1971-72 WCHA season

This is the 1971-72 Western Collegiate Hockey Association season. This was the league's thirteenth season.

Franchise change

 * The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were added to the league.

For the first time, the league standings were based on points as each team no longer made its own conference schedule.

Standings
Team                       GP  W  L T Pct   P GF GA  Denver Pioneers             28 19  9 0 .679 54  -  - Wisconsin Badgers          28 20  8 0 .714 48  -  - North Dakota Fighting Sioux 28 18 10 0 .643 44 -  - Michigan State Spartans    28 15 13 0 .536 42  -  - Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs  28 15 13 0 .536 40  -  - Michigan Wolverines        28 12 16 0 .429 32  -  - Michigan Tech Huskies      26 11 15 0 .423 30  -  -  Colorado College Tigers    28 11 17 0 .393 28  -  - Notre Dame Fighting Irish  26 10 16 0 .385 28  -  - Minnesota Golden Gophers   28  7 21 0 .250 14  -  - it appears that two Michigan Tech-Notre Dame games were not played.

Post Season
Denver Pioneers and Wisconsin were tournament co-champions.

First Round

 * Denver defeated Notre Dame 11 goals to 4 (7-2, 4-2)
 * Wisconsin defeated Michigan Tech 9 goals to 6 (3-5, 6-1)
 * North Dakota defeated Michigan 15 goals to 3 (5-1, 10-2)
 * Michigan State defeated Minnesota-Duluth 8 goals to 4 (4-2, 4-2)

Second Round

 * Denver defeated Michigan State 11 goals to 4 (2-1, 9-3)
 * Wisconsin defeated North Dakota 6 goals to 2 (1-1, 5-1)

National Semifinals

 * Cornell defeated Denver, 4 to 3
 * Boston University defeated Wisconsin, 4 to 1

Third Place Game

 * Wisconsin defeated Denver, 5 to 2