# 1987 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1987 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 28th conference playoff in league history and 35th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between February 27 and March 14, 1987. First round and semifinal games were played at home team campus sites while the championship match was held, for the final time, at the Winter Sports Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. By winning the tournament, North Dakota was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

All member teams were eligible for the tournament and 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 earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams. As a result of their being the regular season champion, North Dakota's home venue, Winter Sports Center, served as the site for the Championship game regardless of which teams qualified for the penultimate match. Each series were two-game matchups with the team that scored the most goals advancing to the succeeding round. The teams that advanced to the semifinal were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top remaining seed matched against lowest remaining seed in one semifinal game while the two other semifinalists meeting with the winners advancing to the championship round. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

### Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
1986–87 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 |
| North Dakota†* | 35 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 58 | 200 | 94 | 48 | 40 | 8 | 0 | 264 | 129 |
| Minnesota | 35 | 25 | 9 | 1 | 51 | 176 | 123 | 49 | 34 | 14 | 1 | 248 | 165 |
| Denver | 35 | 16 | 16 | 3 | 35 | 150 | 149 | 40 | 19 | 18 | 3 | 182 | 172 |
| Wisconsin | 35 | 17 | 17 | 1 | 35 | 127 | 134 | 42 | 23 | 18 | 1 | 160 | 155 |
| Northern Michigan | 35 | 16 | 18 | 1 | 33 | 131 | 144 | 40 | 18 | 21 | 1 | 151 | 164 |
| Colorado College | 35 | 12 | 22 | 1 | 25 | 143 | 151 | 42 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 171 | 176 |
| Michigan Tech | 35 | 11 | 23 | 1 | 23 | 118 | 182 | 40 | 11 | 28 | 1 | 130 | 218 |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 35 | 11 | 23 | 1 | 23 | 114 | 163 | 39 | 11 | 27 | 1 | 121 | 184 |
| Championship: North Dakota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round February 27-March 1 | First Round February 27-March 1 | First Round February 27-March 1 | First Round February 27-March 1 | First Round February 27-March 1 | Semifinals March 6–7 | Semifinals March 6–7 | Semifinals March 6–7 | Semifinals March 6–7 | Semifinals March 6–7 | Championship March 13–14 | Championship March 13–14 | Championship March 13–14 | Championship March 13–14 | Championship March 13–14 |
| 1 | North Dakota | 5 | 8 | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Minnesota-Duluth | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Minnesota-Duluth | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | North Dakota | 6 | 1 | 7 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Colorado College | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | |
| 2 | Minnesota | 9 | 8 | 17 | 6 | Colorado College | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | |
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 4 | 5 | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 4 | 5 | 9 | | | | | | 1 | North Dakota | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Denver | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Colorado College | 4 | 3 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Colorado College | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | Minnesota | 1 | 8 | 9 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Wisconsin | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | | |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 4 | 6 | 10 | 4 | Wisconsin | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | | |
| 5 | Northern Michigan | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) North Dakota vs. (8) Minnesota-Duluth

* North Dakota won series 13–4

#### (2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan Tech

* Minnesota won series 17–9

#### (3) Denver vs. (6) Colorado College

* Colorado College won series 7–4

#### (4) Wisconsin vs. (5) Northern Michigan

* Wisconsin won series 10–4

### Semifinals
#### (1) North Dakota vs. (6) Colorado College

* North Dakota won series 7–4

#### (2) Minnesota vs. (4) Wisconsin

* Minnesota won series 9–6

### Championship
#### (1) North Dakota vs. (2) Minnesota

* North Dakota won series 10–6

## Tournament awards

None