It was held between March 20 and 26, 1977, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Michigan 6–5 in overtime.
The NCAA selection committee granted themselves the ability to add an additional 4 teams to the tournament beyond the two tournament finalists from both the ECAC and WCHA.
[1] The NCAA gave four teams automatic bids into the tournament.
The two ECAC teams that reached the ECAC tournament final received bids as did the two WCHA teams that reached their tournament championship.
The NCAA also had the ability to add up to 4 additional teams as it saw fit and chose to include the CCHA tournament champion as well.