2004 CHA men's ice hockey tournament

2004 CHA Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 12–14, 2004
Teams	6
Finals site	Tri-City Arena Kearney, Nebraska
Champions	Niagara (2nd title)
Winning coach	Dave Burkholder (1st title)
MVP	Jeff Van Nynatten (Niagara)
CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2003 2005 →

The 2004 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 5th tournament in conference history and was played between March 12 and March 14, 2004 at Tri-City Arena in Kearney, Nebraska. By winning the tournament, Niagara received College Hockey America's automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The tournament featured six teams. The top two teams from the regular season received byes to the semifinals where they played the winners from the quarterfinal games. The two semifinal winners met in the championship game on March 14, 2004, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the 2004 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

2003–04 College Hockey America standings v t e
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Bemidji State†	20	16	3	1	33	90	48		36	20	13	3	131	94
Niagara*	20	14	6	0	28	72	52		39	21	15	3	124	120
Alabama–Huntsville	20	10	9	1	21	65	60		31	11	16	4	92	94
Findlay	20	7	11	2	16	58	60		38	11	22	5	95	114
Air Force	20	6	13	1	13	49	78		37	14	21	2	101	131
Wayne State	20	4	15	1	9	44	80		36	9	24	3	83	144
Championship: Niagara † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll

Bracket

	Quarterfinal March 12, 2004					Semifinals March 13, 2004					Championship March 14, 2004
						1	Bemidji State	6
	4	Findlay	9			4	Findlay	2
	5	Air Force	1								1	Bemidji State	3
											2	Niagara	4*
						2	Niagara	2
	3	Alabama-Huntsville	3			6	Wayne State	1
	6	Wayne State	5

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Tournament awards

All-Star team

• Goaltender: Matt Kelly (Wayne State)
• Defensemen: John Haider (Bemidji State), Andrew Lackner (Niagara)
• Forwards: Aaron Clarke (Niagara), Billy Collins (Wayne State), Kris Wiebe (Findlay) ^[1]

MVP

• Jeff Van Nynatten (Niagara) ^[1]

References

1. Phelps, Mekye (2007). 2007–08 College Hockey America media guide (PDF). College Hockey America. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2009.

External links

• College Hockey America tournament history