1977 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1977 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 18th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 9 and March 17, 1977. All games were played at home team campus sites including the championship series. By reaching the finals both Wisconsin and Michigan were invited to participate in the 1977 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

This was the first year that the WCHA had named one tournament champion in twelve years. After this championship the conference would revert to awarding two teams the postseason title for an additional four years.

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 advancing to the championship series, again a two-game, total goal match.

Conference Standings[3]

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
Wisconsin†* 32 26 5 1 53 192 122 45 37 7 1 264 161
Notre Dame 32 19 10 3 41 164 127 38 22 13 3 191 147
Michigan 32 20 12 0 40 183 151 45 28 17 0 260 211
Denver 32 16 14 2 34 154 151 40 21 17 2 206 187
North Dakota 32 16 16 0 32 168 158 38 19 19 0 202 184
Michigan Tech 32 15 16 1 31 143 150 38 19 18 1 177 178
Minnesota 32 13 16 3 29 135 144 42 17 22 3 177 202
Colorado College 32 11 20 1 23 156 170 40 13 25 2 194 209
Michigan State 32 11 20 1 23 122 171 36 14 21 1 145 189
Minnesota-Duluth 32 6 24 2 14 119 192 37 9 26 2 148 219
Championship: Wisconsin
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll

Bracket[4]

Teams are reseeded after the first round

  First Round
March 9-10		 Semifinals
March 12-13		 Championship
March 16-17
                                 
  1  Wisconsin 3 3 1  Wisconsin 9 8  
8  Colorado College 1 1 7  Minnesota 5 3  
  2  Notre Dame 5 2
7  Minnesota 1 9     1  Wisconsin 4 5
  3  Michigan 0 4
  3  Michigan 6 5
6  Michigan Tech 5 2
  4  Denver 8 7 3  Michigan 6 11
5  North Dakota 3 2 4  Denver 4 4  

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First Round

(1) Wisconsin vs. (8) Colorado College

Wisconsin won series 6–2

(2) Notre Dame vs. (7) Minnesota

Minnesota won series 10–7

(3) Michigan vs. (6) Michigan Tech

Michigan won series 11–7

(4) Denver vs. (5) North Dakota

Denver won series 15–5

Semifinals

(1) Wisconsin vs. (7) Minnesota

Wisconsin won series 17–8

(3) Michigan vs. (4) Denver

Michigan won series 17–8

Championship

(1) Wisconsin vs. (3) Michigan

Wisconsin won series 9–4

Tournament awards

None

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wisconsin Men's Team History". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  2. ↑ "Bob Johnson Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  3. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  4. ↑ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.

External links

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