2000 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

2000 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Dates	March 10–18, 2000
Teams	10
Finals site	Target Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	North Dakota (7th title)
Winning coach	Dean Blais[1] (2nd title)
MVP	Lee Goren (North Dakota)
Attendance	49,717
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 1999 2001 →

The 2000 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 41st conference playoff in league history and 47th season where a WCHA champion was crowned. The 2000 tournament played between March 10 and March 18, 2000 at five conference arenas and the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, North Dakota was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format[]

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference schools participated in the tournament with teams seeded No. 1 through No. 10 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. 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 Target 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.

Conference Standings[]

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

1999–00 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings v t
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#5 Wisconsin†	28	23	5	0	46	112	70		41	31	9	1	166	109
#1 North Dakota*	28	17	6	5	39	113	61		44	31	8	5	192	97
#12 St. Cloud State	28	16	9	3	35	105	66		40	23	14	3	156	103
#15 Minnesota State-Mankato	28	15	10	3	33	90	82		39	21	14	4	126	117
Colorado College	28	14	11	3	31	88	69		39	18	18	3	126	102
#14 Minnesota	28	13	13	2	28	95	84		41	20	19	2	148	133
Alaska-Anchorage	28	11	14	3	25	65	87		36	15	18	3	85	104
Minnesota-Duluth	28	10	18	0	20	59	114		37	15	22	0	93	146
Denver	28	9	18	1	19	92	97		41	16	23	2	132	136
Michigan Tech	28	2	26	0	4	47	136		38	4	34	0	68	183
Championship: North Dakota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll Top 15 Poll

Bracket[]

Teams are reseeded after the first round

	First round[2] March 10–12, 2000							Quarterfinal[3] March 16, 2000					Semifinals March 17, 2000					Championship March 18, 2000
	1	Wisconsin	4	9	–								1	Wisconsin	5
	10	Michigan Tech	0	4	–			4	Minnesota State-Mankato	4			6	Minnesota	3
								6	Minnesota	6
	2	North Dakota	4	1	9
	9	Denver	0	2	4
	3	St. Cloud State	4	3	7													1	Wisconsin	3
	8	Minnesota-Duluth	5	0	3													2	North Dakota	5
	4	Minnesota State-Mankato	2*	3	—
	7	Alaska-Anchorage	1	2	—
																		Third place
	5	Colorado College	2	2	—								2	North Dakota	7
	6	Minnesota	4	3*	—								3	St. Cloud State	3			3	St. Cloud State	6
																		6	Minnesota	4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals[]

(1) Wisconsin vs. (10) Michigan Tech[]

March 10[4]	Wisconsin		4 – 0		Michigan Tech	Kohl Center
- GW PP - 08:41		First period			No scoring
Steven Reinprecht - 05:52 Dany Heatley - PP - 16:41 - 17:07		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 15 saves / 15 shots )		Goalie stats			( 29 saves / 33 shots )

March 11[5]	Wisconsin		9 – 4		Michigan Tech	Kohl Center
- 07:56 - 08:31 Alex Brooks - 14:18 - 17:25		First period			13:01 - 19:28 - PP - Riley Nelson
Brad Winchester - GW PP - 06:06 - SH - 10:36 - 15:32		Second period			No scoring
- PP - 12:21 Steven Reinprecht - 13:21		Third period			14:13 - 19:04 -
( 18 saves / 20 shots ) / ( 4 saves / 5 shots ) / ( 0 saves / 1 shots )		Goalie stats			( 7 saves / 11 shots ) / ( 22 saves / 27 shots )

Wisconsin won series 2–0

(2) North Dakota vs. (9) Denver[]

March 10[6]	North Dakota		4 – 0		Denver	Ralph Engelstad Arena
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
Mike Commodore - GW PP - 18:17		Second period			No scoring
- 05:07 - 12:26 - EN - 19:55		Third period			No scoring
Karl Goehring ( 29 saves / 29 shots )		Goalie stats			Stephen Wagner ( 28 saves / 31 shots )

March 11[7]	North Dakota		1 – 2		Denver	Ralph Engelstad Arena
- 14:58		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			11:10 - PP - 03:01 - GW -
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Karl Goehring ( 32 saves / 34 shots )		Goalie stats			Stephen Wagner ( 27 saves / 28 shots )

March 12[8]	North Dakota		9 – 4		Denver	Ralph Engelstad Arena
Lee Goren - 03:49 - PP - 04:33		First period			02:49 - 19:59 - SH -
Ryan Bayda - 00:41 Jason Ulmer - PP - 04:33 Jason Ulmer - GW - 08:36 - 15:16		Second period			No scoring
- 01:03 Jason Ulmer - SH - 06:37 Lee Goren - 11:26		Third period			02:19 - PP - 03:24 - PP - Mark Rycroft
Karl Goehring ( 27 saves / 31 shots )		Goalie stats			Stephen Wagner ( 20 saves / 29 shots ) / Wade Dubielewicz ( 3 saves / 3 shots )

North Dakota won series 2–1

(3) St. Cloud State vs. (8) Minnesota-Duluth[]

March 10[9]	St. Cloud State		4 – 5		Minnesota-Duluth	National Hockey Center
- 00:42 - 04:12 Tyler Arnason - PP - 18:29		First period			09:15 -
Nate DiCasmirro - PP - 11:46		Second period			04:14 - 09:39 - PP -
No scoring		Third period			07:13 - 16:39 - GW -
Scott Meyer ( 24 saves / 29 shots )		Goalie stats			( 39 saves / 43 shots )

March 11[10]	St. Cloud State		3 – 0		Minnesota-Duluth	National Hockey Center
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
Tyler Arnason - GW - 12:04 Nate DiCasmirro - 15:18 Ryan Malone - 19:32		Third period			No scoring
Scott Meyer ( 23 saves / 23 shots )		Goalie stats			( 38 saves / 41 shots )

March 12[11]	St. Cloud State		7 – 3		Minnesota-Duluth	National Hockey Center
Nate DiCasmirro - PP - 14:09		First period			05:14 - PP - 08:15 - SH -
- PP - 07:52 - 12:44		Second period			05:12 -
Nate DiCasmirro - GW - 00:45 Tyler Arnason - 12:42 Mark Hartigan - 14:25 Mark Hartigan - EN - 19:32		Third period			No scoring
Scott Meyer ( 31 saves / 34 shots )		Goalie stats			( 20 saves / 23 shots ) / ( 10 saves / 13 shots )

St. Cloud State won series 2–1

(4) Minnesota State-Mankato vs. (7) Alaska-Anchorage[]

March 10

Minnesota State-Mankato

2 – 1

OT

Alaska-Anchorage

Verizon Wireless Center

March 11

Minnesota State-Mankato

3 – 2

Alaska-Anchorage

Verizon Wireless Center

Minnesota State won series 2–0

(5) Colorado College vs. (6) Minnesota[]

March 10[12]	Colorado College		2 – 4		Minnesota	Colorado Springs World Arena
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			10:55 - 13:20 - PP - Erik Westrum
- 01:59 - PP - 12:18		Third period			11:42 - GW SH - 19:41 - Matt DeMarchi
( 28 saves / 31 shots )		Goalie stats			Adam Hauser ( 26 saves / 28 shots )

March 11[13]	Colorado College		2 – 3	OT	Minnesota	Colorado Springs World Arena
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
Trent Clark - SH - 19:33		Second period			No scoring
Tom Preissing - PP - 17:16		Third period			13:13 - 19:51 - EA - Erik Westrum
No scoring		First overtime period			07:34 - GW -
( 27 saves / 30 shots )		Goalie stats			Adam Hauser ( 28 saves / 30 shots )

Minnesota won series 2–0

Quarterfinal[]

(4) Minnesota State-Mankato vs. (6) Minnesota[]

March 16

Minnesota State-Mankato

4 – 6

Minnesota

Target Center

Semifinals[]

(1) Wisconsin vs. (6) Minnesota[]

March 17[14]	Wisconsin		5 – 3		Minnesota	Target Center
Dan Bjornlie - 05:20 Matt Hussey - 09:06 Dany Heatley - PP - 13:32		First period			11:46 - Erik Westrum 19:47 - John Pohl
- GW - 06:24		Second period			No scoring
Steven Reinprecht - EN - 19:24		Third period			07:35 - PP - Jordan Leopold
( 38 saves / 41 shots )		Goalie stats			Adam Hauser ( 14 saves / 18 shots ) / ( 10 saves / 10 shots )

(2) North Dakota vs. (3) St. Cloud State[]

March 17[15]	North Dakota		7 – 3		St. Cloud State	Target Center
- 00:40		First period			04:37 -
Lee Goren - 01:01 Travis Roche - 08:48		Second period			11:21 - PP - Joe Motzko
Lee Goren - GW PP - 04:12 Bryan Lundbohm - 05:19 - 13:43 - SH - 18:26		Third period			15:18 - Matt Bailey
( 27 saves / 30 shots )		Goalie stats			Scott Meyer ( 22 saves / 29 shots )

Third Place[]

(3) St. Cloud State vs. (6) Minnesota[]

March 18[16]	St. Cloud State		6 – 4		Minnesota	Target Center
- 10:38 Mike Pudlick - PP - 15:22 Mark Hartigan - 18:33		First period			08:02 - PP - Jordan Leopold
- PP - 17:18		Second period			05:51 - PP -
Joe Motzko - GW - 08:30 Mark Hartigan - EN - 19:39		Third period			03:17 - 15:40 - PP -
Scott Meyer ( 24 saves / 28 shots )		Goalie stats			Adam Hauser ( 28 saves / 33 shots )

Championship[]

(1) Wisconsin vs. (2) North Dakota[]

March 18[17]	Wisconsin		3 – 5		North Dakota	Target Center
- 06:56		First period			01:35 - Jeff Panzer 07:26 - Ryan Bayda
- 00:49		Second period			02:58 - PP - Lee Goren
Steven Reinprecht - 16:16		Third period			01:02 - GW - Lee Goren 05:55 - PP -
( 26 saves / 31 shots )		Goalie stats			( 33 saves / 36 shots )

Tournament awards[]

All-Tournament Team[]

• F (St. Cloud State)
• F Ryan Bayda (North Dakota)
• F Lee Goren* (North Dakota)
• D Dan Bjornlie (Wisconsin)
• D Travis Roche (North Dakota)
• G (North Dakota)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

^[18]

See also[]

• Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's champions

References[]

External links[]

• WCHA.com
• 1999–00 WCHA Standings
• 1999–00 NCAA Standings