2019 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

2019 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 8–23, 2019
Teams	8
Finals site	Mankato, Minnesota Verizon Center
Champions	Minnesota State (3rd title)
Winning coach	Mike Hastings (3rd title)
Most Outstanding Player	Nick Rivera (Minnesota State)
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2018 2020 →

The 2019 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 8 and March 23, 2019 on campus locations. By winning the tournament, Minnesota State was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The first two rounds of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. The top eight conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 8 according to their final conference standings, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The higher seeded teams each earned home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams. (teams will NOT be re-seeded with each proceeding round).

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

Standings

2018–19 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Standings
	Conference record									Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	3/SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#6 Minnesota State †*	28	22	5	1	1	68	99	43		42	32	8	2	147	76
Northern Michigan	28	18	8	2	0	56	82	57		39	21	16	2	104	96
#13 Bowling Green	28	16	8	4	3	55	77	52		41	25	11	5	133	75
Lake Superior State	28	16	10	2	0	50	91	69		38	23	13	2	123	93
Bemidji State	28	13	11	4	2	45	71	63		38	15	17	6	95	94
Michigan Tech	28	13	12	3	1	43	68	63		38	14	20	4	90	101
Alaska	28	12	14	2	2	40	57	81		36	12	21	3	72	114
Alabama–Huntsville	28	8	18	2	2	28	61	93		38	8	28	2	67	129
Ferris State	28	7	18	3	0	24	68	96		36	10	23	3	90	123
Alaska Anchorage	28	2	23	3	2	11	29	86		34	3	28	3	40	115
Championship: March 23, 2019 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Broadmoor Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

	Quarterfinals March 8–9							Semifinals March 15–16							Championship March 23
	1	Minnesota State	3	4	X
	8	Alabama–Huntsville	1	1	X
								1	Minnesota State	2	2	X
								4	Lake Superior	1	0	X
	4	Lake Superior	4	3	X
	5	Bemidji State	2	1	X
															1	Minnesota State	3*
															3	Bowling Green	2
	3	Bowling Green	3	6	X
	6	Michigan Tech	2	2	X
								2	Northern Michigan	1	1	X
								3	Bowling Green	6	2**	X
	2	Northern Michigan	5**	4	X
	7	Alaska	4	3	X

Note: * denotes overtime periods

Results

Quarterfinals

(1) Minnesota State vs. (8) Alabama–Huntsville

March 8	Minnesota State		3-1		Alabama–Huntsville	Verizon Arena	Recap
(Rivera, French) Walker Duehr (9) - 05:09		First period			No scoring
(Gerard, Scheid) Marc Michaelis (17) - GW PP - 04:48		Second period			16:28 - Connor Merkley (3) (Finnson, Dunn)
(Scheid, Tuomie) Marc Michaelis (22) - PP - 05:26		Third period			No scoring
( 12 saves / 13 shots ) Dryden McKay		Goalie stats			Mark Sinclair ( 32 saves / 35 shots )

March 9	Minnesota State		4–1		Alabama–Huntsville	Verizon Arena	Recap
(Jaremko, Mackey) Reggie Lutz (5) - PP - 01:44 (Gerard) Parker Tuomie (14) - GW - 08:57		First period			No scoring
(Jaremko, Coatta) Reggie Lutz (6) - PP - 14:25 (Tuomie) Marc Michaelis (19) - 15:36		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			10:16 - Adam Wilcox (3) (Wood)
( 18 saves / 19 shots ) Dryden McKay		Goalie stats			Mark Sinclair ( 27 saves / 31 shots )

Minnesota State wins series 2–0

(2) Northern Michigan vs. (7) Alaska

March 8	Northern Michigan		5–4	2OT	Alaska	Berry Events Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			16:38 - Tyler Cline (9) (Staley)
(Loughran, Readman) Joseph Nardi (8) - 02:09 (Frantti, Loven) Vincent de Mey (4) - 03:31		Second period			10:30 - Kyle Marino (5) (LaDouce, Doyle) 12:46 - Steven Jandric (9) (Newton, Young) 16:05 - Chase Ellingson (1) (Hope)
(Nardi, Readman) Griffin Loughran (6) - PP - 06:51 (Craighead, Beaulieu) Adam Rockwood (7) - EA - 19:46		Third period			No scoring
(Loughran, Beaulieu) Joseph Nardi (9) - GW - 10:30		Second overtime period			No scoring
( 38 saves / 42 shots ) Atte Tolvanen		Goalie stats			Anton Martinsson ( 39 saves / 44 shots )

March 9	Northern Michigan		4–3		Alaska	Berry Events Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			08:06 - Kylar Hope (8) (Leiter, Jandric)
(Black, Rockwood) Denver Pierce (10) - 12:54 (Klee, Loven) Vincent de Mey (5) - 13:36		Second period			08:28 - Kyle Marino (6) (Doyle)
(Pierce) Troy Loggins (23) - 09:59 (Rockwood, Loggins) Darien Craighead (9) - GW PP - 11:58		Third period			17:52 - EA - Tyler Cline (6) (Thompson, Jandric)
( 26 saves / 29 shots ) Atte Tolvanen		Goalie stats			Anton Martinsson ( 26 saves / 30 shots )

Northern Michigan wins series 2–0

(3) Bowling Green vs. (6) Michigan Tech

March 8	Bowling Green		3–2		Michigan Tech	Slater Family Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			06:56 - Raymond Brice (3) (Parrottino, Reitmeier)
No scoring		Second period			18:18 - SH - Alec Broetzman (8) (Reitmeier)
(Barber, Johnson) Connor Ford (14) - PP - 11:55 (Smith, Pohlkamp) Frédéric Létourneau (14) - 12:10 (Ford, Kruse) Max Johnson (14) - GW PP - 13:41		Third period			No scoring
( 23 saves / 25 shots ) Ryan Bednard		Goalie stats			Matt Jurusik ( 38 saves / 41 shots )

March 9	Bowling Green		6–2		Michigan Tech	Slater Family Ice Arena	Recap
(Johnson) Adam Smith (2) - 05:25 (Wright, Pohlkamp) Max Johnson (16) - 09:30 (Kruse, Johnson) Connor Ford (15) - GW PP - 10:24		First period			04:35 - PP - Jake Lucchini (10) (Bliss, Smith) 11:54 - Jake Lucchini (3) (Smith, Donohue)
(Schneider, Theorcharidis) Max Johnson (17) - PP - 07:36		Second period			No scoring
(unassisted) Frédéric Létourneau (6) - PS - 09:08 (unassisted) Connor McDonald (1) - SH EN - 11:05		Third period			No scoring
( 25 saves / 27 shots ) Ryan Bednard		Goalie stats			Matt Jurusik ( 25 saves / 30 shots ) / Devin Kero ( 4 saves / 4 shots )

Bowling Green wins series 2-0

(4) Lake Superior State vs. (5) Bemidji State

March 8	Lake Superior State		4–2		Bemidji State	Taffy Abel Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			07:20 - Nick Cardelli (9) (Harris, Billett)
(Eriksson) Diego Cuglietta (24) - 05:17 (Saccoman, Calder) Lukas Kaelble (2) - PP - 18:29		Second period			No scoring
(Calder, Saccoman) Anthony Nellis (15) - GW PP - 09:49 (unassisted) Max Humitz (15) - EN - 19:44		Third period			10:27 - EA - Brad Johnson (3) (Sillinger, Combs)
( 29 saves / 31 shots ) Nick Kossoff		Goalie stats			Zach Driscoll ( 17 saves / 20 shots )

March 9	Lake Superior State		3–1		Bemidji State	Taffy Abel Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(Nordqvist, Nellis) Max Humitz (16) - 09:29		Second period			12:01 - Justin Baudry (9) (Somoza, Ierullo)
(Nordqvist, Cuglietta) Hampus Eriksson (3) - GW PP - 06:30 (Cuglietta) Collin Saccoman (10) - EN - 19:22		Third period			No scoring
( 39 saves / 40 shots ) Nick Kossoff		Goalie stats			Zach Driscoll ( 31 saves / 33 shots )

Lake Superior State wins series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Minnesota State vs. (4) Lake Superior State

March 15	Minnesota State		2–1		Lake Superior State	Verizon Arena	Recap
(Tuomie, Michaelis) Charlie Gerard (11) - 06:18 (French, Mackey) Walker Duehr (10) - GW - 07:20		First period			01:37 - Diego Cuglietta (25) (Humitz, Ruggiero)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 20 saves / 21 shots ) Dryden McKay		Goalie stats			Nick Kossoff ( 29 saves / 31 shots )

March 16	Minnesota State		2–0		Lake Superior State	Verizon Arena	Recap
(Michaelis, Gerard) Julian Napravnik (8) - GW PP - 12:14 (Coatta, Scheid) Reggie Lutz (7) - PP - 13:27		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 31 saves / 31 shots ) Dryden McKay		Goalie stats			Nick Kossoff ( 28 saves / 30 shots )

Minnesota State wins series 2–0

(2) Northern Michigan vs. (3) Bowling Green

March 15	Northern Michigan		1–6		Bowling Green	Berry Events Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			01:35 - Max Johnson (18) (Létourneau) 05:42 - GW - Adam Smith (3) (Ford, Létourneau)
(Loggins, Rockwood) Griffin Loughran (7) - 8:55		Third period			00:30 - PP - Brandon Kruse (9) (Rauhauser, Johnson) 01:23 - PP - Connor Ford (16) (Rauhauser, Johnson) 11:12 - Max Johnson (19) (Kruse, Johnson) 19:54 - Cameron Wright (9) (Barber, Linkenheld)
( 36 saves / 42 shots ) Atte Tolvanen		Goalie stats			Ryan Bednard ( 26 saves / 27 shots )

March 16	Northern Michigan		1–2	2OT	Bowling Green	Berry Events Center	Recap
No Scoring		First period			15:12 - Connor Ford (17) (Pohlkamp, Baylis)
(Beaulieu, Rockwood) Darien Craighead (10) - 00:21		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		Second overtime period			02:09 - GW - Sam Craggs (8) (Cullen, Rauhauser)
( 41 saves / 43 shots ) Atte Tolvanen		Goalie stats			Ryan Bednard ( 40 saves / 41 shots )

Bowling Green wins series 2–0

Championship

(1) Minnesota State vs. (3) Bowling Green

March 23	Minnesota State		3–2	OT	Bowling Green	Verizon Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			14:56 - Frédéric Létourneau (7) (Schneider, Cullen)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Zmolek, Coatta) Jake Jaremko (6) - EA - 18:16 (McNeely, Tuomie) Connor Mackey (7) - EA - 19:04		Third period			01:28 - PP - Alec Rauhauser (4) (Johnson, Ford)
(French, McMahan) Nick Rivera (15) - GW - 01:37		First overtime period			No scoring
( 17 saves / 19 shots ) Dryden McKay		Goalie stats			Ryan Bednard ( 24 saves / 27 shots )

Tournament awards

Most Outstanding Player

Nick Rivera (Minnesota State)