2021 NCHC Tournament

2021 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
2021 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 12–16, 2021
Teams	8
Finals site	Ralph Engelstad Arena; Grand Forks, North Dakota
Champions	North Dakota (1st title)
Winning coach	Brad Berry (1st title)
MVP	Riese Gaber (North Dakota)
	NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 NCHC Tournament was the eighth tournament in league history. Typically the tournament is scheduled across two separate weekends in mid-march with quarterfinal games hosted on campus locations, while the final four games are played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. However, on February 8, 2021, NCHC announced that the tournament would be played entirely in Grand Forks.^[1] By winning the tournament, North Dakota earned NCHC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to the traditional tournament format were made for this season. All games will be single-elimination as opposed to a best-of-three games quarterfinals, and no third-place game will occur. All eight conference teams participate in the tournament. Teams are seeded No. 1 through No. 8 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top four seeded teams each earn home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the quarterfinals round series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Teams are re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.^[2]

Standings

2020–21 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standings v t e
	Conference record											Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	3/SW	PTS	PT%	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#5 North Dakota †*	24	18	5	1	2	1	0	54	.750	94	47	29	22	6	1	114	57
#2 St. Cloud State	24	15	9	0	3	3	0	45	.625	78	64	31	20	11	0	101	84
#3 Minnesota Duluth	24	13	9	2	1	2	1	43	.597	72	54	28	15	11	2	84	66
#13 Omaha	24	14	9	1	4	0	1	40	.556	79	69	26	14	11	1	85	81
Denver	22	9	12	1	0	2	1	31	.470	61	60	24	11	13	1	67	66
Western Michigan	24	10	11	3	1	0	1	33	.458	73	84	25	10	12	3	77	89
Colorado College	22	4	16	2	0	2	2	18	.273	35	77	23	4	17	2	36	79
Miami	24	5	17	2	0	1	0	18	.250	46	83	25	5	18	2	48	89
Championship: March 16, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Frozen Faceoff Championship Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the Semifinals

Quarterfinals March 12–13			Semifinals March 15			Championship March 16

1	North Dakota	6

8	Miami	2
			1	North Dakota	2*

			5	Denver	1
2	St. Cloud State	2

7	Colorado College	1
						1	North Dakota	5

						2	St. Cloud State	3
3	Minnesota-Duluth	5*

6	Western Michigan	4
			2	St. Cloud State	3

			3	Minnesota-Duluth	2
4	Omaha	4

5	Denver	5

* denotes overtime periods

Results

Quarterfinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (8) Miami

March 12, 2021
7:30 PM

North Dakota

6 – 2
(4–1, 1–1, 1–0)

Miami

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,763

Game reference

Adam Scheel

Goalies

Ludvig Persson

Referees:
Dan Dreger
Nick Krebsbach
Linesmen:
Tony Aronson
Dan Cohen

(Kawaguchi, Bernard-Docker) Collin Adams (10) – 00:14	1–0
(Senden, Hain) Louis Jamernik (1) – 05:27	2–0
(Kawaguchi, Frisch) Collin Adams (11) – GW – 05:36	3–0
	3–1	11:14 – Phil Knies (3) (Gilling, Russell)
(Adams, Kawaguchi) Riese Gaber (9) – 14:24	4–1
(Sanderson, Adams) Jacob Bernard-Docker (3) – 29:50	5–1
	5–2	37:02 – Rourke Russell (7) (Cassetti)
(Adams, Kawaguchi) Brendan Budy (4) – 45:10	6–2

6 min

Penalties

20 min

46

Shots

28

(2) St. Cloud State vs. (7) Colorado College

March 12, 2021
2:30 PM

St. Cloud State

2 – 1
(0–0, 1–1, 1–0)

Colorado College

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,923

Game reference

Dávid Hrenák

Goalies

Matt Vernon

Referees:
Joe Sullivan
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Justin Hills
Dana Penkivech

	0–1	22:08 – McKay Flanagan (1) (Berzolla)
(Kupka, Fitzgerald) Zach Okabe (5) – 38:59	1–1
(Fitzgerald, Donohue) Nick Perbix (6) – GW – 56:05	2–1

4 min

Penalties

17 min

44

Shots

7

(3) Minnesota Duluth vs. (6) Western Michigan

March 13, 2021
7:30 PM

Minnesota Duluth

5 – 4 (OT)
(1–1, 1–2, 2–1, 1–0)

Western Michigan

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,167

Game reference

Ryan Fanti

Goalies

Brandon Bussi

Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Joe Sullivan
Linesmen:
Dan Cohen
Dana Penkivech

(Roth, Anderson) Koby Bender (5) – 02:21	1–0
	1–1	09:59 – Jason Polin (6) (Glover, Washe)
	1–2	29:46 – PP – Ethen Frank (13) (Worrad, Joyaux)
(Laderoute, Koepke) Koby Bender (6) – PP – 05:27	2–2
	2–3	39:22 – Cole Gallant (5) (Frank, Fulp)
(N. Cates, J. Cates) Kobe Roth (12) – PP – 44:27	3–3
(J. Cates) Cole Koepke (13) – 47:32	4–3
	4–4	59:38 – EA – Jason Polin (7) (Passolt, Washe)
(unassisted) Connor Kelley (3) – GW – 66:24	5–4

8 min

Penalties

8 min

37

Shots

36

(4) Omaha vs. (5) Denver

March 13, 2021
2:30 PM

Omaha

4 – 5
(2–1, 1–1, 1–3)

Denver

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,864

Game reference

Isaiah Saville

Goalies

Magnus Chrona

Referees:
Ryan Hersey
Tom Sterns
Linesmen:
Justin Hills
Tyler Liffrig

	0–1	08:25 – Hank Crone (5) (Heikkinen, Olischefski)
(Sullivan) Jason Smallidge (2) – 14:51	1–1
(Abate, Randl) Matt Miller (8) – 15:49	2–1
(Ward, Saville) Tyler Weiss (7) – 34:47	3–1
	3–2	36:57 – PP – Bobby Brink (2) (Demin, Guttman)
	3–3	40:42 – Mike Benning (2) (Guttman, Crone)
	3–4	51:52 – PP – Mike Benning (3) (Brink, Guttman)
(Conley, Glynn) Nate Knoepke (4) – 53:10	4–4
	4–5	54:57 – GW – Bo Hanson (1) (Caponi, Olischefski)

29 min

Penalties

25 min

28

Shots

38

Semifinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (5) Denver

March 15, 2021
8:00 PM

North Dakota

2 – 1 (OT)
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)

Denver

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 2,509

Game reference

Adam Scheel

Goalies

Magnus Chrona

Referees:
Tom Sterns
Joe Sullivan
Linesmen:
Dana Penkivech
Justin Hills

	0–1	25:52 – PP – Carter Savoie (13) (Brink, Benning)
(Pinto, Kiersted) Jasper Weatherby (12) – EA – 58:33	1–1
(Weatherby, Sanderson) Gavin Hain (5) – GW – 68:37	2–1

4 min

Penalties

4 min

32

Shots

18

(2) St. Cloud State vs. (3) Minnesota Duluth

March 15, 2021
3:00 PM

St. Cloud State

3 – 2
(2–1, 1–1, 0–0)

Minnesota Duluth

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,957

Game reference

Dávid Hrenák

Goalies

Ryan Fanti

Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Dan Dreger
Linesmen:
Tyler Liffrig
Tony Aronson

(Okabe, Donohue) Jami Krannila (10) – 07:02	1–0
	1–1	12:44 – PP – Kobe Roth (6) (J. Cates, Kaiser)
(Krannila, Meier) Kevin Fitzgerald (9) – PP – 17:52	2–1
	2–2	32:54 – Koby Bender (13) (Roth)
(Hammer, Jaycox) Chase Brand (4) – SH GW – 37:08	3–2

10 min

Penalties

12 min

34

Shots

26

Championship

(1) North Dakota vs. (2) St. Cloud State

March 16, 2021
7:30 PM

North Dakota

5 – 3
(1–2, 0–0, 4–1)

St. Cloud State

Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attendance: 3,000

Game reference

Adam Scheel

Goalies

Dávid Hrenák

Referees:
Nick Krebsbach
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Tyler Liffrig
Justin Hills

	0–1	02:06 – PP – Zach Okabe (6) (Trejbal, Krannila)
(Kawaguchi, Adams) Riese Gaber (10) – 12:40	1–1
	1–2	16:46 – Seamus Donohue (1) (Meier, Kupka)
(Caulfield, Sanderson) Gavin Hain (6) – PP – 43:20	2–2
(Gaber, Adams) Jordan Kawaguchi (8) – 44:54	3–2
(Pinto, Kiersted) Riese Gaber (11) – PP GW – 45:22	4–2
	4–3	47:10 – Sam Hentges (8) (Fitzgerald, Trejbal)
(Frisch, Scheel) Jordan Kawaguchi (9) – EN – 59:51	5–3

6 min

Penalties

10 min

35

Shots

33

Tournament awards

Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team

F: Collin Adams (North Dakota)
F: Gavin Hain (North Dakota)
F: Riese Gaber* (North Dakota)
D: Nick Perbix (St. Cloud State)
D: Jake Sanderson (North Dakota)
G: Adam Scheel (North Dakota)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

^[3]

References

^ NCHC (February 8, 2021). "NCHC Announces Adjusted Postseason Format for 2021". National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
^ "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
^ "North Dakota Wins 2021 Frozen Faceoff Championship". SB Nation. March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.

[1] NCHC (February 8, 2021). "NCHC Announces Adjusted Postseason Format for 2021". National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Retrieved February 11, 2021.

[2] "Format". Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2017.

[3] "North Dakota Wins 2021 Frozen Faceoff Championship". SB Nation. March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.

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