1988 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1988 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 29th conference playoff in league history and 36th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between February 25 and March 7, 1988. First round games were played at home team campus sites while all 'Final Four' matches were held, for the first time, at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. This was the first year in the tournament's history that the championship game was held at a neutral site which it would continue to do henceforward (as of 2014). By winning the tournament, Wisconsin was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Additionally, this was the first season that the WCHA named a tournament MVP as well as an All-Tournament Team.

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 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference Standings[4]

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
Minnesota†352870561671074434100209125
Wisconsin*3522121451631254530132205161
Denver3519142401691523920172184170
Michigan Tech3519151391651584120201189188
North Dakota3516181331471404221201174160
Minnesota-Duluth3515182321431554118212163179
Northern Michigan3514174321451474016204164159
Colorado College3533117102206384331111222
Championship: Wisconsin
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

  First Round
February 25–28		 Semifinals
March 6		 Championship
March 7
                               
  1 Minnesota 7 5 — 1 Minnesota 6  
8 Colorado College 0 0 — 6 Minnesota-Duluth 1  
  2 Wisconsin 2* 5 —
7 Northern Michigan 1 4 —     1 Minnesota 2
  2 Wisconsin 3
  3 Denver 2 3 —
6 Minnesota-Duluth 5 7 —
Third place
  4 Michigan Tech 4 6 3 2 Wisconsin 2
5 North Dakota 5 3 4* 5 North Dakota 1   5 North Dakota 6
6 Minnesota-Duluth 0

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First Round

(1) Minnesota vs. (8) Colorado College

Minnesota won series 2–0

(2) Wisconsin vs. (7) Northern Michigan

Wisconsin won series 2–0

(3) Denver vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth

Minnesota-Duluth won series 2–0

(4) Michigan Tech vs. (5) North Dakota

North Dakota won series 2–1

Semifinals

(1) Minnesota vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth

(2) Wisconsin vs. (5) North Dakota

Third Place

(5) North Dakota vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth

Championship

(1) Minnesota vs. (2) Wisconsin

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team[5]

* Most Valuable Player(s)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wisconsin Men's Team History". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  2. ↑ "Jeff Sauer Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  3. ↑ "WCHA Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  4. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  5. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
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