2023 NCHC Tournament

The 2023 NCHC Tournament was the ninth tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and 18, 2023. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four matches were held at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As the tournament winner, St. Cloud State earned the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.^[1][2]

2023 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 10–18, 2023
Teams	8
Finals site	Xcel Energy Center Saint Paul, Minnesota
Champions	St. Cloud State (2nd title)
Winning coach	Brett Larson (1st title)
MVP	Jami Krannila (St. Cloud State)
NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2022 2024 →

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All eight conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were 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 advanced to the Xcel Energy Center for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff used a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.^[3]

Standings

2022–23 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standings v t e
	Conference record											Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#6 Denver †	24	19	5	0	2	1	0	56	94	53		40	30	10	0	150	86
#11 Western Michigan	24	15	8	1	2	0	0	44	86	60		39	23	15	1	148	102
#20 Omaha	24	13	9	2	2	2	1	42	71	64		37	19	15	3	109	97
#5 St. Cloud State *	24	12	9	3	2	1	3	41	85	68		41	25	13	3	133	95
Minnesota Duluth	24	10	14	0	1	4	0	33	65	81		37	16	20	1	95	114
#17 North Dakota	24	10	10	4	3	0	2	33	75	70		39	18	15	6	127	110
Colorado College	24	6	15	3	0	2	2	25	37	60		38	13	22	3	79	99
Miami	24	3	18	3	0	2	0	14	39	96		36	8	24	4	73	137
Championship: March 18, 2023 † 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.^[4]

	Quarterfinals March 10–12							Semifinals March 17					Championship March 18
	1	Denver	6	7	-
	8	Miami	2	2	-
								1	Denver	0
								7	Colorado College	1
	2	Western Michigan	1	2	-
	7	Colorado College	3	3*	-
													7	Colorado College	0
													4	St. Cloud State	3
	3	Omaha	2	1	2
	6	North Dakota	1	3	5
								4	St. Cloud State	3*
								6	North Dakota	2
	4	St. Cloud State	3	1	3
	5	Minnesota Duluth	1	5	1

* denotes overtime periods

Results

All times are local.

Quarterfinals

(1) Denver vs. (8) Miami

March 10, 2023 7:00 PM

Denver

6–2 (2–1, 1–1, 3–0)

Miami

Magness Arena Attendance: 4,873

Game reference
	Matt Davis	Goalies	Ludvig Persson	Referees: Brian Hankes Sterling Egan Linesmen: John Grandt Erik Contino
	0–1 29:20 – P. J. Fletcher (5) (Kumlin, Dukovac) (Dornbach, Thompson) Jack Devine (10) – PP – 07:38 1–1 (Broz, King) Jack Devine (11) – 31:05 2–1 (Mazur, Dornbach) Jack Devine (12) – PP GW – 32:03 3–1 3–2 38:39 – PP – Joe Cassetti (20) (Rydqvist, Barbolini) (Benning, Thompson) Jack Devine (13) – PP – 42:18 4–2 (Broz) Tristan Lemyre (3) – 49:50 5–2 (Lemyre, Lee) Connor Caponi (2) – EN – 58:53 6–2
	14 min	Penalties	14 min
	34	Shots	32

March 11, 2023 6:00 PM

Denver

7–2 (4–1, 2–1, 1–0)

Miami

Magness Arena Attendance: 5,567

Game reference
	(out 55:30) Matt Davis (in 55:30) Jack Caruso	Goalies	Ludvig Persson (out 28:16) Logan Neaton (in 28:16)	Referees: Brian Hankes Sterling Egan Linesmen: John Grandt Erik Contino
	(Thompson, Mazur) Casey Dornbach (13) – 00:36 1–0 (Dornbach, Mayhew) Aidan Thompson (10) – 02:37 2–0 (Haskins, Buium) Owen Ozar (1) – GW – 03:24 3–0 3–1 06:11 – PP – Ryan Savage (6) (Dukovac, Murray) (Mayhew, King) Shai Buium (4) – PP – 18:24 4–1 (King, Mayhew) Tristan Lemyre (4) – PP – 24:49 5–1 (Lemyre) Lucas Olvestad (1) – 28:16 6–1 6–2 36:06 – Artur Turansky (20) (Barbolini) (Mayhew) Jack Devine (14) – 58:58 7–2
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	29	Shots	23

Denver Won Series 2–0

(2) Western Michigan vs. (7) Colorado College

March 10, 2023 5:00 PM

Western Michigan

1–3 (1–0, 0–0, 0–3)

Colorado College

Lawson Arena Attendance: 3,218

Game reference
	Cameron Rowe	Goalies	Kaidan Mbereko	Referees: Brandon Schmitt Nathan Wieler Linesmen: Dan Cohen Eric Frank
	(Polin, Sasson) Ryan McAllister (12) – 14:50 1–0 1–1 53:36 – Logan Will (5) (Straky, Christy) 1–2 54:16 – GW – Tyler Coffey (12) (Laba, Andrews) 1–3 54:35 – PP – Hunter McKown (20) (Yoon, Cooley)
	6 min	Penalties	17 min
	26	Shots	25

March 11, 2023 4:00 PM

Western Michigan

2–3 (OT) (1–1, 0–1, 1–0, 0–1)

Colorado College

Lawson Arena Attendance: 3,557

Game reference
	Cameron Rowe	Goalies	Kaidan Mbereko	Referees: Brandon Schmitt Nathan Wieler Linesmen: Dan Cohen Eric Frank
	(Sasson, Fiedler) Ryan McAllister (13) – 10:32 1–0 1–1 10:46 – Noah Serdachny (3) (Cooley) 1–2 27:15 – Noah Laba (11) (McKown, Straky) (McAllister, Galambos) Max Sasson (15) – 50:26 2–2 2–3 63:08 – GW – Matthew Gleason (4) (Cozzi, Will)
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	30	Shots	31

Colorado College Won Series 2–0

(3) Omaha vs. (6) North Dakota

March 3, 2023 6:07 PM

Omaha

2–1 (0–0, 2–0, 0–1)

North Dakota

Baxter Arena Attendance: 6,510

Game reference
	Simon Latkoczy	Goalies	Drew DeRidder	Referees: Dan Dreger Ryan Hersey Linesmen: Sam Rankin Jeff Schultz
	(Pennington, Slipec) Jacob Guevin (4) – 24:29 1–0 (Guevin, Bohlsen) Davis Pennington (1) – GW – 27:00 2–0 2–1 58:46 – EA – Riese Gaber (20) (Schmaltz, Jandric)
	19 min	Penalties	10 min
	28	Shots	41

March 11, 2023 6:07 PM

Omaha

1–3 (0–0, 2–0, 0–1)

North Dakota

Baxter Arena Attendance: 7,348

Game reference
	Simon Latkoczy	Goalies	Drew DeRidder	Referees: Dan Dreger Ryan Hersey Linesmen: Sam Rankin Jeff Schultz
	0–1 10:01 – Jackson Blake (16) (Jamernik, Gaber) (Guevin, Bremer) Joaquim Lemay (2) – PP – 12:24 1–1 1–2 58:46 – GW PP – Tyler Kleven (7) (Jamernik, Gaber) 1–3 58:59 – EN – Dylan James (7) (Sidorski)
	10 min	Penalties	14 min
	25	Shots	22

March 12, 2023 5:07 PM

Omaha

2–5 (1–0, 1–2, 0–3)

North Dakota

Baxter Arena Attendance: 5,571

Game reference
	Simon Latkoczy	Goalies	Drew DeRidder	Referees: Dan Dreger Ryan Hersey Linesmen: Sam Rankin Jeff Schultz
	(Pennington, Berg) Jimmy Glynn (4) – 14:14 1–0 1–1 22:36 – PP – Jake Schmaltz (5) (Hain) (Proctor, Krenzen) Cameron Berg (10) – 32:04 2–1 2–2 58:46 – SH – Dylan James (8) (Caulfield) 2–3 54:46 – GW – Griffin Ness (7) (Sidorski, Albrecht) 2–4 56:11 – Tyler Kleven (8) (unassisted) 2–5 56:28 – Gavin Hain (11) (Caulfield)
	16 min	Penalties	12 min
	14	Shots	36

North Dakota Won Series 2–1

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

March 10, 2023 6:30 PM

St. Cloud State

3–1 (1–0, 1–1, 1–0)

Minnesota Duluth

Herb Brooks National Hockey Center Attendance: 2,620

Game reference
	Dominic Basse	Goalies	Zach Stejskal	Referees: Joe Sullivan Timm Walsh Linesmen: Dana Penkivech Elliott Bucholz
	(unassisted) Josh Luedtke (2) – 03:22 1–0 1–1 32:20 – PP – Dominic James (9) (Kaiser, Steeves) (Trejbal, Spellacy) Micah Miller (3) – GW – 38:11 2–1 (Bushy) Micah Miller (4) – EN – 58:33 3–1
	6 min	Penalties	9 min
	25	Shots	25

March 11, 2023 5:00 PM

St. Cloud State

1–5 (1–1, 0–3, 0–1)

Minnesota Duluth

Herb Brooks National Hockey Center Attendance: -

Game reference
	Dominic Basse	Goalies	Zach Stejskal	Referees: Joe Sullivan Timm Walsh Linesmen: Dana Penkivech Elliott Bucholz
	(Kupka, Spellacy) Micah Miller (5) – 07:08 1–0 1–1 12:40 – Carter Loney (3) (Bettens, Olson) 1–2 23:00 – GW – Wyatt Kaiser (20) (Smith, Howard) 1–3 26:17 – Ben Steeves (21) (James) 1–4 26:33 – Dominic James (10) (Loheit, Kaiser) 1–5 57:59 – EN – Carter Loney (20) (Bettens, Olson)
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	35	Shots	23

March 12, 2023 5:00 PM

St. Cloud State

3–1 (0–0, 3–1, 0–0)

Minnesota Duluth

Herb Brooks National Hockey Center Attendance: -

Game reference
	Jaxon Castor	Goalies	Zach Stejskal	Referees: Joe Sullivan Timm Walsh Linesmen: Dana Penkivech Elliott Bucholz
	0–1 20:38 – PP – Luke Loheit (9) (James, Kaiser) (Miettinen, Salquist) Cooper Wylie (2) – 26:10 1–1 (Salquist) Adam Ingram (7) – GW – 26:24 2–1 (Ahcan, Kupka) Grant Cruikshank (21) – 32:03 3–1
	2 min	Penalties	2 min
	32	Shots	37

St. Cloud State Won Series 2–1

Semifinals

(1) Denver vs. (7) Colorado College

March 17, 2023[5] 4:00 PM

Denver

0–1 (0–0, 0–1, 0–0)

Colorado College

Xcel Energy Center Attendance: 10,242

Game reference
	(out 49:28) Magnus Chrona (in 49:28) Matt Davis	Goalies	Kaidan Mbereko	Referees: Dan Dreger Brandon Schmitt Linesmen: Dana Penkivech Jeff Schultz
	0–1 33:22 – GW PP – Hunter McKown (21) (Andrews, Laba)
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	23	Shots	26

(4) St. Cloud State vs. (6) North Dakota

March 17, 2023 7:30 PM

St. Cloud State

3–2 (OT) (1–1, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)

North Dakota

Xcel Energy Center Attendance: 10,242

Game reference
	Jaxon Castor	Goalies	Drew DeRidder	Referees: Sterling Egan Nathan Wieler Linesmen: Justin Hills Erik Contino
	0–1 06:18 – PP – Ethan Frisch (9) (Schmaltz, Blake) (Wylie, Cruikshank) Veeti Miettinen (11) – PP – 03:22 1–1 1–2 32:29 – Judd Caulfield (9) (Senden, Hain) (Okabe, Miettinen) Jami Krannila (20) – 45:06 2–2 (Krannila, Miettinen) Zach Okabe (17) – GW – 65:45 3–2
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	21	Shots	25

Championship

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

March 18, 2023[6] 7:30 PM

St. Cloud State

3–0 (1–0, 0–0, 2–0)

Colorado College

Xcel Energy Center Attendance: 6,877

Game reference
	Jaxon Castor	Goalies	Kaidan Mbereko	Referees: Joe Sullivan Ryan Hersey Linesmen: John Grandt Tyler Liffrig
	(Okabe) Jami Krannila (21) – GW – 14:54 1–0 (Miller) Grant Cruikshank (22) – 42:43 2–0 (Cruikshank) Kyler Kupka (10) – 46:40 3–0
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	26	Shots	17

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

• F: Jami Krannila* (St. Cloud State)
• F: Zach Okabe (St. Cloud State)
• F: Hunter McKown (Colorado College)
• D: Bryan Yoon (Colorado College)
• D: Jack Peart (St. Cloud State)
• G: Jaxon Castor (St. Cloud State)

* Most Valuable Player(s)^[7]