# 2015 NCHC Tournament

The 2015 NCHC Tournament was the second tournament in league history. It was played between March 13 and March 21, 2015. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Miami received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. All eight conference teams participate in the tournament. Teams are 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 earn home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams.
The winners of the first round series advance to the Target Center for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff uses a single-elimination format. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.

### Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2014–15 National Collegiate Hockey Conference standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | SOW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #3 North Dakota† | 24 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 72 | 55 | 42 | 29 | 10 | 3 | 138 | 94 |
| #8 Miami * | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 73 | 60 | 40 | 25 | 14 | 1 | 130 | 100 |
| #4 Omaha | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 67 | 56 | 39 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 105 | 90 |
| #5 Denver | 24 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 79 | 68 | 40 | 24 | 14 | 2 | 131 | 99 |
| #6 Minnesota–Duluth | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 68 | 59 | 40 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 115 | 97 |
| #10 St. Cloud State | 24 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 69 | 56 | 40 | 20 | 19 | 1 | 109 | 97 |
| Western Michigan | 24 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 51 | 73 | 37 | 14 | 18 | 5 | 98 | 107 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 2 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 43 | 95 | 35 | 6 | 26 | 3 | 74 | 136 |
| Championship: March 21, 2015 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 23, 2015 ||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | | | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 |
| 1 | North Dakota | 5 | 3 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 1 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 1 | 2 | — | | | 1 | North Dakota | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 6 | St. Cloud State | 3 | | | |
| 2 | Miami | 5 | 5 | 4 | | | 6 | St. Cloud State | 3 | | | |
| 7 | Western Michigan | 3 | 7 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Western Michigan | 3 | 7 | 0 | | | | | | 6 | St. Cloud State | 2 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 6 | St. Cloud State | 2 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 2 | Miami | 3 |
| 3 | Omaha | 1 | 1 | — | | | | | | | | | 2 | Miami | 3 |
| 6 | St. Cloud State | 2** | 3 | — | | | | | |
| 6 | St. Cloud State | 2** | 3 | — | | | 2 | Miami | 6 | Third Place | Third Place | Third Place |
| | | | | | | | 4 | Denver | 3 |
| 4 | Denver | 4 | 4 | — | | | 4 | Denver | 3 | 1 | North Dakota | 1 |
| 5 | Minnesota-Duluth | 3 | 0 | — | | | | | | 4 | Denver | 5 |
* denotes overtime periods

## Results
### Quarterfinals

All times are local.

#### (1) North Dakota vs. (8) Colorado College

* North Dakota wins series 2 – 0

#### (2) Miami vs. (7) Western Michigan

* Miami wins series 2–1

#### (3) Omaha vs. (6) St. Cloud State

* St. Cloud State wins series 2 – 0

#### (4) Denver vs. (5) Minnesota-Duluth

* Denver wins series 2–0

### Championship
#### (2) Miami vs. (6) St. Cloud State
## Tournament awards
### Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* F Blake Coleman* (Miami)
* F Austin Czarnik (Miami)
* F Joey Benik (St. Cloud State)
* D Louie Belpedio (Miami)
* D Tim Daly (St. Cloud State)
* G Charlie Lindgren (St. Cloud State)
* Most Valuable Player(s)