# 2018 NCHC Tournament

The 2018 NCHC Tournament was the fifth tournament in league history. It was played between March 9 and March 17, 2018. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Denver received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2018 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 Xcel Energy 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
2017–18 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 |
| #6 St. Cloud State † | 24 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 53 | 93 | 59 | 40 | 25 | 9 | 6 | 144 | 101 |
| #5 Denver* | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 46 | 76 | 53 | 41 | 23 | 10 | 8 | 135 | 86 |
| #1 Minnesota–Duluth | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 79 | 56 | 42 | 25 | 16 | 3 | 132 | 92 |
| #17 North Dakota | 24 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 33 | 71 | 68 | 40 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 117 | 95 |
| Omaha | 24 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 75 | 97 | 36 | 17 | 17 | 2 | 121 | 134 |
| Western Michigan | 24 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 82 | 94 | 36 | 15 | 19 | 2 | 115 | 129 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 31 | 63 | 85 | 37 | 15 | 17 | 5 | 99 | 121 |
| Miami | 24 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 62 | 89 | 37 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 103 | 128 |
| Championship: March 17, 2018 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 5, 2018 ||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

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

## Results

All times are local.

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) St. Cloud State vs. (8) Miami

* St. Cloud State won series 2–1

#### (2) Denver vs. (7) Colorado College

* Denver won series 2–1

#### (3) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (6) Western Michigan

* Minnesota–Duluth won series 2–0

#### (4) North Dakota vs. (5) Omaha

* North Dakota won series 2–0

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

* F Henrik Borgström (Denver)
* F Nick Poehling (St. Cloud State)
* F Logan O'Connor (Denver)
* D Ian Mitchell (Denver)
* D Jack Ahcan (St. Cloud State)
* G Tanner Jaillet* (Denver)
* Most Valuable Player(s)