Five of the nation's top teams will be on display this weekend at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Men's Final Five tournament. The field of five nationally ranked teams is one of the best in college hockey conference tournament history.
No. 1 Colorado College, No. 2/3 Denver, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 8/9 Wisconsin and No. 14/15 North Dakota all skate in to the tournament with at least 20 victories on the season.
The tournament is formatted as single elimination. The fourth- seeded Badgers will face fifth seed North Dakota Thursday night in a preliminary game to narrow the field to four teams. The winner of that game will move on to play top-seeded Denver on Friday afternoon. Second seed Colorado College will face third seed and defending tournament champion Minnesota on Friday night.
The championship game for the Broadmoor Trophy-awarded to the WCHA tournament champion-will be played Saturday night at 7:37 p.m. The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The reason the tournament is a final five rather than the more common final four is simple: The WCHA conference has 10 teams, so all 10 teams get a first round best-of-three playoff series, with the winners advancing to the final five.
After splitting the regular season WCHA title, Denver and Colorado College enter the tournament as the favorites, but any team in the field of five is capable of walking away with the trophy.
North Dakota (20-13-5) is 3-7-1 vs. the tournament field this season, but has not lost in its last six games, defeating Minnesota, Colorado College, and Wisconsin this year. The Fighting Sioux lost both of their meetings with Denver this season, but have won five of eight games since that series.
The match-up between Wisconsin (23-12-4) and North Dakota should be a good one. The Badgers swept the Sioux in the first series between the two teams this year, but in a two game series three weeks ago, North Dakota defeated and tied Wisconsin.
Poor play lately by the Badgers further advances North Dakota's chances against them. The Badgers are 3-6-3 in their last 12 games, and are coming off mediocre performances against Alaska Anchorage in the first round of the playoffs. Wisconsin is 5-7-2 vs. the tournament field.
The Minnesota Gophers (26-12-1) are 7-7 vs. the tournament field this season and are the defending tournament champions. They enter the tournament on a six game winning streak, but none of the teams in that streak are in the Final Five.
The Gophers lost three of four contests vs. Colorado College this season, but hope to win the fifth and advance to the tournament championship game.
Colorado College (28-7-3) enters the tournament as the second seed, but holds the No. 1 ranking in the national polls, and has a 9-5 record vs. the tournament field.
The Tigers are 5-2 in their last seven games including wins over Denver and Wisconsin, but the two losses in that streak were also to Denver and Wisconsin. The Tigers boast the nation's top two point scorers, Marty Sertich (61) and Brett Sterling (58). Sterling also led the nation in goals with 30.
The Denver Pioneers (26-9-2) are the defending national champions and are a legitimate contender for the title again this year. The Pioneers are 7-5-1 vs. the tournament field this season, and have winning records vs. both North Dakota and Wisconsin.
