# 1991 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1991 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 32nd conference playoff in league history and 39th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between March 1 and March 11, 1991. First round games were played at home team campus sites, while all "Final Four" matches were held at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Northern Michigan was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. The team that finished ninth in the conference was not eligible for tournament play. 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 earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.
The winners of the first round series advanced to the semifinal and championship rounds held at the Civic Center. All Final Four games used a single-elimination format. Teams 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 game and the losers competing in a Third Place contest. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1991 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
1990–91 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 |
| Northern Michigan†* | 32 | 25 | 3 | 4 | 54 | 185 | 89 | 47 | 38 | 5 | 4 | 283 | 133 |
| Minnesota | 32 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 49 | 151 | 97 | 45 | 30 | 10 | 5 | 215 | 142 |
| Wisconsin | 32 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 40 | 132 | 108 | 44 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 174 | 143 |
| North Dakota | 32 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 38 | 148 | 127 | 43 | 24 | 17 | 2 | 207 | 171 |
| St. Cloud State | 32 | 12 | 16 | 4 | 28 | 124 | 152 | 41 | 18 | 19 | 4 | 170 | 186 |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 32 | 11 | 15 | 6 | 28 | 114 | 133 | 40 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 142 | 164 |
| Michigan Tech | 32 | 9 | 21 | 2 | 20 | 105 | 134 | 41 | 13 | 25 | 3 | 139 | 164 |
| Colorado College | 32 | 9 | 22 | 1 | 19 | 106 | 139 | 40 | 13 | 26 | 1 | 129 | 169 |
| Denver | 32 | 5 | 25 | 2 | 12 | 95 | 182 | 38 | 6 | 30 | 2 | 109 | 224 |
| Championship: Northern Michigan † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 1–3 | First Round March 1–3 | First Round March 1–3 | First Round March 1–3 | First Round March 1–3 | | | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 |
| 1 | Northern Michigan | 7 | 6 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 0 | 3 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Colorado College | 0 | 3 | — | | | 1 | Northern Michigan | 8 | | | |
| | | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Minnesota | 5 | 6 | — | | | 4 | North Dakota | 4 | | | |
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 3 | 5 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 3 | 5 | — | | | | | | 1 | Northern Michigan | 4 |
| (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 | Northern Michigan | 4 |
| (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 | Minnesota | 2 |
| 3 | Wisconsin | 5 | 5 | — | | | | | | | | | 2 | Minnesota | 2 |
| 6 | Minnesota-Duluth | 1 | 2 | — | | | | | |
| 6 | Minnesota-Duluth | 1 | 2 | — | | | 2 | Minnesota | 3 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | | 3 | Wisconsin | 2 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 2 | 10 | 7 | | | 3 | Wisconsin | 2 | 3 | Wisconsin | 2 |
| 5 | St. Cloud State | 4 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | 4 | North Dakota | 5 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) Northern Michigan vs. (8) Colorado College

* Northern Michigan won series 2–0

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

* Minnesota won series 2–0

#### (3) Wisconsin vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth

* Wisconsin won series 2–0

#### (4) North Dakota vs. (5) St. Cloud State

* North Dakota won series 2–1

### Championship
#### (1) Northern Michigan vs. (2) Minnesota
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Mark Beaufait (Northern Michigan)
* F Greg Johnson (North Dakota)
* F Larry Olimb (Minnesota)
* D Sean Hill (Wisconsin)
* D Brad Werenka (Northern Michigan)
* G Jeff Stolp (Minnesota)

### MVP

* Bill Pye (Northern Michigan)