It was held between March 19 and 27, 1981, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Minnesota 6-3.
1981 was the first year that the tournament guaranteed 8 teams to be selected for the championship as opposed the policy put in place in 1977 that gave the selection committee the ability to choose up to 4 additional teams at its discretion (two was the maximum the committee ever choose).
The NCAA permitted 8 teams to qualify for the tournament, four from each region (East and West).
From the west the two WCHA tournament co-champions and the CCHA tournament champion received automatic bids with a fourth at-large bid going to one western team.
Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Duluth Arena and all series became Single-game eliminations.