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1998 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

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The 1998 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 39th conference playoff in league history and 46th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The tournament was played between March 13 and March 21, 1998. First round games were played at home team campus sites while all 'Final Five' matches were held at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By winning the tournament, Wisconsin was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

1998 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
DatesMarch 13–21, 1998
Teams10
Finals siteBradley Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
ChampionsWisconsin[1] (11th title)
Winning coachJeff Sauer[2] (6th title)
MVPJoe Bianchi[3] (Wisconsin)
Attendance38,707
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments

Format

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The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All nine conference teams participated in the tournament as did Mankato State which was slated to join the WCHA as a full member in two years. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 9 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated while Mankato State was seeded tenth. The top five seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advanced to the Bradley Center for the WCHA Final Five, the collective name for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds. The Final Five uses a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 5 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the semifinals and the remaining two playing in a quarterfinal game. The semifinal pitted the top remaining seed against the winner of the quarterfinal game while the two other teams that received byes were matched against one another with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers meeting in a Third Place contest. The Tournament Champion received an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference standings

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

1997–98 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
North Dakota† 28 21 6 1 43 127 80 39 30 8 1 188 115
Wisconsin* 28 17 10 1 35 102 88 41 26 14 1 151 121
Colorado College 28 16 10 2 34 111 93 42 26 13 3 174 132
St. Cloud State 28 16 11 1 33 101 90 40 22 16 2 141 121
Minnesota-Duluth 28 14 12 2 30 94 90 40 21 17 2 140 130
Minnesota 28 12 16 0 24 101 94 39 17 22 0 140 133
Michigan Tech 28 10 17 1 21 79 116 40 17 20 3 132 155
Denver 28 8 18 2 18 91 119 38 11 25 2 127 167
Alaska-Anchorage 28 5 19 4 14 45 81 36 6 25 5 59 116
Championship: Wisconsin
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Coaches Poll Top 10 Poll

[4]

Bracket

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Teams are reseeded after the first round

First Round
March 13–15		Quarterfinal
March 19		Semifinals
March 20		Championship
March 21
1North Dakota55—
10Mankato State24—
1North Dakota4
2Wisconsin66—4St. Cloud State44St. Cloud State3
9Alaska-Anchorage12—5Minnesota-Duluth3
3Colorado College3*6—1North Dakota2
8Denver24—2Wisconsin3
4St. Cloud State626
7Michigan Tech4322Wisconsin5
3Colorado College2
5Minnesota-Duluth705*
6Minnesota354

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals

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(1) North Dakota vs. (10) Mankato State

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March 13 North Dakota 5 – 2 Mankato State Ralph Engelstad Arena
March 14 North Dakota 5 – 4 Mankato State Ralph Engelstad Arena
North Dakota won series 2–0


(2) Wisconsin vs. (9) Alaska-Anchorage

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March 13 Wisconsin 6 – 1 Alaska-Anchorage Kohl Center
March 14 Wisconsin 6 – 2 Alaska-Anchorage Kohl Center
Wisconsin won series 2–0


(3) Colorado College vs. (8) Denver

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March 13 Colorado College 3 – 2 OT Denver Colorado Springs World Arena
March 14 Colorado College 6 – 4 Denver Colorado Springs World Arena
Colorado College won series 2–0


(4) St. Cloud State vs. (7) Michigan Tech

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March 13 St. Cloud State 6 – 4 Michigan Tech National Hockey Center
March 14 St. Cloud State 2 – 3 Michigan Tech National Hockey Center
March 15 St. Cloud State 6 – 2 Michigan Tech National Hockey Center
St. Cloud State won series 2–1


(5) Minnesota-Duluth vs. (6) Minnesota

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March 13 Minnesota-Duluth 7 – 3 Minnesota DECC
March 14 Minnesota-Duluth 0 – 5 Minnesota DECC
March 15 Minnesota-Duluth 5 – 4 OT Minnesota DECC
Minnesota-Duluth won series 2–1


Quarterfinal

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(4) St. Cloud State vs. (5) Minnesota-Duluth

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March 19 St. Cloud State 4 – 3 Minnesota-Duluth Bradley Center


Semifinals

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(1) North Dakota vs. (4) St. Cloud State

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March 20 North Dakota 4 – 3 St. Cloud State Bradley Center


(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) Colorado College

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March 20 Wisconsin 5 – 2 Colorado College Bradley Center


Third Place

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(3) Colorado College vs. (4) St. Cloud State

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March 21 Colorado College 6 – 1 St. Cloud State Bradley Center


Championship

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(1) North Dakota vs. (2) Wisconsin

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March 21 North Dakota 2 – 3 Wisconsin Bradley Center


Tournament awards

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All-Tournament Team

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* Most Valuable Player(s)

[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Wisconsin Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  2. ^ "Jeff Sauer Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  3. ^ "WCHA Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  4. ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  5. ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
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