By winning the tournament, Northern Michigan received the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the first automatic bid for the conference.
Only the top four teams in the conference standings were eligible for postseason play.
Each of the two rounds were structured so that the two teams facing one another would play two games and the winner would be decided by the goal differential totals of the combined scores.
The victorious teams would then compete in the finals for the conference championship.
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against [3] Note: * denotes overtime period(s)