WCHA Final Five Launches Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids; Field of Four Includes Macnaughton Cup Champion Ferris State
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Western Collegiate Hockey Association MSC 8302, 2211 S. Josephine Street Denver, CO 80208-8302 303.871.4491 • fax 303.871.4770 Bruce M. McLeod, Commissioner [email protected] Carol LaBelle-Ehrhardt Associate Commissioner of Operations [email protected] Greg Shepherd, Supervisor of Officials [email protected] Doug Spencer Associate Commissioner, Public Relations March 17, 2014 608.829.0100 • cell 303.475.9283 [email protected] WCHA Final Five Launches Friday at Van Andel Home of a Record Arena in Grand Rapids; Field of Four Includes 37 NCAA Men’s MacNaughton Cup Champion Ferris State, Minnesota Championship Teams State, Bowling Green, Alaska Anchorage Since 1951 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, Tickets Still Available; March 21 Semifinal Match Ups Feature No. 3 Seed 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, Falcons vs No. 2 Seed Mavericks, No. 4 Seed Seawolves vs No. 1 Seed 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1974, Bulldogs; Broadmoor Trophy Title Contest Saturday Night; Final Five to be 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1997, Televised by FOX Sports North and Carried by FOX Sports Wisconsin, FOX 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, Sports Detroit, Sports Time Ohio, FOX College Sports-Central; Get Live 2011 Stats, National Scoreboards, Game Recaps, Highlights at WCHA.com and WCHA.com/mobile; Final Five Media Teleconference to be Held Tuesday; Men’s Member Teams University of Alabama in Huntsville FSU, MSU, BGSU, UAA Prevail in First Round Playoff Series; League University of Alaska Anchorage Announces 2013-14 Award Winners; Latest Div. 1 Men’s National Poll Have University of Alaska Fairbanks Ferris State at No. 4, Minnesota State at No. 15… Bowling Green Receives Bemidji State University Bowling Green State University Votes; Seven League Players Nominated for 2014 Hobey Baker Memorial Ferris State University Award; FSU’s Motte a Candidate for Inaugural Mike Richter Award; FSU’s Lake Superior State University Czarnowczan a Finalist for 2014 Senior CLASS Award; Jeff Sauer Leads Michigan Technological University Minnesota State University USA to Repeat Gold at 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia Northern Michigan University The flagship event of the men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association– the WCHA Final Five – gets underway 2014 WCHA Final Five this Friday (March 21) at 10,834-seat Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a standout four-team field that features regular season and MacNaughton Cup champion Ferris State as the No. 1 seed, regular season Playoff Championship Friday, March 21 & Saturday, March 22 runner-up Minnesota State as the No. 2 seed, Bowling Green as the No. 3 seed and Alaska Anchorage as the No. Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI con't on next page Tickets available at the Van Andel Arena® and DeVos Place® Convention Center box offices, online at www.ticketmaster. 2013-14 WCHA Men’s Standings com, at Ticketmaster outlets – including Conference Only Overall D&W stores and select Family Fare and Pts GP W L T Win% GF- GA GP W L T Win% GF- GA Walmart locations, or charge by phone 1 Ferris State 42 28 20- 6- 2 .750 92- 62 39 27- 9- 3 .731 130- 84 at 1.800.745.3000. 2 Minnesota State 41 28 20- 7- 1 .732 95- 58 38 24-13- 1 .645 121- 92 Visit us on the Web at: 3 Alaska 30 28 14-12- 2 .536 97- 77 37 18-15- 4 .541 126-103 Bowling Green 30 28 13-11- 4 .536 89- 73 38 18-14- 6 .553 119-100 wcha.com 5 Michigan Tech 29 28 12-11- 5 .518 78- 78 40 14-19- 7 .438 99-108 wcha.com/mobile 6 Alaska Anchorage 28 28 12-12- 4 .500 74- 77 37 18-15- 4 .541 101-102 7 Northern Michigan 27 28 13-14- 1 .482 77- 75 38 15-21- 2 .421 102-108 Watch WCHA Hockey 8 Bemidji State 24 28 10-14- 4 .429 72- 76 38 10-21- 7 .355 92-118 Lake Superior State 24 28 12-16- 0 .429 70- 84 36 16-19- 1 .458 94-114 Live and On-Demand 10 Alabama Huntsville 5 28 2-25- 1 .089 30-114 38 2-35- 1 .066 41-166 at America ONE Sports This Week in the WCHA WCHA Final Five • March 21-22 • Van Andel Arena • Grand Rapids, MI Television Coverage: FOX Sports North, FOX Sports Wisconsin, FOX Sports Detroit, Sports Time Ohio, FOX College Sports-Central Games for Friday, March 21: (3) Bowling Green vs (2) Minnesota State, 2:07 pm ET (NC); (4) Alaska Anchorage vs (1) Ferris State, 7:07 pm ET (NC). Games for Saturday, March 22: Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game, 7:07 pm ET (NC). WCHA M Release • Week 24 • 031714 4 seed. Tickets are still available. Those four first round playoff winning teams head to Grand Rapids with Last Week in the WCHA a common goal of claiming the Broadmoor Trophy on Saturday night and receiving the WCHA’s automatic berth into the national tournament. WCHA Playoffs • First Round • Best-of-Three The 2014 WCHA Final Five will be telecast live by FOX Sports North and carried by FOX Sports Wisconsin, FOX Sports Detroit, Sports Time Ohio, Results of Thursday, March 13 and FOX College Sports-Central. Alaska Anchorage 2 at Alaska 3 ot (NC) The playoff championship gets underway on Friday at Van Andel Arena Results of Friday, March 14 with two semifinal match ups. Game one at 2:07 pm ET will feature Bowling Michigan Tech 1 at Bowling Green 2 (NC) Green (18-14-6) vs Minnesota State (24-13-1) while game two at 7:07 Bemidji State 0 at Ferris State 8 (NC) pm ET will have Alaska Anchorage (18-15-4) going up against Ferris State Northern Michigan 2 at Minnesota State 3 (NC) (27-9-3). Minnesota State enters the Final Five on a 11-game unbeaten Alaska Anchorage 2 at Alaska 1 (NC) streak at 10-0-1. Bowling Green has won five straight games. Ferris State Results of Saturday, March 15 has a four-game winning streak. Alaska Anchorage has won two straight. Michigan Tech 2 at Bowling Green 5 (NC) (BGSU wins 2-0) The two Friday semifinal winners will then play for the Broadmoor Trophy Bemidji State 2 at Ferris State 3 (2 ot) (NC) (FSU wins 2-0) and a trip to the national tournament on Saturday evening at 7:07 pm ET. Northern Michigan 4 at Minnesota State 5 ot (NC) (MSU wins 2-0) For first-year conference members Ferris State and Bowling Green, Alaska Anchorage 5 at Alaska 4 (NC) (UAA wins 2-1) this will obviously be their first appearances in the WCHA Final Five. The Bulldogs, who won the WCHA in their debut season in the conference, will mark the school’s fifth-trip ever to the semifinals of a league tournament And for Alaska Anchorage, who became a full-time WCHA member in as Ferris State previously advanced to the CCHA Semifinals four times. 1992-93, this will be their third appearance, having qualified for the Final The Falcons have won a league playoff series in each of the last four Five in 2004 and 2011. seasons, three in the CCHA and last weekend in the WCHA vs Michigan Minnesota State and Bowling Green played four times during the regular Tech. The Falcons have won five playoff series in that span, picking up season, with both series resulting in splits and three of the games going first round victories in the CCHA Playoffs in each of the past three years. into overtime. On Nov. 8-9 in Mankato, the visiting Falcons won game BGSU also won a CCHA quarterfinal series in 2011-12 over second-ranked one 4-3 before the Mavericks took game two 1-0 in overtime. Then, just Ferris State. This is the first time the Falcons have swept a series during the two weeks later, the two clubs met up again at the BGSU Ice Arena, with stretch as BGSU posted game-three wins in each of the other victories. Bowling Green winning the opener 4-3 in overtime and Minnesota State Minnesota State, who joined the WCHA for the 1999-2000 season, will taking game two 3-2 in overtime. mark its fourth Final Five appearance, previously earning berths in 2000, Alaska Anchorage and Ferris State met two times during the 2013-14 2003 and 2013. regular season, on Feb. 21-22 in Big Rapids. The Bulldogs won both contests, Ferris State Bulldogs 2014 WCHA/MacNaughton Cup Champions WCHA M Release • Week 24 • 031714 4-2 and 5-3. by one-goal with the visiting Seawolves winning two games to one. Last Alaska Anchorage and Bowling Green played a four-game series, with Thursday, the Nanooks won the opener 3-2 (ot), before UAA stormed back the Falcons holding a 2-1-1 advantage. On Nov. 1-2 in Bowling Green, the to take game two 2-1 on Friday and game three 5-4 on Saturday. Falcons swept the Seawolves, 6-1 and 1-0. On Feb. 14-15 in Anchorage, And in Bowling Green, the No. 4 seed Falcons won both first round UAA came back with a 2-2 overtime tie in game one and a 5-2 triumph in playoff games against No. 5 seed Michigan Tech. Bowling Green captured game two. game one last Friday 2-1 and then prevailed by a 5-2 count in game two. And Minnesota State and Ferris State played just twice during this regular season, with the Mavericks sweeping the Bulldogs in Mankato on March 14, 2014 Jan.