# 2023 NCHC Tournament

The 2023 NCHC Tournament was the ninth tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and 18, 2023. 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, St. Cloud State earned the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2023 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

2022–23 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 | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #6 Denver † | 24 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 94 | 53 | 40 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 150 | 86 |
| #11 Western Michigan | 24 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 86 | 60 | 39 | 23 | 15 | 1 | 148 | 102 |
| #20 Omaha | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 71 | 64 | 37 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 109 | 97 |
| #5 St. Cloud State * | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 41 | 85 | 68 | 41 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 133 | 95 |
| Minnesota Duluth | 24 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 65 | 81 | 37 | 16 | 20 | 1 | 95 | 114 |
| #17 North Dakota | 24 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 75 | 70 | 39 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 127 | 110 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 6 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 37 | 60 | 38 | 13 | 22 | 3 | 79 | 99 |
| Miami | 24 | 3 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 39 | 96 | 36 | 8 | 24 | 4 | 73 | 137 |
| Championship: March 18, 2023 † 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 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 | 6 | 7 | - | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | 2 | - | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | Denver | 0 | | | |
| | | | | | 7 | Colorado College | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Western Michigan | 1 | 2 | - | 7 | Colorado College | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 3 | 3* | - | | | | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 3 | 3* | - | | | | 7 | Colorado College | 0 |
| | | | | | | | | 4 | St. Cloud State | 3 |
| 3 | Omaha | 2 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | 4 | St. Cloud State | 3 |
| 6 | North Dakota | 1 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | |
| 6 | North Dakota | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | St. Cloud State | 3* | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | North Dakota | 2 | | | |
| 4 | St. Cloud State | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | North Dakota | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 1 | 5 | 1 | | | | | | |
* denotes overtime periods

## Results

All times are local.

### Championship
#### (4) St. Cloud State vs. (7) Colorado College
## Tournament awards
### Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* F: Jami Krannila* (St. Cloud State)
* F: Zach Okabe (St. Cloud State)
* F: Hunter McKown (Colorado College)
* D: Bryan Yoon (Colorado College)
* D: Jack Peart (St. Cloud State)
* G: Jaxon Castor (St. Cloud State)
* Most Valuable Player(s)