1966 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1966 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 7th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 3 and March 5, 1966. All games were played at home team campus sites. By being declared as co-champions, both Michigan State and Denver were invited to participate in the 1966 NCAA University Division Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

1966 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
DatesMarch 3-5, 1966
Teams8
Finals siteDee Stadium
Houghton, Michigan
DU Arena
Denver, Colorado
ChampionsMichigan State†[1] (1st title)
Denver‡[2] (5th title)
Winning coachAmo Bessone[3] (1st title)
Murray Armstrong[4] (5th title)
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments

Though not official designations, Michigan State is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Denver as the West Regional Champion‡.

Format

All eight teams in the WCHA were eligible for the tournament. In the first round the schools were matched up based upon regional location, having the schools closest to one another play a single game with the winners advancing to the second round. The two Colorado schools (Colorado College and Denver) met in one match, leaving North Dakota to play their closest geographic rival Minnesota. With the Gophers occupied Minnesota-Duluth's next closest opponent was Michigan Tech, leaving Michigan and Michigan State as the pair in the final First Round game. This format was to be used for the following season as well with each team in the first round matches serving as the home team once. Denver was the only higher seed to play a road game in the first round but was guaranteed to be the home team the following season. After the first round the two eastern-most remaining teams met in the home venues of Michigan Tech (Dee Stadium) while the two western-most schools met at Denver's home building (DU Arena). In the second round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds were matched with the winners being declared as co-conference tournament champions.

Conference Standings

Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PCT = Winning Percentage; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

Conference Overall
GP W L T PCT GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Michigan Tech†201541.775774830236114182
North Dakota221390.59197853017121135115
Minnesota221390.5919276271611011794
Denver*201073.57581613218113137100
Michigan18990.50074722814140125109
Michigan State*209110.45088852916130123111
Colorado College184122.278519329918298147
Minnesota-Duluth203152.2006010028719296137
Championship: Michigan State, Denver
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion

[5]

Bracket

[6] Eastern Teams advanced to one final while western teams advanced to the other

  First Round
March 3		 Second Round
March 5
                             
1 Michigan Tech 9  
8 Minnesota-Duluth 3 2 North Dakota 4
4 Denver 5*
  2 North Dakota 4
3 Minnesota 3  
  4 Denver 8
7 Colorado College 2 1 Michigan Tech 3
6 Michigan State 4
  5 Michigan 2
6 Michigan State 3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First Round

(1) Michigan Tech vs. (8) Minnesota-Duluth

(2) North Dakota vs. (3) Minnesota

(4) Denver vs. (7) Colorado College

(5) Michigan vs. (6) Michigan State

Second Round

(1) Michigan Tech vs. (6) Michigan State

(2) North Dakota vs. (4) Denver

Tournament awards

None

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See also

References
  1. "Michigan State Men's Team History". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  2. "Denver Men's Team History". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  3. "Amo Bessone Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  4. "Murray Armstrong Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  5. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  6. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
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