The 2023 playoff field is set, and it took to the final game of the season for the seeds to finalize. UCLA, with its weekend sweep over LBSU and LMU finalized the top spot in the tournament.
Seeds:
- UCLA 2. GCU 3. ASU 4. LMU 5. NAU 6. LBSU 7. CSUN 8. UCSB 9. CSUF 10. SCU
The playoff format will be a standard 10 team field, with re-seeding as necessary between rounds should there be an upset. The four Tier 2 teams that made the playoffs will play in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday night
Thursday games:
5pm – CSUN v SCU – While these teams didn’t play league games, they did face each other twice this season, with a 1-1 split. CSUN was undefeated in league play this year, and SCU won the Tier 2 North division.
8 PM – UCSB v CSUF – With a split in league play, UCSB finished tied in points with CSUF, but won the tie breaker with a better goal differential in their two games.
Friday Games:
11 AM – UCLA v. TBD – UCLA will face the lower ranked team that wins on Thursday in the first game of the Quarter-finals. UCLA did not play any of their possible opponents in the regular season.
2 PM – GCU v. TBD – GCU finished second in the standings, and will face the higher ranked winner from Thursday. GCU did not face any of their possible opponents in the regular season.
5 PM – ASU v. LBSU – ASU split their season series with LBSU early in the year, each a one goal victory. ASU finished the year stronger, and secured the 3rd place finish.
8 PM – LMU v. NAU – Another season split, as the Lions beat NAU by 3 goals in their first game, and lost their second game by 1. The two teams finished tied in points but LMU won the tie breaker to be the home team.
Saturday Games: The semi-finals will be on Saturday, with the first game at 2pm and the second at 5pm. The games will re-seed as needed so the highest remaining team will play the lowest remaining team.
Championship: The Championship game will be on Sunday at 10:30 am, with the winning team guaranteeing their spot in the ACHA regional tournament.
The tournament will be held at the Cube Ice Rink in Santa Clarita, CA. This is UCLA’s home rink. Admission will be $10 for an adult day pass, $20 for an Adult weekend pass, and $5 for child or student ID day passes.
The playoffs appear to be a wide open field, with mostly splits between the top 6 teams, and the Tier 2 winner, CSUN, right on their heels. Come check out a great weekend of hockey!