The final WCCHA League KRACH Rankings of the 2019-2020 season confirms the 8-team tournament field, with UW-Eau Claire and North Dakota claiming the two wildcard spots after an exciting finish to the league regular season. In the end, the margins between higher/lower seeding, qualifying and not qualifying were razor thin. At many juntures of the season, a single changed result could have meant different teams at different spots - but ultimately it is here that we arrived.

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Laying claim to the #1 spot is the University of St. Thomas (18-2-0 WCCHA overall), who for the second year in the a row will carry the number one seed into the tournament. The Southeast Division Champions will have the "home" advantage on their quest to be only the second ever back-to-back WCCHA Champion.

With a sweep on the final weekend of the season coupled with timely results elsewhere, the new and confirmed #2 is North Dakota State University (11-2-0 WCCHA overall). The Bison battled through weather cancelations to post as impressive record that earned them 2nd place in the Northwest despite a muted schedule, with loses only to the #3 and #4 seeded teams. NDSU will look to go one step further this season, and will own "home" ice on the bottom half of the bracket.

Slipping one spot into #3 is the University of Minnesota (16-4-1 WCCHA overall). The Gophers, who spent much of the year in the #2 spot and recently claimed the Northwest Division Championship, nonetheless went just 1-2-1 over their final four WCCHA games. The Gophers, who are also precariously positioned in the ACHA Regional Rankings, will hold the higher seed in the quarterfinal round

Having been as low at #7 in early KRACH Rankings, the #4 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (12-5-0 WCCHA overall) finished their regular season on a 17-game winning streak and earned a "home" opening round game in the process. Impressively, the Blugolds are the highest-ever ranked Wildcard team after losing out on a tiebreaker for the final automatic qualificaiton spot out of the highly competitive Southeast Division. Yet, a 4-1 record outside of the division helped the Blugolds narrowly edge their opening round opponent, whom they also swept on the road earlier this season.

At #5, the University of Wisconsin (10-5-1 WCCHA Overall) will be ready to seek revenge in what should be an epic quarterfinal against UWEC. The Badgers improved greatly in 2019-2020 and have strong standing in the ACHA Rankings, but a few negative results down the stretch kept the Badgers from the top half of the seeding. Still, there are no easy matchups in this tournament, and the Badgers will be surely be ready make a move in the tournament.

With a top-3 finish in the Southeast Division, #6 Gustavus Adolphus College (13-5-1 WCCHA overall) earned an automatic spot at the tournament in their first WCCHA season. The Gusties put together a strong run early with a 8-0-0 streak in the division that put them as high as #1 in the KRACH, but have hit a patch of inconsistency that caused a drop to the bottom half. Still a dangerous team after claiming a spot from thier to-3 Southeast finish, the Gusties get their first taste of the Carla Berg Cup this coming weekend.

Back at the tournament for the first time since 2013-2014 is #7 University of Minnesota-Duluth (7-8-1 WCCHA overall). The Bulldogs got over the hump this season and acheived automatic qualification via the Northwest, playing hard-nosed hockey that earned them the right to once again challenge for the Carla Berg Cup. After a tough league schedule that included interdivisional games against #1 St. Thomas and #5 Wisconsin, UMD should be well prepared to challenge come Friday.

Nicking the final spot in the 2020 Tournament is #8 University of North Dakota (6-8-2 WCCHA overall). Over the course of the season, the Fighting Hawks did just enough to stay ahead of the their challengers - particularly a big 3 point weekend against Gustavus in Interdivisional play and sweep of division rival St. John's. The Fighting Hawks will face a familiar foe in the first round in St. Thomas - a repeat of the 2019 Quarterfinals and an opponent in interdivision play earlier this season.

Just outside of qualification are #9 St. John's University (7-6-2 WCCHA Overall) and #10 Winona State University (7-9-1 WCCHA Overall), who both battled hard to the end but ultimately were not able to make up enough ground. St. John's closed the regular season with an impressive 3 point weekend against Minnesota that saw them jump North Dakota into 4th in the Northwest, but varied results elsewhere, including splits in interdivisional play and a sweep suffered at the hands of UND, left them just behind in the ratings. Likewise, Winona State left it all on the ice with a strong showing against Wisconsin and a split with St. John's, but the Warriors could not overcome their early results to push past UND.

At #11, Minnesota State University (6-10-0) will miss out on their first WCCHA Tournament since qualification was added back in 2016-2019. A year removed from a Northwest Division title, #12 St. Cloud State University will also stay home this season. The final two teams, winless Bethel University and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, tied for 13th in the final rankings.

To recap, St. Thomas, the University of Wisconsin, and Gustavus Adolphus have automatical qualify from the Southeast by confirming a top 3 finish. In the Northwest, Minnesota claimed the division title while North Dakota State and Minnesota-Duluth finished in the top 3. The wildcards thus go to UW-Eau Claire and North Dakota.

With the final rankings confirmed, the first round matchups at the 2020 WCCHA Tournament are:

• #1 St. Thomas vs. #8 North Dakota
• #2 North Dakota State vs. #7 Minnesota-Duluth
• #3 Minnesota vs. #6 Gustavus Adolphus
• #4 UW-Eau Claire vs. #5 UW-Eau Claire

FOR FULL RANKINGS, CLICK HERE

ABOUT THE WCCHA KRACH RANKINGS:

This season, the WCCHA will utilize KRACH Rankings for both Tournament Qualification and Tournament Seeding. 

Starting the week of Nov. 11, the WCCHA KRACH Rankings will be published each Monday after a WCCHA series is contested, with the final rankings on Feb. 2. The KRACH Rankings will use all WCCHA results, Divisional and Non-Divisional, to order teams according to their league-wide results. As a reminder, this season the top 3 finishers in both the Northwest Division and Southeast Division will automatically qualify for the 2020 WCCHA Tournament. Thereafter, the final two spots at the 2020 WCCHA Tournament will go to the 2 teams with the highest KRACH ranking not otherwise qualified. Finally, once the field of 8 is set for the 2020 WCCHA Tournament, the KRACH rankings will be used to seed the tournament in spots 1-8.