wozniewski) | ||||||
| (Cullen) Peter Sejna - GW - 00:53 | Overtime | No scoring | ||||||
| Jeff Sanger ( 25 saves / 27 shots ) | Goalie stats | Scott Kabotoff ( 17 saves / 20 shots ) | ||||||
Semifinals
(1) Denver vs. (4) Colorado College
| March 15[13] | Denver | 3 – 0 | Colorado College | Xcel Energy Center | Recap | |||
| (Ulanski, Dora) Chris Paradise - GW - 08:38 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Greg Keith - 14:10 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Ulanski) Chris Paradise - 12:10 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Wade Dubielewicz ( 26 saves / 26 shots ) | Goalie stats | Jeff Sanger ( 26 saves / 29 shots ) | ||||||
(2) St. Cloud State vs. (3) Minnesota
| March 15[14] | St. Cloud State | 1 – 4 | Minnesota | Xcel Energy Center | Recap | |||
| No Scoring | First period | 00:55 - Jordan Leopold (Riddle, Pohl) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 19:43 - GW - Troy Riddle (Pohl, Fleming) | ||||||
| (Szabo, Eastman) Ryan Malone - PP - 11:32 | Third period | 00:35 - Jeff Taffe (DeMarchi, Leopold) 07:03 - PP - Matt Koalska (Riddle, Tallackson) | ||||||
| Jake Moreland ( 22 saves / 26 shots ) / Dean Weasler ( 7 saves / 7 shots ) | Goalie stats | Adam Hauser ( 26 saves / 27 shots ) | ||||||
Third Place
(2) St. Cloud State vs. (4) Colorado College
| March 16[15] | St. Cloud State | 1 – 2 | Colorado College | Xcel Energy Center | Recap | |||
| (Hendricks, Cullen) Colin Peters - 05:02 | First period | 06:39 - Richard Petiot (Sejna, Heerema) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 03:48 - GW PP - Chris Hartsburg (Stuart, Canzanello) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Dean Weasler ( 23 saves / 25 shots ) | Goalie stats | Jeff Sanger ( 35 saves / 36 shots ) | ||||||
Championship
(1) Denver vs. (3) Minnesota
| March 16[16] | Denver | 5 – 2 | Minnesota | Xcel Energy Center | Recap | |||
| (Caldwell, Paradise) David Neale - PP - 03:32 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Cook, Dora) Kevin Ulanski - 01:29 Max Bull - GW - 04:03 |
Second period | 02:29 - Keith Ballard (Tallackson, Koalska) 13:38 - Troy Riddle (Angell, Tallackson) | ||||||
| (James, Doell) Greg Barber - 08:11 (Barber) Kevin Doell - EN - 19:15 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Wade Dubielewicz ( 38 saves / 40 shots ) | Goalie stats | Adam Hauser ( 22 saves / 26 shots ) | ||||||
All-Tournament Team
- F Troy Riddle (Minnesota)
- F Chris Paradise (Denver)
- F Mark Cullen (Colorado College)
- D Jordan Leopold (Minnesota)
- D Ryan Caldwell (Denver)
- G Wade Dubielewicz* (Denver)
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
