COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - With the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Tournament starting this weekend, brackets are in full swing as teams begin their “March to Minneapolis” where the 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 Play of the Year in the NCHC through a bracket-style tournament.

During the season, the NCHC has posted the Top 5 Plays of the Week, presented by TRIA Orthopaedics, each Tuesday. Like in past seasons, the NCHC has taken the best No. 1 plays from 16 weeks during the season and bracketed them. Starting today, Wednesday, March 8, fans will vote on which play 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 2016-17 Play of the Year being announced during the Championship Game of the 2017 NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Target Center March 18.

The 2016-17 Play of the Year bracket is below with one or two match-ups posted on NCHCHockey.com each day (except Sunday, March 12) leading up to the Frozen Faceoff.

The schedule for each round of voting is as follows:

Wednesday, March 8 - Two first-round match-ups

Thursday, March 9 - Two first-round match-ups

Friday, March 10 - Two first-round match-ups

Saturday, March 11 – Two first-round match-ups

Monday, March 13 – Two quarterfinal match-ups

Tuesday, March 14 – Two quarterfinal match-ups

Wednesday, March 15 - Semifinal 1

Thursday, March 16 – Semifinal 2

Friday, March 17 – Championship match-up

Saturday, March 18 – Play of the Year revealed at NCHC Frozen Faceoff

The first two first-round match-ups will be posted to NCHCHockey.com Wednesday night. Each match-up on NCHCHockey.com (and NCHC.tv) will show both plays and have a poll for fans to vote on the better play with the highest vote total advancing. Fans may only vote once per day per match-up with the winners announced in the following day’s match-up story.

The defending Play of the Year champion is North Dakota’s Nick Schmaltz, who is now playing for the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL, meaning we’ll have a new Play of the Year champion this season.

The video below shows all 16 plays up for 2016-17 Play of the Year to get you ready for the tournament!