1971 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1971 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament was the 12th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 12 and March 20, 1971. All East Regional games were played at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin while West Regional games were held at the DU Arena in Denver, Colorado. By winning the regional tournaments, both the East Regional Champion†, Minnesota, and West Regional Champion‡, Denver, were invited to participate in the 1971 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey tournament.

1971 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 11–13, 1971
Teams	8
Finals site	Dane County Coliseum Madison, Wisconsin DU Arena Denver, Colorado
Champions	Minnesota†^[1] (2nd title) Denver‡^[2] (8th title)
Winning coach	Glen Sonmor^[3] (1st title) Murray Armstrong^[4] (8th title)
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 1970 1972 →

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. The eight teams were then divided into two separate groups by placing all even-numbered seeds in one group (2, 4, 6, 8) and the odd-numbered seeds (1, 3, 5, 7) in the other group. Using the location of the top seeds in each of the groups, the odd-numbered group (containing Michigan Tech) was placed in the east region which was held at the Dane County Coliseum while the odd-numbered grouping (containing Denver) was placed in the west region which was held at the DU Arena. Once each regional group was set the teams were reseeded No. 1 to No. 4 according to their final conference standings. In the first round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds in each region were matched in a single game with the winners advancing to their regional final games. The winners of the two championship games were declared as co-conference tournament champions.

Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PCT = Winning percentage; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

1970–71 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings v t e
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Michigan Tech†	22	18	4	0	.818	112	62		33	25	6	2	173	105
Denver*	22	15	7	0	.682	114	92		36	25	10	1	178	133
Wisconsin	22	13	9	0	.591	102	77		34	20	13	1	180	110
Michigan State	22	12	10	0	.545	101	97		31	19	12	0	152	124
Minnesota*	22	9	12	1	.432	77	88		32	14	17	1	116	128
Minnesota-Duluth	24	10	14	0	.417	98	106		34	16	17	1	147	146
North Dakota	26	10	15	1	.404	92	116		33	14	17	2	123	141
Colorado College	18	7	11	0	.389	81	100		29	11	17	1	142	168
Michigan	22	5	17	0	.227	77	116		30	9	21	0	118	147
Championship: Minnesota, Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion

^[5]

Bracket

^[6]

	Regional semifinals March 11–12					Regional Finals March 13
	E1	Michigan Tech	4
	E4	North Dakota	6
						E4	North Dakota	2
	East Regional
						E3	Minnesota	5
	E2	Wisconsin	3
	E3	Minnesota	4
	W1	Denver	6
	W4	Colorado College	3
						W1	Denver	9
	West Regional
						W3	Minnesota-Duluth	3
	W2	Michigan State	3
	W3	Minnesota-Duluth	4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

East Regional

Semifinals

(1) Michigan Tech vs. (4) North Dakota

March 11

Michigan Tech

4 – 6

North Dakota

Dane County Coliseum

(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) Minnesota

March 11

Wisconsin

3 – 4

Minnesota

Dane County Coliseum

Finals

(3) Minnesota vs. (4) North Dakota

March 13

Minnesota

5 – 2

North Dakota

Dane County Coliseum

West Regional

Semifinals

(1) Denver vs. (4) Colorado College

March 11

Denver

6 – 3

Colorado College

DU Arena

(2) Michigan State vs. (3) Minnesota-Duluth

March 12

Michigan State

3 – 4

Minnesota-Duluth

DU Arena

Finals

(1) Denver vs. (3) Minnesota-Duluth

March 13

Denver

9 – 3

Minnesota-Duluth

DU Arena

Tournament awards

None

See also

• Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's champions

References

1. "Minnesota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
2. "Denver Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
3. "Glen Sonmor Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
4. "Murray Armstrong Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
5. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
6. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.

External links

• WCHA.com
• 1970–71 WCHA Standings
• 1970–71 NCAA Standings
• 2013–14 Colorado College Tigers Media Guide
• 2013–14 Denver Pioneers Media Guide^{[permanent dead link]}
• 2013–14 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide; Section 5 2014-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
• 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers Media Guide 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
• 2012–13 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs Media Guide
• 2003–04 Wisconsin Badgers Media Guide