The 2017 NCHC Tournament was the fourth tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and March 18, 2017. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Minnesota-Duluth received the NCHC's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Format The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. All eight 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 Target Center for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff uses a single-elimination format. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.
Conference standings Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
Bracket Teams are reseeded after the first round
* denotes overtime periods
Results All times are local.
Quarterfinals (1) Denver vs. (8) Colorado College
(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (7) Miami
(3) Western Michigan vs. (6) Nebraska-Omaha
(4) North Dakota vs. (5) St. Cloud State
Semifinals (1) Denver vs. (4) North Dakota
(2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (3) Western Michigan
Third place (1) Denver vs. (3) Western Michigan
Championship (2) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (4) North Dakota
Tournament awards
Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team F Alex Iafallo* (Minnesota-Duluth) F Tyson Jost (North Dakota) F Dominic Toninato (Minnesota-Duluth) D Tucker Poolman (North Dakota) D Neal Pionk (Minnesota-Duluth) G Hunter Miksa (Minnesota-Duluth)
Notes: * Most Valuable Player(s)
References