1976 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament
The 1976 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 17th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 10 and March 15, 1976. All games were played at home team campus sites, including each of the two regional final series. By winning the regional tournaments, both Minnesota and Michigan Tech were invited to participate in the 1976 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 1976 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 10–15, 1976 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Finals site | Munn Ice Arena East Lansing, Michigan Student Ice Arena Houghton, Michigan |
| Champions | Minnesota†[1] (5th title) Michigan Tech‡[2] (8th title) |
| Winning coach | Herb Brooks[3] (3rd title) John MacInnes[4] (8th title) |
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
Though not official designations, Minnesota is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Michigan Tech as the West Regional Champion‡.
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. In the first round the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds were matched in two-game series where the school that scored the higher number of goals was declared the winner. After the first round the remaining teams were reseeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to their final conference standings and advanced to the second round. In the second round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds competed in an additional two-game, total goal series with the winners of each being declared as co-conference champions.
Conference standings
[5] Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| Michigan Tech†* | 32 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 50 | 190 | 134 | 43 | 34 | 9 | 0 | 255 | 177 | |
| Michigan State | 32 | 20 | 12 | 0 | 40 | 154 | 139 | 40 | 23 | 15 | 2 | 193 | 176 | |
| Minnesota* | 32 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 37 | 129 | 119 | 44 | 28 | 14 | 2 | 190 | 158 | |
| Michigan | 32 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 34 | 157 | 141 | 39 | 21 | 18 | 0 | 196 | 176 | |
| Notre Dame | 32 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 32 | 143 | 140 | 38 | 19 | 17 | 2 | 171 | 173 | |
| Colorado College | 32 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 31 | 131 | 133 | 38 | 15 | 22 | 1 | 151 | 181 | |
| Wisconsin | 32 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 24 | 137 | 151 | 38 | 12 | 24 | 2 | 153 | 177 | |
| Denver | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 24 | 120 | 140 | 39 | 16 | 23 | 0 | 165 | 175 | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 24 | 132 | 160 | 36 | 15 | 21 | 0 | 159 | 179 | |
| North Dakota | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 24 | 119 | 155 | 36 | 15 | 21 | 0 | 142 | 168 | |
| Championship: Minnesota, Michigan Tech † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
[6] Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 10–11 | Second Round March 13–15 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Michigan Tech | 5 | 8 | ||||||||
| 8 | Denver | 4 | 6 | ||||||||
| 1 | Michigan Tech | 4 | 6 | ||||||||
| 4 | Michigan | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2 | Michigan State | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | Wisconsin | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota | 7 | 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | Colorado College | 4 | 1 | ||||||||
| 2 | Michigan State | 2 | 6 | ||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota | 2 | 7*** | ||||||||
| 4 | Michigan | 8 | 4 | ||||||||
| 5 | Notre Dame | 3 | 5 | ||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
(1) Michigan Tech vs. (8) Denver
| March 10 | Michigan Tech | 5 – 4 | Denver | Student Ice Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Michigan Tech | 8 – 6 | Denver | Student Ice Arena | ||||
| Michigan Tech won series 13–10 | |
(2) Michigan State vs. (7) Wisconsin
| March 10 | Michigan State | 6 – 4 | Wisconsin | Munn Ice Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Michigan State | 6 – 4 | Wisconsin | Munn Ice Arena | ||||
| Michigan State won series 12–8 | |
(3) Minnesota vs. (6) Colorado College
| March 10 | Minnesota | 7 – 4 | Colorado College | Williams Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Minnesota | 5 – 1 | Colorado College | Williams Arena | ||||
| Minnesota won series 12–5 | |
(4) Michigan vs. (5) Notre Dame
| March 10 | Michigan | 8 – 3 | Notre Dame | Yost Ice Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Michigan | 4 – 5 | Notre Dame | Yost Ice Arena | ||||
| Michigan won series 12–8 | |
(1) Michigan Tech vs. (4) Michigan
| March 14 | Michigan Tech | 4 – 2 | Michigan | Student Ice Arena | ||||
| March 15 | Michigan Tech | 6 – 5 | Michigan | Student Ice Arena | ||||
| Michigan Tech won series 10–7 | |
(2) Michigan State vs. (3) Minnesota
| March 13 | Michigan State | 2 – 2 | Minnesota | Munn Ice Arena | ||||
| March 14 | Michigan State | 6 – 7 | 3OT | Minnesota | Munn Ice Arena | |||
| Minnesota won series 9–8 | |
Tournament awards
None
References
- "Minnesota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "Michigan Tech Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "Herb Brooks Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "John MacInnes Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
External links
- WCHA.com
- 1975–76 WCHA Standings
- 1975–76 NCAA Standings
- 2013–14 Colorado College Tigers Media Guide
- 2013–14 Denver Pioneers Media Guide
- 2013–14 Michigan Wolverines Media Guide; Through the Years Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- 2013–14 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide; Section 5 Archived 2014-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
- 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers Media Guide Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
- 2008–09 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Media Guide; History Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- 2003–04 Wisconsin Badgers Media Guide