2021 NCHC Tournament

Last updated

The 2021 NCHC Tournament was the eighth tournament in league history. Typically the tournament is scheduled across two separate weekends in mid-march with quarterfinal games hosted on campus locations, while the final four games are played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. However, on February 8, 2021, NCHC announced that the tournament would be played entirely in Grand Forks. [1] By winning the tournament, North Dakota earned NCHC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Contents

Format

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to the traditional tournament format were made for this season. All games will be single-elimination as opposed to a best-of-three games quarterfinals, and no third-place game will occur. 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 quarterfinals round series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings. [2]

Standings

2020–21 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standings
Conference recordOverall record
GPWLTOTWOTL3/SWPTSPT%GFGAGPWLTGFGA
#5 North Dakota †*24185121054.750944729226111457
#2 St. Cloud State 24159033045.6257864312011010184
#3 Minnesota Duluth 24139212143.597725428151128466
#13 Omaha 24149140140.556796926141118581
Denver 22912102131.470616024111316766
Western Michigan 241011310133.458738425101237789
Colorado College 22416202218.27335772341723679
Miami 24517201018.25046832551824889
Championship: March 16, 2021
† indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup)
* indicates conference tournament champion (Frozen Faceoff Championship Trophy)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the Semifinals

Quarterfinals
March 12–13 		Semifinals
March 15 		Championship
March 16
         
1North Dakota6
8 Miami 2
1North Dakota2*
5 Denver 1
2St. Cloud State2
7 Colorado College 1
1North Dakota5
2 St. Cloud State 3
3Minnesota-Duluth5*
6 Western Michigan 4
2St. Cloud State3
3 Minnesota-Duluth 2
4 Omaha 4
5Denver5

* denotes overtime periods

Results

Quarterfinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (8) Miami

March 12, 2021
7:30 PM		North Dakota6 – 2
(4–1, 1–1, 1–0)		Miami Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,763
Game reference
Adam Scheel Goalies Ludvig Persson Referees:
Dan Dreger
Nick Krebsbach
Linesmen:
Tony Aronson
Dan Cohen
(Kawaguchi, Bernard-Docker) Collin Adams (10) – 00:141–0
(Senden, Hain) Louis Jamernik (1) – 05:272–0
(Kawaguchi, Frisch) Collin Adams (11) – GW – 05:363–0
3–111:14 – Phil Knies (3) (Gilling, Russell)
(Adams, Kawaguchi) Riese Gaber (9) – 14:244–1
(Sanderson, Adams) Jacob Bernard-Docker (3) – 29:505–1
5–237:02 – Rourke Russell (7) (Cassetti)
(Adams, Kawaguchi) Brendan Budy (4) – 45:106–2
6 minPenalties20 min
46Shots28

(2) St. Cloud State vs. (7) Colorado College

March 12, 2021
2:30 PM		St. Cloud State2 – 1
(0–0, 1–1, 1–0)		Colorado College Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,923
Game reference
Dávid Hrenák Goalies Matt Vernon Referees:
Joe Sullivan
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Justin Hills
Dana Penkivech
0–122:08 – McKay Flanagan (1) (Berzolla)
(Kupka, Fitzgerald) Zach Okabe (5) – 38:591–1
(Fitzgerald, Donohue) Nick Perbix (6) – GW – 56:052–1
4 minPenalties17 min
44Shots7

(3) Minnesota Duluth vs. (6) Western Michigan

March 13, 2021
7:30 PM		Minnesota Duluth5 – 4 (OT)
(1–1, 1–2, 2–1, 1–0)		Western Michigan Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,167
Game reference
Ryan Fanti Goalies Brandon Bussi Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Joe Sullivan
Linesmen:
Dan Cohen
Dana Penkivech
(Roth, Anderson) Koby Bender (5) – 02:211–0
1–109:59 – Jason Polin (6) (Glover, Washe)
1–229:46 – PP – Ethen Frank (13) (Worrad, Joyaux)
(Laderoute, Koepke) Koby Bender (6) – PP – 05:272–2
2–339:22 – Cole Gallant (5) (Frank, Fulp)
(N. Cates, J. Cates) Kobe Roth (12) – PP – 44:273–3
(J. Cates) Cole Koepke (13) – 47:324–3
4–459:38 – EA – Jason Polin (7) (Passolt, Washe)
(unassisted) Connor Kelley (3) – GW – 66:245–4
8 minPenalties8 min
37Shots36

(4) Omaha vs. (5) Denver

March 13, 2021
2:30 PM		Omaha4 – 5
(2–1, 1–1, 1–3)		Denver Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,864
Game reference
Isaiah Saville Goalies Magnus Chrona Referees:
Ryan Hersey
Tom Sterns
Linesmen:
Justin Hills
Tyler Liffrig
0–108:25 – Hank Crone (5) (Heikkinen, Olischefski)
(Sullivan) Jason Smallidge (2) – 14:511–1
(Abate, Randl) Matt Miller (8) – 15:492–1
(Ward, Saville) Tyler Weiss (7) – 34:473–1
3–236:57 – PP – Bobby Brink (2) (Demin, Guttman)
3–340:42 – Mike Benning (2) (Guttman, Crone)
3–451:52 – PP – Mike Benning (3) (Brink, Guttman)
(Conley, Glynn) Nate Knoepke (4) – 53:104–4
4–554:57 – GW – Bo Hanson (1) (Caponi, Olischefski)
29 minPenalties25 min
28Shots38

Semifinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (5) Denver

March 15, 2021
8:00 PM		North Dakota2 – 1 (OT)
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)		Denver Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,509
Game reference
Adam Scheel Goalies Magnus Chrona Referees:
Tom Sterns
Joe Sullivan
Linesmen:
Dana Penkivech
Justin Hills
0–125:52 – PP – Carter Savoie (13) (Brink, Benning)
(Pinto, Kiersted) Jasper Weatherby (12) – EA – 58:331–1
(Weatherby, Sanderson) Gavin Hain (5) – GW – 68:372–1
4 minPenalties4 min
32Shots18

(2) St. Cloud State vs. (3) Minnesota Duluth

March 15, 2021
3:00 PM		St. Cloud State3 – 2
(2–1, 1–1, 0–0)		Minnesota Duluth Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,957
Game reference
Dávid Hrenák Goalies Ryan Fanti Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Dan Dreger
Linesmen:
Tyler Liffrig
Tony Aronson
(Okabe, Donohue) Jami Krannila (10) – 07:021–0
1–112:44 – PP – Kobe Roth (6) (J. Cates, Kaiser)
(Krannila, Meier) Kevin Fitzgerald (9) – PP – 17:522–1
2–232:54 – Koby Bender (13) (Roth)
(Hammer, Jaycox) Chase Brand (4) – SH GW – 37:083–2
10 minPenalties12 min
34Shots26

Championship

(1) North Dakota vs. (2) St. Cloud State

March 16, 2021
7:30 PM		North Dakota5 – 3
(1–2, 0–0, 4–1)		St. Cloud State Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 3,000
Game reference
Adam Scheel Goalies Dávid Hrenák Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Tyler Liffrig
Justin Hills
0–102:06 – PP – Zach Okabe (6) (Trejbal, Krannila)
(Kawaguchi, Adams) Riese Gaber (10) – 12:401–1
1–216:46 – Seamus Donohue (1) (Meier, Kupka)
(Caulfield, Sanderson) Gavin Hain (6) – PP – 43:202–2
(Gaber, Adams) Jordan Kawaguchi (8) – 44:543–2
(Pinto, Kiersted) Riese Gaber (11) – PP GW – 45:224–2
4–347:10 – Sam Hentges (8) (Fitzgerald, Trejbal)
(Frisch, Scheel) Jordan Kawaguchi (9) – EN – 59:515–3
6 minPenalties10 min
35Shots33

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[3]

References

  1. ↑ NCHC (February 8, 2021). "NCHC Announces Adjusted Postseason Format for 2021". National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  3. ↑ "North Dakota Wins 2021 Frozen Faceoff Championship". SB Nation. March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.


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