2003 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

2003 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
	; 2003 WCHA Final Five logo
Teams	10
Finals site	Xcel Energy Center; St. Paul, MN
Champions	Minnesota (12th title)
Winning coach	Don Lucia (1st title)
MVP	Grant Potulny (Minnesota)
← 2002	2004 →

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.^[1] 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

2002–03 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
	Conference							Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#5 Colorado College†	28	19	4	5	43	125	70	42	30	7	5	190	103
#2 Minnesota*	28	15	6	7	37	106	81	45	28	8	9	189	122
#11 Minnesota State	28	15	6	7	37	116	104	41	20	11	10	155	144
#13 North Dakota	28	14	9	5	33	103	82	43	26	12	5	172	120
#14 Minnesota-Duluth	28	14	10	4	32	95	80	42	22	15	5	153	119
St. Cloud State	28	12	11	5	29	96	85	38	17	16	5	124	118
Denver	28	11	11	6	28	95	85	41	21	14	6	152	102
Wisconsin	28	7	14	4	18	61	101	40	13	23	4	93	134
Michigan Tech	28	7	18	3	17	77	116	38	10	24	4	109	154
Alaska-Anchorage	28	0	22	6	6	41	111	36	1	28	7	57	143
Championship: Minnesota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll

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.^[2]^[3]

Bracket[]

First round March 14–16, 2003					Quarterfinal March 20, 2003			Semifinals March 21, 2003			Championship March 22, 2003

1	Colorado College	5	4	—				1	Colorado College	4*
10	Alaska-Anchorage	3	1	—	4	North Dakota	1	5	Minnesota-Duluth	3
					5	Minnesota-Duluth	2
2	Minnesota	3	5	—
9	Michigan Tech	1	2	—

3	Minnesota State	2	6**	—							1	Colorado College	2
8	Wisconsin	1	5	—							2	Minnesota	4

4	North Dakota	1	3*	3*
7	Denver	4	2	2
											Third place
5	Minnesota-Duluth	5	2	7				2	Minnesota	3*
6	St. Cloud State	4	3*	3				3	Minnesota State	2		3	Minnesota State	4
											5	Minnesota-Duluth	6

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

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

References[]

↑ WCHA First Round Playoff Pairings Set. WCHA (2003-03-09). Retrieved on 2003-03-08.
↑ North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth Gain Final Two Home Playoff Berths; Minnesota Aims for Second. WCHA (2007-03-07). Retrieved on 2003-03-08.
↑ (2006) 2006–07 Minnesota Men's Hockey Yearbook. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics.

Minnesota takes title, but talk is of NCAA tourney. Inside College Hockey. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
2003 WCHA Tournament. Inside College Hockey. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (Men) 2002-2003 Schedule and Results. CollegeHockeyStats. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.

External links[]

WCHA official site

[seeds-1] WCHA First Round Playoff Pairings Set. WCHA (2003-03-09). Retrieved on 2003-03-08.

[tie-2] North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth Gain Final Two Home Playoff Berths; Minnesota Aims for Second. WCHA (2007-03-07). Retrieved on 2003-03-08.

[06-07_MN_media_guide-3] (2006) 2006–07 Minnesota Men's Hockey Yearbook. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics.

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