# 2017 NCHC Tournament

The 2017 NCHC Tournament was the fourth tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and March 18, 2017. 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, Minnesota-Duluth received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2017 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
2016–17 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 |
| #1 Denver† | 24 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 59 | 82 | 42 | 44 | 33 | 7 | 4 | 152 | 80 |
| #2 Minnesota–Duluth* | 24 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 52 | 83 | 56 | 42 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 140 | 95 |
| #10 Western Michigan | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 79 | 75 | 40 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 113 | 114 |
| #9 North Dakota | 24 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 69 | 63 | 40 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 127 | 104 |
| St. Cloud State | 24 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 64 | 69 | 36 | 16 | 19 | 1 | 105 | 109 |
| Omaha | 24 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 74 | 89 | 39 | 17 | 17 | 5 | 122 | 128 |
| Miami | 24 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 23 | 57 | 80 | 36 | 9 | 20 | 7 | 91 | 113 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 4 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 43 | 77 | 36 | 8 | 24 | 4 | 70 | 120 |
| Championship: March 18, 2017 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 6, 2017 ||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | | | Semifinals March 17 | Semifinals March 17 | Semifinals March 17 | Championship March 18 | Championship March 18 | Championship March 18 |
| 1 | Denver | 4 | 4 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 0 | 0 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 0 | 0 | — | | | 1 | Denver | 0 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Minnesota-Duluth | 5* | 5 | — | | | 4 | North Dakota | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Miami | 4 | 3 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Miami | 4 | 3 | — | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 3 |
| (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) | 4 | North Dakota | 3 |
| (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 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 |
| 3 | Western Michigan | 1 | 5 | 2* | | | | | | | | | 2 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 |
| 6 | Omaha | 2* | 2 | 1 | | | | | |
| 6 | Omaha | 2* | 2 | 1 | | | 2 | Minnesota-Duluth | 5 | Third Place | Third Place | Third Place |
| | | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 2 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 5 | 6* | — | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 2 | 1 | Denver | 3 |
| 5 | St. Cloud State | 2 | 5 | — | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 1 |
* denotes overtime periods

## Results

All times are local.

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Denver vs. (8) Colorado College

* Denver won series 2–0

#### (2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (7) Miami

* Minnesota–Duluth won series 2–0

#### (3) Western Michigan vs. (6) Nebraska-Omaha

* Western Michigan won series 2–1

#### (4) North Dakota vs. (5) St. Cloud State

* North Dakota won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (4) North Dakota
## Tournament awards
### Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* F Alex Iafallo* (Minnesota-Duluth)
* F Tyson Jost (North Dakota)
* F Dominic Toninato (Minnesota-Duluth)
* D Tucker Poolman (North Dakota)
* D Neal Pionk (Minnesota-Duluth)
* G Hunter Miksa (Minnesota-Duluth)
Notes:
* * Most Valuable Player(s)