1989 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

1989 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
DatesFebruary 24-March 6, 1989
Teams8
Finals siteCivic Center
St. Paul, Minnesota
ChampionsNorthern Michigan[1] (1st title)
Winning coachRick Comley[2] (1st title)
MVPBill Pye[3] (Northern Michigan)
Attendance50,232
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments

The 1989 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 30th conference playoff in league history and 37th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between February 24 and March 6, 1989. First round games were played at home team campus sites while all 'Final Four' matches were held at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Northern Michigan was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1989 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. Teams were 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 earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advanced to the semifinal and championship rounds held at the Civic Center. All Final Four games used a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top remaining seed matched against lowest remaining seed in one semifinal game while the two other semifinalists meeting with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers competing in a Third Place contest. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1989 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference standings

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

1988–89 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Minnesota† 35 27 6 2 56 157 91 48 34 11 3 209 134
Northern Michigan* 35 20 13 2 42 163 110 45 26 17 2 212 144
Wisconsin 35 17 13 5 39 126 108 46 25 16 5 168 134
North Dakota 35 19 15 1 39 131 119 41 22 18 1 164 138
Denver 35 16 17 2 34 143 144 43 22 19 2 179 178
Michigan Tech 35 15 19 1 31 128 150 42 15 25 2 142 188
Minnesota-Duluth 35 12 21 2 26 106 135 40 15 23 2 126 153
Colorado College 35 9 23 3 21 115 157 40 11 26 3 133 179
Championship: Northern Michigan
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion

[4]

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

First Round
February 24–27 		Semifinals
March 5 		Championship
March 6
           
1 Minnesota 5 7 —
8 Colorado College 4 1 —
1 Minnesota 1
5 Denver 2
2 Northern Michigan 7 7 —
7 Minnesota-Duluth 2 3 —
2 Northern Michigan 9
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
5 Denver 4
3 Wisconsin 5 5 —
6 Michigan Tech 2 3 —
2 Northern Michigan 4 Third place
3 Wisconsin 2
4 North Dakota 7 4 2 1 Minnesota 3
5 Denver 1 5 3 3 Wisconsin 4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First round

(1) Minnesota vs. (8) Colorado College

February 24 Minnesota 5 – 4 Colorado College Mariucci Arena
February 25 Minnesota 7 – 1 Colorado College Mariucci Arena
Minnesota won series 2–0


(2) Northern Michigan vs. (7) Minnesota-Duluth

February 24 Northern Michigan 7 – 2 Minnesota-Duluth Lakeview Arena
February 25 Northern Michigan 7 – 3 Minnesota-Duluth Lakeview Arena
Northern Michigan won series 2–0


(3) Wisconsin vs. (6) Michigan Tech

February 24 Wisconsin 5 – 2 Michigan Tech Dane County Coliseum
February 25 Wisconsin 5 – 3 Michigan Tech Dane County Coliseum
Wisconsin won series 2–0


(4) North Dakota vs. (5) Denver

February 25 North Dakota 7 – 1 Denver Ralph Engelstad Arena
February 26 North Dakota 4 – 5 Denver Ralph Engelstad Arena
February 27 North Dakota 2 – 3 Denver Ralph Engelstad Arena
Denver won series 2–1


Semifinals

(1) Minnesota vs. (5) Denver

March 5 Minnesota 1 – 2 Denver Civic Center


(2) Northern Michigan vs. (3) Wisconsin

March 5 Northern Michigan 4 – 2 Wisconsin Civic Center


Third Place

(1) Minnesota vs. (3) Wisconsin

March 6 Minnesota 3 – 4 Wisconsin Civic Center


Championship

(2) Northern Michigan vs. (5) Denver

March 6 Northern Michigan 9 – 4 Denver Civic Center


Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Northern Michigan Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  2. ^ "Rick Comley 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.