# 1973 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1973 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 14th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 5 and March 11, 1973. All games were played at home team campus sites, including each of the two regional final series. By winning the regional tournaments, both Wisconsin and Denver were invited to participate in the 1973 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Though not official designations, Wisconsin is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Denver as the West Regional Champion‡.

## Format

The top eight teams in the WCHA, according to their final conference standings, were eligible for the tournament and were seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In the first round the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds were matched in two-game series where the school that scored the higher number of goals was declared the winner. After the first round the remaining teams were reseeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to their final conference standings and advanced to the second round. In the second round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds competed in an additional two-game, total goal series with the winners of each being declared as co-conference champions.

### Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
1972–73 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Denver†* | 28 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 52 | 141 | 85 | 39 | 29 | 9 | 1 | 208 | 116 |
| Notre Dame | 28 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 48 | 150 | 119 | 38 | 23 | 14 | 1 | 199 | 174 |
| Wisconsin* | 28 | 18 | 9 | 1 | 47 | 134 | 101 | 40 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 217 | 139 |
| Michigan State | 26 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 47 | 132 | 114 | 36 | 23 | 12 | 1 | 194 | 149 |
| Michigan Tech | 26 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 135 | 106 | 38 | 24 | 13 | 1 | 198 | 139 |
| Minnesota | 28 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 35 | 94 | 102 | 34 | 15 | 16 | 3 | 124 | 129 |
| North Dakota | 30 | 13 | 15 | 2 | 32 | 124 | 131 | 36 | 17 | 17 | 2 | 154 | 157 |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 28 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 30 | 123 | 131 | 36 | 19 | 17 | 0 | 166 | 161 |
| Colorado College | 28 | 5 | 23 | 0 | 14 | 103 | 171 | 34 | 10 | 24 | 0 | 150 | 198 |
| Michigan | 30 | 4 | 25 | 1 | 11 | 116 | 183 | 34 | 6 | 27 | 1 | 136 | 206 |
| Championship: Wisconsin, Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 5–7 | First Round March 5–7 | First Round March 5–7 | First Round March 5–7 | Second Round March 9–11 | Second Round March 9–11 | Second Round March 9–11 | Second Round March 9–11 |
| 1 | Denver | 5 | 4 | | | | |
| 8 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 | 2 | | | | |
| 8 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 | 2 | 1 | Denver | 3 | 4 |
| | | | | 5 | Michigan Tech | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 5 | 8 | 5 | Michigan Tech | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | North Dakota | 0 | 3 | | | | |
| 3 | Wisconsin | 8 | 6 | | | | |
| 6 | Minnesota | 6 | 4 | | | | |
| 6 | Minnesota | 6 | 4 | 2 | Notre Dame | 4 | 3 |
| | | | | 3 | Wisconsin | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Michigan State | 2 | 3 | 3 | Wisconsin | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Michigan Tech | 7 | 1 | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) Denver vs. (8) Minnesota-Duluth

* Denver won series 9–6

#### (2) Notre Dame vs. (7) North Dakota

* Notre Dame won series 13–3

#### (3) Wisconsin vs. (6) Minnesota

* Wisconsin won series 14–10

#### (4) Michigan State vs. (5) Michigan Tech

* Michigan Tech won series 8–5

### Second round
#### (1) Denver vs. (5) Michigan Tech

* Denver won series 7–3

#### (2) Notre Dame vs. (3) Wisconsin

* Wisconsin won series 8–7

## Tournament awards

None