| 2015 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 13–21, 2015 |
| Teams | 8 |
| 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 | |
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.
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]
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
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
All times are local.
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 ) | ||||||
| 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 ) | ||||||
| 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 ) | ||||||
| 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 ) | ||||||