2004 CHA men's ice hockey tournament
College ice hockey tournament
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The 2004 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 5th tournament in conference history and was played between March 12 and March 14, 2004 at Tri-City Arena in Kearney, Nebraska. By winning the tournament, Niagara received College Hockey America's automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 2004 CHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 12–14, 2004 |
| Teams | 6 |
| Finals site | Tri-City Arena Kearney, Nebraska |
| Champions | Niagara (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | Dave Burkholder (1st title) |
| MVP | Jeff Van Nynatten (Niagara) |
CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
Format
The tournament featured six teams. The top two teams from the regular season received byes to the semifinals where they played the winners from the quarterfinal games. The two semifinal winners met in the championship game on March 14, 2004, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Conference standings
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 | ||
| Bemidji State† | 20 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 90 | 48 | 36 | 20 | 13 | 3 | 131 | 94 | |
| Niagara* | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 28 | 72 | 52 | 39 | 21 | 15 | 3 | 124 | 120 | |
| Alabama–Huntsville | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 65 | 60 | 31 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 92 | 94 | |
| Findlay | 20 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 16 | 58 | 60 | 38 | 11 | 22 | 5 | 95 | 114 | |
| Air Force | 20 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 13 | 49 | 78 | 37 | 14 | 21 | 2 | 101 | 131 | |
| Wayne State | 20 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 44 | 80 | 36 | 9 | 24 | 3 | 83 | 144 | |
| Championship: Niagara † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
| Quarterfinal
March 12, 2004 | Semifinals
March 13, 2004 | Championship
March 14, 2004 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Bemidji State | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Findlay | 9 | 4 | Findlay | 2 | |||||||||
| 5 | Air Force | 1 | 1 | Bemidji State | 3 | |||||||||
| 2 | Niagara | 4* | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Niagara | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Alabama-Huntsville | 3 | 6 | Wayne State | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Wayne State | 5 | ||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)