2015 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 2015 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 56th conference playoff in league history and 61st season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The 2014 tournament was played between March 13 and March 21, 2015, at four conference arenas and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Minnesota State was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the WCHA's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

2015 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 13–21, 2015
Teams	8
Finals site	Xcel Energy Center St. Paul, Minnesota
Champions	Minnesota State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Mike Hastings (2nd title)
MVP	Brad McClure (Minnesota State)
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2014 2016 →

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. The top eight or ten 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 Xcel Energy Center for the WCHA Final Five, a holdover from previous tournaments where it was used as the collective name of the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds. The Final Five uses a single-elimination format. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.^[1]

Conference standings

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

2014–15 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings v t e
	Conference record								Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#7 Minnesota State †*	28	21	4	3	45	98	47		40	29	8	3	145	77
#9 Michigan Tech	28	21	5	2	44	103	48		41	29	10	2	144	74
#18 Bowling Green	28	17	8	3	37	87	66		39	23	11	5	119	93
Alaska^	28	14	12	2	30	75	69		34	19	13	2	92	81
Bemidji State	28	12	11	5	29	73	62		38	16	17	5	101	90
Ferris State	28	13	14	1	27	66	58		40	18	20	2	88	88
Northern Michigan	28	11	13	4	26	59	71		38	14	18	6	86	100
Alabama–Huntsville	28	7	20	1	15	44	95		38	8	26	4	62	121
Lake Superior State	28	7	20	1	15	44	91		38	8	28	2	60	131
Alaska Anchorage	28	5	21	2	12	52	94		34	8	22	4	70	107
Championship: March 21, 2015 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup); * indicates conference tournament champion (Broadmoor Trophy) ^ indicates ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 9, 2015

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

	First round March 13–15							Semifinals March 20					Championship March 21
	1	Minnesota State	9	4	—
	8	Lake Superior State	2	2	—
								1	Minnesota State	4
								5	Ferris State	0
	2	Michigan Tech	1***	3	—
	7	Alabama–Huntsville	0	0	—
													1	Minnesota State	5
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
													2	Michigan Tech	2
	3	Bowling Green	3*	4	—
	6	Northern Michigan	2	1	—
								2	Michigan Tech	5
								3	Bowling Green	2
	4	Bemidji State	1	2	—
	5	Ferris State	4	3***	—

Note: * denotes overtime periods

Results

First round

All times are local.

(1) Minnesota State vs. (8) Lake Superior State

March 13, 2015 7:00 pm CDT

(8) Lake Superior State

2 – 9 (1–2, 1–4, 0–3)

(1) Minnesota State

Verizon Wireless Center, Mankato, MN Attendance: 3,325

Game reference
	Gordon Defiel (40:00) Aaron Davis (20:00)	Goalies	Stephon Williams	Referees: Keith Sergott Kevin Langseth Linesmen: Matt Anderson Rick Nelson
	0 – 1 9:12 – pp - Max Gaede (Jutzi, J. Nelson) Stephen Perfetto – 10:14 1 – 1 1 – 2 16:08 - pp - Bryce Gervais (Lafontaine, Leitner) Gus Correale (Drapluk, Renz) - pp - 1:06 2 – 2 2 – 3 5:18 - Casey Nelson 2 – 4 7:35 - Brett Knowles (J. Nelson, Gaede) 2 – 5 13:30 - pp - Matt Leitner (Franklin, C. Nelson) 2 – 6 17:23 - pp - Matt Leitner (Lafontaine, Gervais) 2 – 7 1:01 - Chase Grant (Lafontaine, Blueger) 2 – 8 5:32 - pp - Dylan Margonari (Flanagan) 2 – 9 12:42 - pp - Jean-Paul Lafontaine (Jutzi, Knowles)
	30 min	Penalties	6 min
	18	Shots	59

March 14, 2015 7:00 pm CDT

(8) Lake Superior State

2 – 4 (0–1, 1–1, 1–2)

(1) Minnesota State

Verizon Wireless Center, Mankato, MN Attendance: 3,685

Game reference
	Gordon Defiel	Goalies	Stephon Williams	Referees: Keith Sergott Kevin Langseth Linesmen: Matt Anderson Rick Nelson
	0 – 1 3:21 - Bryce Gervais (Franklin, Leitner) 0 – 2 2:24 - Dylan Margonari (Stepan, Flanagan) Ryan Renz (Drapluk, Perfetto) - pp - 12:59 1 – 2 1 – 3 0:46 - pp - Brad McClure (Palmquist, C. Nelson) Austin McKay (Patterson, Spratte) - 7:29 2 – 3 2 – 4 17:46 - Dylan Margonari (McClure)
	12 min	Penalties	6 min
	22	Shots	36

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (7) Alabama–Huntsville

March 13, 2015 7:00 pm EDT

(7) Alabama–Huntsville

0 – 1 (3OT) (0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

(2) Michigan Tech

MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI Attendance: 3,038

Game reference
	Carmine Guerriero	Goalies	Jamie Phillips	Referees: Brad Albers Brett Klosowski Linesmen: Dan Juopperi Jamie Grace
	0 – 1 18:49 - Tyler Heinonen (Vallis, Auk)
	29 min	Penalties	12 min
	32	Shots	77

March 14, 2015 7:00 pm EDT

(7) Alabama–Huntsville

0 – 3 (0–1, 0–1, 0–1)

(2) Michigan Tech

MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI Attendance: 3,629

Game reference
	Carmine Guerriero	Goalies	Jamie Phillips	Referees: Brad Albers Brett Klosowski Linesmen: Dan Juopperi Jamie Grace
	0 – 1 14:35 - Blake Hietala (Kero, Heinonen) 0 – 2 4:43 - pp - Tanner Kero (Heinonen, Hietala) 0 – 3 5:45 - Mark Auk
	14 min	Penalties	6 min
	18	Shots	45

(3) Bowling Green vs. (6) Northern Michigan

March 13, 2015 7:00 pm EDT

(6) Northern Michigan

2 – 3 (OT) (0–0, 1–0, 1–2, 0–1)

(3) Bowling Green

BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH Attendance: 1,475

Game reference
	Michael Doan	Goalies	Tommy Burke	Referees: Chris Perrault Tony Czech Linesmen: Paul Tunison Erik Froberg
	Shane Sooth (Shine, Seckel) - 7:17 1 – 0 1 – 1 10:48 - Mitchell McLain (Pohlkamp, Kucera) Luke Eibler (Sooth) - 16:29 2 – 1 2 – 2 18:36 - Mark Cooper (Valleau) 2 – 3 19:32 - Tyler Spezia (DeSalvo, Berkle)
	20 min	Penalties	19 min
	40	Shots	52

March 14, 2015 7:00 pm EDT

(6) Northern Michigan

1 – 4 (0–0, 1–2, 0–2)

(3) Bowling Green

BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH Attendance: 1,915

Game reference
	Michael Doan	Goalies	Tommy Burke	Referees: Chris Perrault Tony Czech Linesmen: Paul Tunison Erik Froberg
	Zach Diamantoni (Nowick, Payne) - 8:55 1 – 0 1 – 1 9:59 - Tyler Spezia (DeSalvo, Walker) 1 – 2 14:17 - Brandon Hawkins (Cooper) 1 – 3 13:24 - Brandon Hawkins (Walker, Cooper) 1 – 4 18:52 - pp - Brent Tate (Berkle, Valleau)
	49 min	Penalties	8 min
	20	Shots	42

(4) Bemidji State vs. (5) Ferris State

March 13, 2015 7:30 pm CDT

(5) Ferris State

4 – 1 (1–0, 2–0, 1–1)

(4) Bemidji State

Sanford Center, Bemidji, MN Attendance: 2,218

Game reference
	C. J. Motte	Goalies	Michael Bitzer	Referees: Butch Mousseaux Pete Friesema Linesmen: Matt Tyree Matt Ulwilling
	Zach Szajner (Mayer, Maloney) - 11:04 1 – 0 Ryan Lowney (Dorantes, Mayhew) - 15:07 2 – 0 Gerald Mayhew (Panetta) - 17:29 3 – 0 3 – 1 13:24 - pp - Gerry Fitzgerald (L. Fitzgerald, Arentz) Kenny Babinski (Buzzeo, McDonald) - en - 17:49 4 – 1
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	19	Shots	22

March 14, 2015 7:00 pm CDT

(5) Ferris State

3 – 2 (3 OT) (1–0, 0–1, 1–1, 0–0, 0–0, 1–0)

(4) Bemidji State

Sanford Center, Bemidji, MN Attendance: 2,279

Game reference
	C. J. Motte	Goalies	Michael Bitzer	Referees: Butch Mousseaux Pete Friesema Linesmen: Matt Tyree Matt Ulwilling
	Andrew Dorantes (Anselmini, Binkley) - pp - 15:17 1 – 0 1 – 1 12:48 - Graeme McCormack (Brewer, Bauman) Justin Buzzeo (Babinski) - 6:00 2 – 1 2 – 2 11:23 - Brendan Harms (Beauvais, O'Connor) Kyle Schempp (Lowney, Robertson) - pp - 6:40 3 – 2
	14 min	Penalties	6 min
	44	Shots	50

Semifinals

All times are local (UTC−5).

(3) Bowling Green vs. (2) Michigan Tech

March 20, 2015 4:00 pm CDT

(3) Bowling Green

2 – 5 (1–2, 0–0, 1–3)

(2) Michigan Tech

Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN Attendance: 6,844

Game reference
	Tommy Burke	Goalies	Jamie Phillips	Referees: Butch Mousseaux Pete Friesema Linesmen: Paul Tunison Eric Froberg
	Mitchell McLain (Mercier, Burke) - 9:40 1 – 0 1 – 1 11:29 - Reid Sturos (Auk, Pietila) 1 – 2 16:49 - Tyler Heinonen (Johnstone, Watson) Brent Tate (Mingo, Walker) - 2:16 2 – 2 2 – 3 5:23 - Tyler Heinonen (Johnstone, Neville) 2 – 4 7:54 - Michael Neville (Auk, Johnstone) 2 – 5 18:12 - en - Joel L'Esperance (Heinonen)
	2 min	Penalties	6 min
	24	Shots	32

(5) Ferris State vs. (1) Minnesota State

March 20, 2015 7:30 pm CDT

(5) Ferris State

0 – 4 (0–1, 0–2, 0–1)

(1) Minnesota State

Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN Attendance: 6,844

Game reference
	C. J. Motte	Goalies	Stephon Williams	Referees: Kevin Langseth Chris Perrault Linesmen: Matt Ulwelling Matt Tyree
	0 – 1 12:24 - Brad McClure 0 – 2 15:18 - Brad McClure (C. Nelson, Jutzi) 0 – 3 18:16 - pp - C. J. Franklin (McClure, Williams) 0 – 4 17:57 - en - Bryce Gervais
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	25

Championship

All times are local (UTC−5).

(2) Michigan Tech vs. (1) Minnesota State

March 21, 2015 6:00 pm CDT

(2) Michigan Tech

2 – 5 (1–1, 1–0, 0–4)

(1) Minnesota State

Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN Attendance: 8,204

Game reference
	Jamie Phillips	Goalies	Stephon Williams	Referees: Kevin Langseth Chris Perrault Linesmen: Matt Ulwelling Matt Tyree
	Blake Pietila (Johnstone, Hanna) - pp - 6:04 1 – 0 1 – 1 9:28 - Chase Grant (Stern, Blueger) Alex Petan (Hanna, Johnstone) - pp - 2:44 2 – 1 2 – 2 8:08 - Jordan Nelson (Huntebrinker, Stern) 2 – 3 11:29 - Brad McClure (Huntebrinker, Palmquist) 2 – 4 14:25 - pp - Brad McClure (Blueger, Jutzi) 2 – 5 18:40 - pp - Brad McClure (Palmquist, Flanagan)
	14 min	Penalties	6 min
	25	Shots	28

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• F Tyler Heinonen, So. (Michigan Tech)
• F David Johnstone, Sr. (Michigan Tech)
• F Brad McClure*, Fr. (Minnesota State)
• D Zach Palmquist, Sr. (Minnesota State)
• D Brett Stern, Sr. (Minnesota State)
• G Stephon Williams, Jr. (Minnesota State)

* Most Valuable Player^[2]