It was held between March 18 and April 2, 1988, and concluded with Lake Superior State defeating St. Lawrence 4-3 in overtime.
All first-round and quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues with the 'Frozen Four' games being played at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.
For the first time the NCAA tournament was expanded to 12 teams (four more than the previous seven years) partially as a result of an increasing number of programs as well as two additional conferences being created in the interim.
The championship game is remembered for a missed infraction towards the end of regulation that should have given St. Lawrence a penalty shot but resulted in no call from the official.
Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the St. Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations.