# 2006 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 2006 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 47th conference playoff in league history and 52nd season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The 2006 tournament played between March 10 and March 18, 2006 at five conference arenas and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, North Dakota was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 10 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top five seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.
The winners of the first round series advanced to the Xcel Energy Center for the WCHA Final Five, the collective name for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds. The Final Five uses a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 5 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the semifinals.

### Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2005–06 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #8 Minnesota† | 28 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 43 | 107 | 64 | 41 | 27 | 9 | 5 | 169 | 105 |
| Denver | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 37 | 98 | 78 | 39 | 21 | 15 | 3 | 125 | 110 |
| #1 Wisconsin | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 37 | 98 | 60 | 43 | 30 | 10 | 3 | 145 | 79 |
| #3 North Dakota* | 28 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 32 | 104 | 76 | 46 | 29 | 16 | 1 | 164 | 109 |
| #11 Colorado College | 28 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 32 | 94 | 75 | 42 | 24 | 16 | 2 | 143 | 109 |
| #15 St. Cloud State | 28 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 28 | 79 | 62 | 42 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 134 | 99 |
| Minnesota State-Mankato | 28 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 27 | 93 | 88 | 39 | 17 | 18 | 4 | 126 | 121 |
| Michigan Tech | 28 | 6 | 16 | 6 | 18 | 54 | 113 | 38 | 7 | 25 | 6 | 74 | 149 |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 28 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 15 | 61 | 114 | 40 | 11 | 25 | 4 | 97 | 148 |
| Alaska–Anchorage | 28 | 4 | 21 | 3 | 11 | 51 | 110 | 36 | 6 | 27 | 3 | 68 | 138 |
| Championship: North Dakota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First round March 10–12, 2006 | First round March 10–12, 2006 | First round March 10–12, 2006 | First round March 10–12, 2006 | First round March 10–12, 2006 | Quarterfinal March 16, 2006 | Quarterfinal March 16, 2006 | Quarterfinal March 16, 2006 | Semifinals March 17, 2006 | Semifinals March 17, 2006 | Semifinals March 17, 2006 | Championship March 18, 2006 | Championship March 18, 2006 | Championship March 18, 2006 |
| 1 | Minnesota | 7 | 6 | — | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Alaska-Anchorage | 4 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | 1 | Minnesota | 7 | | | |
| 2 | Denver | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | St. Cloud State | 5 | 6 | St. Cloud State | 8* | | | |
| 9 | Minnesota-Duluth | 3* | 2 | 5 | 9 | Minnesota-Duluth | 1 | | | | | | |
| 3 | Wisconsin | 4 | 1 | — | | | | | | | 6 | St. Cloud State | 3 |
| 8 | Michigan Tech | 1 | 0 | — | | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 5 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 2 | 4 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Minnesota State | 3* | 1 | 0 | | | | 3 | | | | Wisconsin | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 4 | | | |
| 5 | Colorado College | 1 | 3 | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | St. Cloud State | 2 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Minnesota vs. (10) Alaska-Anchorage

* Minnesota won series 2–0

#### (2) Denver vs. (9) Minnesota-Duluth

* Minnesota-Duluth won series 2–1

#### (3) Wisconsin vs. (8) Michigan Tech

* Wisconsin won series 2–0

#### (4) North Dakota vs. (7) Minnesota State

* North Dakota won series 2–1

#### (5) Colorado College vs. (6) St. Cloud State

* St. Cloud State won series 2–1

### Championship
#### (4) North Dakota vs. (6) St. Cloud State
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Brock Hooton (St. Cloud State)
* F T. J. Oshie (North Dakota)
* F Ryan Potulny (Minnesota)
* D Kyle Klubertanz (Wisconsin)
* D Matt Smaby (North Dakota)
* G Jordan Parise* (North Dakota)
* Most Valuable Player(s)