COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With postseason play beginning this weekend, brackets are in full swing as teams begin their “March to Minneapolis” where the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) will crown its tournament champion at the Frozen Faceoff. Teams won't be the only thing advancing in a bracket over the next two weeks however, as once again, fans will decide the Goal of the Year in the NCHC through the NCHC Goals of the Week bracket-style tournament.
Throughout the season, the NCHC has posted the Top 5 Goals of the Week, presented by TRIA Orthopaedics, each Tuesday. Like last season's end-of-year tournament, the NCHC has taken the "top goal" from 16 weeks during the season, seeded and bracketed them. Starting Tuesday, March 10 fans will vote on which goal advances to the next round based on the bracket match-ups. Voting will only last approximately one day for each match-up, culminating in the 2014-15 Goal of the Year being announced at the Championship Game of the 2015 NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Target Center March 21.
The 2014-15 16-goal Goal of the Year bracket is below with one or two match-ups posted on NCHCHockey.com each weekday leading up to the Frozen Faceoff.
The schedule for each round of voting is as follows:
Tuesday, March 10 – Two first-round match-ups
Wednesday, March 11 - Two first-round match-ups
Thursday, March 12 - Two first-round match-ups
Friday, March 13 - Two first-round match-ups
Monday, March 16 – Two quarterfinal match-ups
Tuesday, March 17 – Two quarterfinal match-ups
Wednesday, March 18 - Semifinal 1
Thursday, March 19 – Semifinal 2
Friday, March 20 – Championship match-up
Saturday, March 21 – Goal of the Year revealed at NCHC Frozen Faceoff
The first two match-ups this season will feature Western Michigan's Justin Kovacs vs. Minnesota Duluth's Alex Iafallo and North Dakota's Bryn Chyzyk against Miami's Alex Wideman. Each match-up on NCHCHockey.com (and NCHC.tv) will show both goals and have a poll for fans to vote on the better goal with the highest vote total advancing. Fans may only vote once per day per match-up.
The defending Goal of the Year champion is North Dakota's Drake Caggiula, who won the inaugural Goal of the Year Tournament last season.
The video below shows all 16 goals up for 2014-15 Goal of the Year to get you ready for the tournament!
