# 2016 NCHC Tournament

The 2016 NCHC Tournament was the third tournament in league history. It was played between March 11 and March 19, 2016. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, St. Cloud State received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2016 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 Target 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
2015–16 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 |
| #1 North Dakota† | 24 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 59 | 89 | 49 | 44 | 34 | 6 | 4 | 162 | 81 |
| #4 St. Cloud State* | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 104 | 53 | 41 | 31 | 9 | 1 | 175 | 90 |
| #6 Denver | 24 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 53 | 74 | 52 | 41 | 25 | 10 | 6 | 134 | 96 |
| #16 Minnesota–Duluth | 24 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 64 | 44 | 40 | 19 | 16 | 5 | 107 | 82 |
| Miami | 24 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 54 | 65 | 36 | 15 | 18 | 3 | 86 | 97 |
| Omaha | 24 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 60 | 83 | 36 | 18 | 17 | 1 | 103 | 107 |
| Western Michigan | 24 | 5 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 56 | 103 | 36 | 8 | 25 | 3 | 80 | 142 |
| Colorado College | 24 | 4 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 47 | 99 | 36 | 6 | 29 | 1 | 71 | 145 |
| Champions: St. Cloud State † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 13, 2016 ||||||||||||||||

## Bracket

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

## Results

All times are local.

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) North Dakota vs. (8) Colorado College

* North Dakota won series 2–0

#### (2) St. Cloud State vs. (7) Western Michigan

* St. Cloud State won series 2–0

#### (3) Denver vs. (6) Nebraska-Omaha

* Denver won series 2–0

#### (4) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (5) Miami

* Minnesota–Duluth won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (2) St. Cloud State vs. (4) Minnesota–Duluth
## Tournament awards
### Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* F Mikey Eyssimont* (St. Cloud State)
* F Dominic Toninato (Minnesota-Duluth)
* F Nick Schmaltz (North Dakota)
* D Ethan Prow (St. Cloud State)
* D Willie Raskob (Minnesota-Duluth)
* G Charlie Lindgren (St. Cloud State)
* Most Valuable Player(s)