# 2022 NCHC Tournament

The 2022 NCHC Tournament was the eighth tournament in league history. It was played between March 11 and 19, 2022. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four matches were held at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As the tournament winner, Minnesota Duluth earned the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All eight conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were 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 advanced to the Xcel Energy Center for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff used a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.

### Standings

2021–22 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | 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 | OTW | OTL | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #1 Denver † | 24 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 98 | 55 | 41 | 31 | 9 | 1 | 175 | 93 |
| #9 North Dakota † | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 78 | 58 | 39 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 119 | 99 |
| #6 Western Michigan | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 84 | 68 | 39 | 26 | 12 | 1 | 138 | 101 |
| #11 St. Cloud State | 24 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 84 | 69 | 37 | 18 | 15 | 4 | 133 | 97 |
| #5 Minnesota Duluth * | 24 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 61 | 56 | 42 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 109 | 93 |
| Omaha | 24 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 65 | 74 | 38 | 21 | 17 | 0 | 123 | 102 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 6 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 48 | 87 | 36 | 9 | 24 | 3 | 79 | 116 |
| Miami | 24 | 4 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 54 | 105 | 36 | 7 | 27 | 2 | 94 | 153 |
| Championship: March 19, 2022 † indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Frozen Faceoff Championship Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the Semifinals
| Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | | | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 |
| 1 | Denver | 5 | 5 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | 1 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | 1 | - | | | 1 | Denver | 0 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 2 | | | |
| 2 | North Dakota | 2 | 2 | - | | | 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 2 | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 1 | 1 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 1 | 1 | - | | | | | | 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 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) | 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 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) | 3 | Western Michigan | 0 |
| 3 | Western Michigan | 4 | 5* | - | | | | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 0 |
| 6 | Omaha | 2 | 4 | - | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Omaha | 2 | 4 | - | | | 2 | North Dakota | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 4 | | | |
| 4 | St. Cloud State | 2 | 3 | - | | | 3 | Western Michigan | 4 | | | |
| 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 5 | 4* | - | | | | | | | | |
* denotes overtime periods

## Tournament awards
### Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* F: Blake Biondi (Minnesota Duluth)
* F: Ty Glover (Western Michigan)
* F: Dominic James (Minnesota Duluth)
* D: Ronnie Attard (Western Michigan)
* D: Wyatt Kaiser (Minnesota Duluth)
* G: Ryan Fanti* (Minnesota Duluth)
* Most Valuable Player(s)