# 2012 CCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 2012 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is the 41st CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. It will be played between March 2 and March 17, 2012 at campus locations and at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Western Michigan won the Mason Cup and they earned the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The tournament features four rounds of play. In the first round the sixth and eleventh, seventh and tenth, and eighth and ninth seeds as determined by the final regular season standings play a best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. There, the first seed and lowest-ranked first-round winner, the second seed and second-lowest-ranked first-round winner, the third seed and second-highest-ranked first-round winner, and the fourth seed and the fifth seed play a best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second-highest and second-lowest seeds play a single game, with the winner advancing to the championship game and the loser advancing to the third-place game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

### Regular season standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2011–12 Central Collegiate Hockey Association standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #2 Ferris State† | 28 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 54 | 80 | 62 | 43 | 26 | 12 | 5 | 124 | 94 |
| #7 Michigan | 28 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 50 | 85 | 60 | 41 | 24 | 13 | 4 | 132 | 89 |
| #14 Western Michigan* | 28 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 72 | 61 | 41 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 114 | 92 |
| #8 Miami | 28 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 48 | 74 | 55 | 41 | 24 | 15 | 2 | 122 | 86 |
| #15 Michigan State | 28 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 47 | 80 | 68 | 39 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 111 | 103 |
| #20 Northern Michigan | 28 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 42 | 76 | 79 | 37 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 106 | 102 |
| Lake Superior State | 28 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 41 | 71 | 79 | 40 | 18 | 17 | 5 | 102 | 108 |
| #19 Notre Dame | 28 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 65 | 73 | 40 | 19 | 18 | 3 | 101 | 107 |
| Ohio State | 28 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 39 | 74 | 79 | 35 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 91 | 92 |
| Alaska | 28 | 0^ | 28^ | 0^ | 0^ | 30 | 63 | 76 | 36 | 0^ | 36^ | 0^ | 84 | 94 |
| Bowling Green | 28 | 5 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 40 | 88 | 44 | 14 | 25 | 5 | 85 | 129 |
| Championship: Michigan 2, Western Michigan 3 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll ^ Alaska was retroactively required to forfeit all wins and ties due to player ineligibilities. ||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

| First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Semifinals March 16 | Semifinals March 16 | Semifinals March 16 | Championship March 17 | Championship March 17 | Championship March 17 |
| | | | | | 1 | Ferris State | 2 | 7 | 3 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Notre Dame | 2 | 4 | — | 11 | Bowling Green | 3 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | |
| 9 | Ohio State | 0 | 2 | — | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 6 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Miami | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Miami | 6 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 5 | Michigan State | 0 | 1 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Michigan | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 3 |
| | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 4 | 5 | — | | | |
| 6 | Northern Michigan | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | Lake Superior State | 2 | 2 | — | | | |
| 11 | Bowling Green | 2 | 5 | 4 | | | | | | 2 | Michigan | 3* | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | | | | | 11 | Bowling Green | 2 |
| | | | | | 2 | Michigan | 2 | 3 | — | | | | 4 | Miami | 4 |
| 7 | Lake Superior State | 4 | 2 | — | 8 | Notre Dame | 1 | 1 | — | | | | 11 | Bowling Green | 1 |
| 10 | Alaska | 3 | 0 | — | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Championship
#### (2) Michigan vs. (3) Western Michigan
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Reilly Smith (Miami)
* F Greg Squires (Western Michigan)
* F Luke Moffatt (Michigan)
* D Danny DeKeyser (Western Michigan)
* D Lee Moffie (Michigan)
* G Frank Slubowski* (Western Michigan)
* Most Valuable Player(s)