# 1990 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1990 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 31st conference playoff in league history and 38th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between March 1 and March 12, 1990. 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, Wisconsin was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1990 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. 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 1990 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
1989–90 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 |
| Wisconsin†* | 28 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 39 | 147 | 111 | 46 | 36 | 9 | 1 | 254 | 166 |
| Minnesota | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 36 | 147 | 124 | 46 | 28 | 16 | 2 | 227 | 189 |
| North Dakota | 28 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 33 | 149 | 114 | 45 | 28 | 13 | 4 | 252 | 175 |
| Northern Michigan | 28 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 31 | 130 | 129 | 42 | 22 | 19 | 1 | 191 | 191 |
| Denver | 28 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 26 | 130 | 139 | 42 | 18 | 24 | 0 | 183 | 201 |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 28 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 26 | 114 | 112 | 40 | 20 | 19 | 1 | 170 | 152 |
| Colorado College | 28 | 10 | 17 | 1 | 21 | 97 | 129 | 40 | 18 | 20 | 2 | 152 | 174 |
| Michigan Tech | 28 | 6 | 22 | 0 | 12 | 112 | 168 | 40 | 10 | 30 | 0 | 150 | 218 |
| Championship: Wisconsin † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 1–4 | First Round March 1–4 | First Round March 1–4 | First Round March 1–4 | First Round March 1–4 | | | Semifinals March 11 | Semifinals March 11 | Semifinals March 11 | Championship March 12 | Championship March 12 | Championship March 12 |
| 1 | Wisconsin | 4 | 4* | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Michigan Tech | 2 | 3 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Michigan Tech | 2 | 3 | — | | | 1 | Wisconsin | 4* | | | |
| | | | | | | | 4 | Northern Michigan | 3 | | | |
| 2 | Minnesota | 9 | 9 | — | | | 4 | Northern Michigan | 3 | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 3 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 3 | 2 | — | | | | | | 1 | Wisconsin | 7 |
| (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 | Wisconsin | 7 |
| (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 | 1 |
| 3 | North Dakota | 11 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | | 2 | Minnesota | 1 |
| 6 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 | 1 | — | | | | | |
| 6 | Minnesota-Duluth | 4 | 1 | — | | | 2 | Minnesota | 5 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | | 3 | North Dakota | 4 |
| 4 | Northern Michigan | 3 | 9 | — | | | 3 | North Dakota | 4 | 3 | North Dakota | 6* |
| 5 | Denver | 0 | 4 | — | | | | | | 4 | Northern Michigan | 5 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) Wisconsin vs. (8) Michigan Tech

* Wisconsin won series 2–0

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

* Minnesota won series 2–0

#### (3) North Dakota vs. (6) Minnesota-Duluth

* North Dakota won series 2–0

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

* Northern Michigan won series 2–0

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

* F Ken Gernander (Minnesota)
* F Greg Johnson (North Dakota)
* F Russ Romaniuk (North Dakota)
* D Jason Herter (North Dakota)
* D Sean Hill (Wisconsin)
* G Duane Derksen (Wisconsin)

### MVP

* Steve Rohlik (Wisconsin)