2003 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

Infobox NCAA Ice Hockey Conference Tournament
Year=2003
Conference=WCHA
Gender=Men's


ImageSize=200px
Caption=2003 WCHA Final Five logo
Teams=10
FinalArena=Xcel Energy Center
FinalCity=St. Paul, MN
Champions=Minnesota
TitleCount=12th
Coach=Don Lucia
CoachCount=1st
MVP=Grant Potulny
MVPTeam=Minnesota
Attendance=

The 2003 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 14 and March 22, 2003, at five conference arenas and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. By winning the tournament, Minnesota was awarded the Broadmoor Trophy and received the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament featured a best-of-three games format. All ten conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 10 according to conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical number of points accumulated.cite web|url=http://wcha.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/030903aaa.html|title=WCHA First Round Playoff Pairings Set |date=2003-03-09|accessdate=2003-03-08|work=WCHA] 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 Xcel Energy 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: PTS = Points; GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against"

Tiebreakers

*Minnesota over Minnesota State: The Golden Gophers and the Mavericks each had a win, a loss, and two ties in head-to-head competition. Because they also had the same number of conference wins, Minnesota won the tiebreaker with the least number of goals scored against them in the regular season series with Minnesota State.cite web|url=http://wcha.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/030803aaa.html|title=North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth Gain Final Two Home Playoff Berths; Minnesota Aims for Second |date=2007-03-07|accessdate=2003-03-08|work=WCHA] cite book | title=2006–07 Minnesota Men's Hockey Yearbook | |publisher = University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics | location=Minneapolis | date=2006]

Brackets

First Round

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=March 14-16, 2003
group1=World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
RD1-seed1=1
RD1-team1=Colorado College
RD1-score1-1=5
RD1-score1-2=4
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2=10
RD1-team2=Alaska Anchorage
RD1-score2-1=3
RD1-score2-2=1
RD1-score2-3=

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Ralph Engelstad Arena (Grand Forks, ND)
RD1-seed1=4
RD1-team1=North Dakota
RD1-score1-1=1
RD1-score1-2=3*
RD1-score1-3=3*
RD1-seed2=7
RD1-team2=Denver
RD1-score2-1=4
RD1-score2-2=2
RD1-score2-3=2

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (Duluth, MN)
RD1-seed1=5
RD1-team1=Minnesota-Duluth
RD1-score1-1=5
RD1-score1-2=2
RD1-score1-3=7
RD1-seed2=6
RD1-team2=St. Cloud State
RD1-score2-1=4
RD1-score2-2=3*
RD1-score2-3=3

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Alltel Center (Mankato, MN)
RD1-seed1=3
RD1-team1=Minnesota State
RD1-score1-1=2
RD1-score1-2=6**
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2=8
RD1-team2=Wisconsin
RD1-score2-1=1
RD1-score2-2=5
RD1-score2-3=

2TeamBracket-Tennis3
RD1=
group1=Mariucci Arena (Minneapolis, MN)
RD1-seed1= 2
RD1-team1=Minnesota
RD1-score1-1=3
RD1-score1-2=5
RD1-score1-3=
RD1-seed2= 9
RD1-team2=Michigan Tech
RD1-score2-1=1
RD1-score2-2=2
RD1-score2-3=

Final Five

3RoundBracket-Byes-ThirdPlace
RD1=QuarterfinalMarch 20, 2003
RD2=SemifinalsMarch 21, 2003
RD3=ChampionshipMarch 22, 2003
RD1-seed1=
RD1-team1=
RD1-score1=
RD1-seed2=
RD1-team2=
RD1-score2=
RD1-seed3=4
RD1-team3=North Dakota
RD1-score3=1
RD1-seed4=5
RD1-team4=Minnesota-Duluth
RD1-score4=2
RD1-seed5=
RD1-team5=
RD1-score5=
RD1-seed6=
RD1-team6=
RD1-score6=
RD1-seed7=
RD1-team7=
RD1-score7=
RD1-seed8=
RD1-team8=
RD1-score8=
RD2-seed1=1
RD2-team1=Colorado College
RD2-score1=4*
RD2-seed2=5
RD2-team2=Minnesota-Duluth
RD2-score2=3
RD2-seed3=3
RD2-team3=Minnesota State
RD2-score3=2
RD2-seed4=2
RD2-team4=Minnesota
RD2-score4=3*
RD3-seed1=1
RD3-team1=Colorado College
RD3-score1=2
RD3-seed2=2
RD3-team2=Minnesota
RD3-score2=4
RD3-seed3=5
RD3-team3=Minnesota-Duluth
RD3-score3=6
RD3-seed4=3
RD3-team4=Minnesota State
RD3-score4=4

* Overtime
** Double overtime

Awards

All-Tournament Team

*G: Justin Johnson, Minnesota
*D: Keith Ballard, Minnesota
*D: Tom Preissing, Colorado College
*F: Shane Joseph, Minnesota State
*F: Junior Lessard, Minnesota-Duluth
*F: Grant Potulny, Minnesota

Most Valuable Player

*F: Grant Potulny, Minnesota

ee also

*Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's champions

References

*cite web|url=http://insidecollegehockey.com/7Archives/Notebooks/wcha_final.htm|title=Minnesota takes title, but talk is of NCAA tourney|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=Inside College Hockey
*cite web|url=http://insidecollegehockey.com/3Conferences/brackets_wcha.htm|title=2003 WCHA Tournament|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=Inside College Hockey
*cite web|url=http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0203/schedules/mndm|title=Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (Men) 2002-2003 Schedule and Results|accessdate=2008-03-22|work=CollegeHockeyStats

External links

* [http://wcha.cstv.com WCHA official site]