1972 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament
The 1972 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 13th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 7 and March 11, 1972. All games were played at home team campus sites, including each of the two regional final series. By winning the regional tournaments, both Wisconsin and Denver were invited to participate in the 1972 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 1972 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 7–11, 1972 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Finals site | Dane County Coliseum Madison, Wisconsin DU Arena Denver, Colorado |
| Champions | Wisconsin†[1] (2nd title) Denver‡[2] (9th title) |
| Winning coach | Bob Johnson[3] (2nd title) Murray Armstrong[4] (9th title) |
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
Though not official designations, Wisconsin is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Denver as the West Regional Champion‡.
Format
The top eight teams in the WCHA, according to their final conference standings, were eligible for the tournament and were seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In the first round the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds were matched in two-game series where the school that scored the higher number of goals was declared the winner. After the first round the remaining teams were reseeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to their final conference standings and advanced to the second round. In the second round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds competed in an additional two-game, total goal series with the winners of each being declared as co-conference champions.
Conference standings
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| Denver†* | 28 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 54 | 148 | 104 | 38 | 27 | 11 | 0 | 205 | 137 | |
| Wisconsin* | 28 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 48 | 134 | 87 | 38 | 27 | 10 | 1 | 170 | 106 | |
| North Dakota | 28 | 18 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 130 | 109 | 36 | 21 | 14 | 1 | 161 | 138 | |
| Michigan State | 28 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 42 | 119 | 103 | 36 | 20 | 16 | 0 | 154 | 129 | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 28 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 40 | 129 | 123 | 35 | 16 | 18 | 1 | 148 | 150 | |
| Michigan | 28 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 32 | 108 | 163 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 132 | 186 | |
| Michigan Tech | 26 | 11 | 15 | 0 | 30 | 120 | 124 | 34 | 16 | 17 | 1 | 152 | 148 | |
| Notre Dame | 26 | 10 | 16 | 0 | 28 | 120 | 121 | 34 | 14 | 20 | 0 | 164 | 160 | |
| Colorado College | 28 | 11 | 17 | 0 | 28 | 140 | 165 | 32 | 13 | 19 | 0 | 170 | 184 | |
| Minnesota | 28 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 14 | 83 | 132 | 32 | 8 | 24 | 0 | 97 | 157 | |
| Championship: Wisconsin, Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 7–8 | Second Round March 10–11 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Denver | 7 | 4 | ||||||||
| 8 | Notre Dame | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | Denver | 2 | 9 | ||||||||
| 4 | Michigan State | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | Wisconsin | 3 | 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 5 | 1 | ||||||||
| 3 | North Dakota | 5 | 10 | ||||||||
| 6 | Michigan | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| 2 | Wisconsin | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| 3 | North Dakota | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 4 | Michigan State | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 5 | Minnesota-Duluth | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
(1) Denver vs. (8) Notre Dame
| March 7 | Denver | 7 – 2 | Notre Dame | DU Arena | ||||
| March 8 | Denver | 4 – 2 | Notre Dame | DU Arena | ||||
| Denver won series 11–4 | |
(2) Wisconsin vs. (7) Michigan Tech
| March 7 | Wisconsin | 3 – 5 | Michigan Tech | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| March 8 | Wisconsin | 6 – 1 | Michigan Tech | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| Wisconsin won series 9–6 | |
(3) North Dakota vs. (6) Michigan
| March 7 | North Dakota | 5 – 1 | Michigan | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| March 8 | North Dakota | 10 – 2 | Michigan | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| North Dakota won series 15–3 | |
(4) Michigan State vs. (5) Minnesota-Duluth
| March 7 | Michigan State | 4 – 2 | Minnesota-Duluth | Demonstration Hall | ||||
| March 8 | Michigan State | 4 – 2 | Minnesota-Duluth | Demonstration Hall | ||||
| Michigan State won series 8–4 | |
(1) Denver vs. (4) Michigan State
| March 10 | Denver | 2 – 1 | Michigan State | DU Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Denver | 9 – 3 | Michigan State | DU Arena | ||||
| Denver won series 11–4 | |
(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) North Dakota
| March 10 | Wisconsin | 1 – 1 | North Dakota | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| March 11 | Wisconsin | 5 – 1 | North Dakota | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| Wisconsin won series 6–2 | |
Tournament awards
None
References
- "Wisconsin Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "Denver Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "Bob Johnson Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "Murray Armstrong Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
External links
- WCHA.com
- 1971–72 WCHA Standings
- 1971–72 NCAA Standings
- 2013–14 Denver Pioneers Media Guide
- 2013–14 Michigan Wolverines Media Guide; Through the Years Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- 2013–14 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide; Section 5 Archived 2014-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
- 2012–13 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs Media Guide
- 2013–14 North Dakota Hockey Media Guide
- 2008–09 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Media Guide; History Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- 2003–04 Wisconsin Badgers Media Guide