Compiled from news releasesÂ
The Cube is scheduled this week to host the four-day playoffs for the West Coast Hockey Conference, featuring 10 different universities from across California and Arizona — among them UCLA, which plays its home games at the Cube, and California State University, Northridge.
The playoff tournament begins Thursday and ends on Sunday, with the championship game scheduled at 10:30 a.m.
Thursday’s games feature the conference’s top four teams from its Tier 2 division playing in an elimination round, with the victors moving on to compete Friday in single-elimination brackets with the six teams in WCHC’s Tier 1.
The full playoff game schedule is as follows:
Thursday
- UC Santa Barbara vs. Long Beach State University – 5:45 p.m.
- Santa Clara University vs. California State University, Fullerton – 8:45 p.m.
Friday
- Loyola Marymount University vs. CSUN – 11 a.m.
- Northern Arizona University vs. TBD – 2 p.m.
- UCLA vs. TBD – 5 p.m.
- Grand Canyon University vs. Arizona State University – 8 p.m.
Saturday
- Semifinals No. 1 – 4:30 p.m.
- Semifinals No. 2 – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday
- Championship game – 10:30 a.m.
The WCHC website provided the following breakdown of the teams and their seeding:
NAU leads the playoff field as the No. 1 seed, with a 9-1 record in league play. UCLA and LMU split their season series, with UCLA coming in second in the league with a 7-3 record, and LMU with a 6-4 record. GCU, ASU and CSUN are ranked 4, 5 and 6 in Tier 1.
UCSB won the Tier 2 South title, with a perfect 8-0 conference record. Santa Clara won the Tier 2 North title with an 8-1 season record and will represent Tier 2 North in the WCHC playoffs. CSU Fullerton and CSU Long Beach came in second and third in Tier 2 South and will fill out the rest of the playoff bracket.
In the first round, UCSB will face off against LBSU in the first game, and SCU will play CSU Fullerton. The winners of these games will move on to the next round and face NAU and UCLA.
The winners of Friday’s games will face off in the semifinals on Saturday, and the championship game will be on Sunday morning to crown the 2023/24 WCHC Champions.
Last year’s champions, GCU, will look to repeat, but have a tougher road this season as the No. 4 seed. UCLA, last year’s regular season champions, will start one spot lower at No. 2.
The WCHC playoff champion moves on to compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II West Regional tournament Feb. 23-25 in North Logan, Utah.
Admission to this week’s playoffs will be $10 for a single-game ticket, $20 for a weekend pass and $5 for a single-game ticket with a student ID from one of the participating universities. The Cube is located at 27745 Smyth Drive, Valencia.
