2019 NCHC Tournament

The 2019 NCHC Tournament is the sixth tournament in league history. It was played between March 15 and 23, 2019. Quarterfinal were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Minnesota-Duluth received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

2019 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 15–23, 2019
Teams	8
Finals site	Xcel Energy Center Saint Paul, Minnesota
Champions	Minnesota-Duluth (2nd title)
Winning coach	Scott Sandelin (2nd title)
MVP	Hunter Sheppard (Minnesota–Duluth)
NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2018 2020 →

Format

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 Xcel Energy 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]

Game 1 of the series between Western Michigan and Colorado College was delayed 1 day due to the effects from Winter Storm Ulmer.^[2]

Standings

2018–19 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standings v t e
	Conference record									Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	3/SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#5 St. Cloud State †	24	19	2	3	2	62	94	52		39	30	6	3	156	85
#1 Minnesota Duluth *	24	14	9	1	0	43	75	48		42	29	11	2	133	79
#18 Western Michigan	24	13	10	1	1	41	79	78		37	21	15	1	129	115
#3 Denver	24	11	10	3	3	39	55	56		41	24	12	5	116	83
#20 North Dakota	24	12	11	1	0	37	56	55		37	18	17	2	93	90
Colorado College	24	9	12	3	0	30	66	66		41	17	20	4	117	114
Omaha	24	5	17	2	1	18	53	86		36	9	24	3	90	132
Miami	24	5	17	2	1	18	49	86		38	11	23	4	87	122
Championship: March 23, 2019 † indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the Semifinals

	Quarterfinals March 15–18							Semifinals March 22					Championship March 23
	1	St. Cloud State	5	6
	8	Miami	2	3
								1	St. Cloud State	5
								6	Colorado College	2
	4	Denver	2	4
	5	North Dakota	0	2
													1	St. Cloud State	2
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
													2	Minnesota–Duluth	3**
	3	Western Michigan	1	5	2
	6	Colorado College	2	2	3
								2	Minnesota–Duluth	3			Third Place
								4	Denver	0
	2	Minnesota–Duluth	2*	4									4	Denver	6
	7	Omaha	1	1									6	Colorado College	1

* denotes overtime periods

Results

All times are local.

Quarterfinals

(1) St. Cloud State vs. (8) Miami

March 15	St. Cloud State		5 – 2		Miami	Herb Brooks National Hockey Center	Recap
(Ahcan, J. Poehling) Nick Poehling – 03:43 (Brodzinski, B. Lizotte) Robby Jackson – PP – 17:35		First period			No scoring
(N. Poehling, J. Poehling) Ryan Poehling – GW – 14:30		Second period			11:18 – Ben Lown (Mahalak, Rymsha)
(unassisted) Jack Ahcan – 03:57 (Fitzgerald, J. Lizotte) Easton Brodzinski – 16:12		Third period			00:24 – River Rymsha (Gruden)
( 23 saves / 25 shots ) Dávid Hrenák		Goalie stats			Ryan Larkin ( 32 saves / 37 shots )

March 16	St. Cloud State		6 – 3		Miami	Herb Brooks National Hockey Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			06:23 – Karch Bachman (Daschke)
(Hentges) Easton Brodzinski – 04:32 (Jackson, B. Lizotte) Jimmy Schuldt – 05:55		Second period			11:53 – Karch Bachman (Lown, Mahalak)
(Newell, Schuldt) Robby Jackson – 00:49 (Brodzinski) Sam Hentges – GW – 06:42 (Hentges) Easton Brodzinski – 11:12 (Jackson, Newell) Blake Lizotte – EN – 17:27		Third period			04:38 – Brian Hawkinson (Corbett, Hutton)
( 18 saves / 21 shots ) Dávid Hrenák		Goalie stats			Ryan Larkin ( 39 saves / 44 shots )

St. Cloud State won series 2–0

(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (7) Omaha

March 15	Minnesota–Duluth		2 – 1	OT	Omaha	AMSOIL Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(Mackay, Samberg) Riley Tufte – 03:31		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			19:04 – EA – Kevin Conley (Jones, Weiss)
(Miller, Anderson) Nick Swaney – GW – 13:42		First overtime period			No scoring
( 27 saves / 28 shots ) Hunter Shepard		Goalie stats			Evan Weninger ( 39 saves / 41 shots )

March 16	Minnesota–Duluth		4 – 1		Omaha	AMSOIL Arena	Recap
(Anderson, Samberg) Jackson Cates – 11:46		First period			09:40 – Taylor Ward (Morelli, Olofsson)
(Anderson, Krieger) Kobe Roth – GW PP – 07:14 (Richards, Mackay) Cole Koepke – 19:54		Second period			No scoring
(Cates, Wolff) Peter Krieger – 06:11		Third period			No scoring
( 18 saves / 19 shots ) Hunter Shepard		Goalie stats			Evan Weninger ( 29 saves / 33 shots )

Minnesota–Duluth won series 2–0

(3) Western Michigan vs. (6) Colorado College

March 16	Western Michigan		1 – 2		Colorado College	Lawson Ice Arena	Recap
(Passolt, Rueschhoff) Drew Worrad – 02:04		First period			11:57 – Mason Bergh (Conzo, Bradley)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		overtime period			06:42 – GW – Erik Middendorf (Copeland, Versich)
( 23 saves / 25 shots ) Trevor Gorsuch		Goalie stats			Alex Leclerc ( 29 saves / 30 shots )

March 17	Western Michigan		5 – 2		Colorado College	Lawson Ice Arena	Recap
(Allison, Lee) Dawson DiPietro – 01:56		First period			No scoring
(DiPietro, Lee) Colt Conrad – 16:51 (Conrad, Passolt) Corey Schueneman – GW – 19:33		Second period			09:40 – Troy Conzo (Bergh) 19:48 – Bryan Yoon (Michaud)
(Orchard, Passolt) Austin Rueschhoff – 01:44 (Schueneman) Dawson DiPietro – 13:08		Third period			No scoring
( 25 saves / 27 shots ) Trevor Gorsuch		Goalie stats			Alex Leclerc ( 35 saves / 40 shots )

March 18	Western Michigan		2 – 3		Colorado College	Lawson Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			16:47 – PP – Westin Michaud (Bergh, Yoon)
(Passolt, Orchard) Austin Rueschhoff – 18:49		Second period			No scoring
(Orchard, Passolt) Austin Rueschhoff – EA – 17:36		Third period			05:16 – Alex Berardinelli (Copeland, Michaud) 07:16 – GW – Trevor Gooch (Yoon, Bergh)
( 22 saves / 25 shots ) Trevor Gorsuch		Goalie stats			Alex Leclerc ( 32 saves / 34 shots )

Colorado College won series 2–1

(4) Denver vs. (5) North Dakota

March 15	Denver		2 – 0		North Dakota	Magness Arena	Recap
(Lukosevicius, Davies) Tyson McLellan – GW – 19:00		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Heikkinen) Griffin Mendel – 11:44		Third period			No scoring
( 32 saves / 32 shots ) Filip Larsson		Goalie stats			Peter Thome ( 15 saves / 17 shots )

March 16	Denver		4 – 2		North Dakota	Magness Arena	Recap
(Lancaster, Mitchell) Cole Guttman – PP – 03:45		First period			14:33 – Nick Jones (Mismash, Bernard-Docker)
(Mendel, Mitchell) Colin Staub – 01:02 (Guttman, Pettersen) Jarid Lukosevicius – GW – 14:38		Second period			No scoring
(unassisted) Jaakko Heikkinen – EN – 18:27		Third period			05:42 – Nick Jones (Shaw)
( 40 saves / 42 shots ) Filip Larsson		Goalie stats			Peter Thome ( 14 saves / 17 shots )

Denver won series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) St. Cloud State vs. (6) Colorado College

March 22	St. Cloud State		5 – 2		Colorado College	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
(B. Lizotte, Schuldt) Patrick Newell - PP - 12:51 (J. Lizotte) Nolan Walker - 12:51		First period			09:47 - PP - Westin Michaud (Bradley, Yoon)
(Meier, B. Lizotte) Robby Jackson - GW - 09:38		Second period			04:39 - Nick Jones (Olson, Poolman)
(Newell, Fitzgerald) Jack Ahcan - 12:51 (Fitzgerald, Bushy) Nick Poehling - 16:47		Third period			14:47 - PP - Westin Michaud (Yoon, Bergh)
( 31 saves / 33 shots ) Dávid Hrenák		Goalie stats			Alex Leclerc ( 22 saves / 27 shots )

(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (4) Denver

March 22	Denver		0 – 3		Minnesota–Duluth	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(unassisted) Cole Koepke - GW - 00:42 (unassisted) Louie Roehl - EN - 18:22 (unassisted) Cole Koepke - EN - 19:39		Third period			No scoring
( 25 saves / 25 shots ) Hunter Shepard		Goalie stats			Filip Larsson ( 30 saves / 31 shots )

Third place

(4) Denver vs. (6) Colorado College

March 23	Denver		6 – 1		Colorado College	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
(Pettersen) Jarid Lukosevicius - 05:49		First period			15:01 - PP - Trey Bradley (Bergh, Versich)
(Lancaster, Pettersen) Ian Mitchell - GW PP - 08:29 (Davies, Stapley) Liam Finlay - 09:28		Second period			No scoring
(Finlay, McLellan) Ian Mitchell - 00:27 (McLellan, Mitchell) Liam Finlay - 05:37 (Stapley, Mitchell) Tyson McLellan - 12:11		Third period			No scoring
( 22 saves / 23 shots ) Devin Cooley		Goalie stats			Alex Leclerc ( 23 saves / 29 shots )

Championship

(1) St. Cloud State vs. (2) Minnesota–Duluth

March 17	St. Cloud State		2 – 3	2OT	Minnesota–Duluth	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
(B. Lizotte, Newell) Robby Jackson - EA - 07:45		First period			10:49 - Mikey Anderson (Perunovich, Mackay)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(B. Lizotte, Achan) Patrick Newell - PP - 00:28		Third period			15:09 - SH - Billy Exell (Laderoute)
No scoring		Second overtime period			07:29 - GW - Nick Swaney (Laderoute, Jacques)
( 27 saves / 30 shots ) Dávid Hrenák		Goalie stats			Hunter Shepard ( 37 saves / 39 shots )

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

• F Robby Jackson (St. Cloud State)
• F Blake Lizotte (St. Cloud State)
• F Patrick Newell (St. Cloud State)
• D Jimmy Schuldt (St. Cloud State)
• D Mikey Anderson (Minnesota–Duluth)
• G Hunter Shepard* (Minnesota–Duluth)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

^[3]

References

1. "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
2. "WMU hockey playoff series vs. Colorado College pushed back to Saturday". Michigan Live. March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
3. "Minnesota Duluth Tops St. Cloud State in Double OT for Frozen Faceoff Title". SB Nation. March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.