2015 NCHC Tournament

2015 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
2015 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 13–21, 2015
Teams	2
Finals site	Target Center ; Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Miami RedHawks (1st title)
Winning coach	Enrico Blasi (1st title)
MVP	Blake Coleman (Miami)
	NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2014 2016 →

Last updated March 23, 2024

The 2015 NCHC Tournament was the second tournament in league history. It was played between March 13 and March 21, 2015. 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, Miami received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2015 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.^[1]

Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

2014–15 National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings v t e
	Conference record								Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	SOW	PTS	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#3 North Dakota†	24	16	6	2	0	50	72	55	42	29	10	3	138	94
#8 Miami *	24	14	9	1	1	44	73	60	40	25	14	1	130	100
#4 Omaha	24	12	8	4	3	43	67	56	39	20	13	6	105	90
#5 Denver	24	13	10	1	1	41	79	68	40	24	14	2	131	99
#6 Minnesota–Duluth	24	12	9	3	0	39	68	59	40	21	16	3	115	97
#10 St. Cloud State	24	11	12	1	0	34	69	56	40	20	19	1	109	97
Western Michigan	24	6	13	5	4	27	51	73	37	14	18	5	98	107
Colorado College	24	2	19	3	1	10	43	95	35	6	26	3	74	136
Championship: March 21, 2015 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 23, 2015

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

Quarterfinals March 13–15					Semifinals March 20			Championship March 21

1	North Dakota	5	3	—

8	Colorado College	1	2	—
					1	North Dakota	1

					6	St. Cloud State	3
2	Miami	5	5	4

7	Western Michigan	3	7	0
								6	St. Cloud State	2
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
								2	Miami	3
3	Omaha	1	1	—

6	St. Cloud State	2**	3	—
					2	Miami	6	Third Place

					4	Denver	3
4	Denver	4	4	—				1	North Dakota	1

5	Minnesota-Duluth	3	0	—				4	Denver	5

* denotes overtime periods

Results

Quarterfinals

All times are local.

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

March 13	North Dakota		5–1	Colorado College	Ralph Engelstad Arena	Recap
Brendan O'Donnell (12) – PP – (Mattson, LaDue) – 08:01		First period		No scoring
Nick Mattson (4) – (unassisted) – 14:48 Connor Gaarder (7) – (Poganski) – 19:56		Second period		No scoring
Paul LaDue (5) – (Mattson, L. Johnson) – 04:01 Tucker Poolman (7) – (Stecher, Pattyn) – 07:07		Third period		02:14 – Matt Hansen (3) – (unassisted)
Zane McIntyre ( 21 saves / 22 shots )		Goalie stats		Tyler Marble ( 21 saves / 26 shots ) Chase Perry ( 10 saves / 10 shots )

March 14	North Dakota		3–2	Colorado College	Ralph Engelstad Arena	Recap
Jordan Schmaltz (4) – (N. Schmaltz, Parks) – 16:16		First period		15:23 – Teemu Kivihalme (5) – (Roos, Stoykewych)
Brendan O'Donnell (13) – (Mattson, Poganski) – 09:20		Second period		No scoring
Connor Gaarder (8) – (Poganski, Chyzyk) – 18:38		Third period		06:10 – Luc Gerdes (4) – (Bradley, Fejes)
Zane McIntyre ( 31 saves / 33 shots )		Goalie stats		Tyler Marble ( 28 saves / 31 shots )

North Dakota wins series 2 – 0

(2) Miami vs. (7) Western Michigan

March 13	Miami		5–3	Western Michigan	Goggin Ice Center	Recap
Blake Coleman (14) – (Barber, Paulides) – 09:42		First period		18:43 – Colton Hargrove (13) – (Dries)
Louie Belpedio (5) – PP – (unassisted) – 12:07		Second period		06:11 – SH – Sheldon Dries (14) – (unassisted)
Kevin Morris (5) – PP – (Coleman, Belpedio) – 06:54 Blake Coleman (14) – (Barber, Joyaux) – 12:48 Alex Gacek (4) – EN – (unassisted) – 19:18		Third period		01:44 – Kyle Novak (8) – (Muir, Nitsche)
Ryan McKay ( 31 saves / 34 shots )		Goalie stats		Lukas Hafner ( 20 saves / 24 shots )

March 14	Miami		5–7	Western Michigan	Goggin Ice Center	Recap
Riley Barber (18) – (Sullivan, McKay) – 02:24		First period		12:11 – SH – Frederik Tiffels (10) – (unassisted)
Austin Czarnik (6) – (Murphy, Coleman) – PP – 08:28 Austin Czarnik (7) – (Louis) – 11:03		Second period		01:33 – Frederik Tiffels (11) – (unassisted) 02:17 – Nolan LaPorte (11) – (Dries, Hargrove) 09:48 – Colton Hargrove (14) – (LaPorte, Dries) 02:17 – PP – Kyle Novak (5) – (Kessel, Kovacs) 19:16 – Chris Dienes (5) – (Hargrove, Fleming)
Sean Kuraly (18) – (Morris, Louis) – EA – 16:22 Blake Coleman (16) – (Czarnik, Kuraly) – EA – 19:37		Third period		19:48 – EN – Will Kessel (7) – (Kovacs, Moldenhauer)
Ryan McKay ( 11 saves / 16 shots ) Jay Williams ( 7 saves / 8 shots )		Goalie stats		Lukas Hafner ( 19 saves / 22 shots ) Frank Slubowski ( 25 saves / 27 shots )

March 15	Miami		4–0	Western Michigan	Goggin Ice Center	Recap
Scott Dornbrock (2) – (Gacek, Wideman) – 10:30		First period		No scoring
Riley Barber (19) – (Murphy, Coleman) – 01:57 Austin Czarnik (8) – (Morris, Louis) – 03:12		Second period		No scoring
Blake Coleman (17) – EN – (Morris) – 15:07		Third period		No scoring
Jay Williams ( 35 saves / 35 shots )		Goalie stats		Frank Slubowski ( 8 saves / 11 shots ) Lukas Hafner ( 14 saves / 14 shots )

Miami wins series 2–1

(3) Omaha vs. (6) St. Cloud State

March 13	Omaha		1–2	2OT	St. Cloud State	CenturyLink Center Omaha	Recap
No scoring		First period			14:02 – David Morley (14) – (Nevalainen, Ilvonen)
Austin Ortega (19) – (Guentzel, Cooper) – SH – 09:43		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		Second overtime period			09:49 – Joey Benik (14) – (Morley)
Ryan Massa ( 7 saves / 8 shots ) Kirk Thompson ( 30 saves / 31 shots )		Goalie stats			Charlie Lindgren ( 45 saves / 46 shots )

March 14	Omaha		1–3	St. Cloud State	CenturyLink Center Omaha	Recap
No scoring		First period		15:59 – PP – David Morley (16) – (Storm, Ilvonen)
No scoring		Second period		11:47 – Nick Oliver (3) – (Rehkamp, Daly)
Grant Gallo (2) – (Brady, Guentzel) – EA – PP – 16:44		Third period		17:38 – Joey Benik (14) – (Murray)
Kirk Thompson ( 25 saves / 28 shots )		Goalie stats		Charlie Lindgren ( 35 saves / 36 shots )

St. Cloud State wins series 2 – 0

(4) Denver vs. (5) Minnesota-Duluth

March 13	Denver		4–3	Minnesota-Duluth	Magness Arena	Recap
Ty Loney (8) – (unassisted) – 10:52		First period		05:00 – Kyle Osterberg (6) – (Toninato, Corrin)
No scoring		Second period		04:42 – Andy Welinski (9) – (D. Johnson, Cameranesi)
Ty Loney (9) – (Janssen, Q. Shore) – 01:22 Danton Heinen (15) – (LaLeggia, N. Zajac) – PP – 06:46 Ty Loney (10) – (Q. Shore, LaLeggia) – 15:26		Third period		03:32 – Cal Decowski (4) – (Thomas)
Tanner Jaillet ( 27 saves / 30 shots )		Goalie stats		Kasimir Kaskisuo ( 28 saves / 32 shots )

March 14	Denver		4–0	Minnesota-Duluth	Magness Arena	Recap
Trevor Moore (20) – (unassisted) – 19:38		First period		No scoring
Danton Heinen (16) – (Butcher, Levin) – 07:36 Matt Tabrum (2) – (Jacobson, Arnold) – 12:38		Second period		No scoring
Joey LaLeggia (13) – (unassisted) – EA – 17:37		Third period		No scoring
Evan Cowley ( 36 saves / 36 shots )		Goalie stats		Kasimir Kaskisuo ( 28 saves / 31 shots )

Denver wins series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (6) St. Cloud State

March 20	North Dakota		1–3	St. Cloud State	Target Center	Recap
Keaton Thompson (3) – (Poolman, Simonson) – 15:02		First period		19:35 – David Morley (17) – (Brodzinski, Prow) 19:54 – Joey Benik (15) – (Russell)
No scoring		Second period		No scoring
No scoring		Third period		18:55 – EN – Joe Rehkamp (5) – (Bertsch, Rabey)
Zane McIntyre ( 21 saves / 23 shots )		Goalie stats		Charlie Lindgren ( 19 saves / 20 shots )

(2) Miami vs. (4) Denver

March 20	Miami		6–3	Denver	Target Center	Recap
Riley Barber (20) – (Caito) – 14:15 Anthony Louis (8) – (Czarnik, Caito) – 18:58		First period		17:27 – Will Butcher (3) – (Didier)
Cody Murphy (12) – (Coleman) – 04:53 Austin Czarnik (9) – (Morris) – 18:26		Second period		18:52 – PP – Daniel Doremus (11) – (unassisted)
Louie Belpedio (6) – (Louis, Morris) – 09:38 Alex Gacek (5) – (Wideman, Paulides) – EN – 17:32		Third period		06:05 – Trevor Moore (21) – (Heinen, Doremus)
Jay Williams ( 22 saves / 25 shots )		Goalie stats		Evan Cowley ( 15 saves / 18 shots ) Tanner Jaillet ( 8 saves / 10 shots )

Third Place

(1) North Dakota vs. (4) Denver

March 21	North Dakota		1–5	Denver	Target Center	Recap
Connor Gaarder (9) – (O'Donnell, Poolman) – 14:34		First period		15:07 – Josiah Didier (3) – (unassisted) 17:50 – Quentin Shore (10) – (N. Zajac, Loney)
No scoring		Second period		10:27 – Matt Tabrum (3) – (VanVoorhis, N. Zajac)
No scoring		Third period		06:02 – Nick Neville (1) – (Arnold, Tabrum) 17:50 – Emil Romig (4) – (Moore)
Zane McIntyre ( 30 saves / 35 shots )		Goalie stats		Tanner Jaillet ( 25 saves / 26 shots )

Championship

(2) Miami vs. (6) St. Cloud State

March 21	Miami		3–2	St. Cloud State	Target Center	Recap
Blake Coleman (18) – (Barber, Murphy) – 16:15		First period		06:03 – PP – Jonny Brodzinski (20) – (Prow, Benik)
Blake Coleman (19) – (Czarnik, Belpedio) – PP – 07:37 Blake Coleman (20) – (Joyaux) – 09:20		Second period		12:00 – Joey Benik (16) – (Prow)
No scoring		Third period		No scoring
Jay Williams ( 18 saves / 20 shots )		Goalie stats		Charlie Lindgren ( 18 saves / 21 shots )

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

F Blake Coleman* (Miami)
F Austin Czarnik (Miami)
F Joey Benik (St. Cloud State)
D Louie Belpedio (Miami)
D Tim Daly (St. Cloud State)
G Charlie Lindgren (St. Cloud State)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

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References

↑ "NCHC Frozen Faceoff Match-ups, Times Announced". March 16, 2015.

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[1] "NCHC Frozen Faceoff Match-ups, Times Announced". March 16, 2015.

[1]

v t e NCHC Tournaments
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All-Tournament Team Frozen Faceoff MVP
NCHC

v t e 2015 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments
Conference	Atlantic Hockey Big Ten ECAC Hockey East NCHC WCHA
National	NCAA