It was held between March 17 and April 1, 1989, and concluded with Harvard defeating Minnesota 4-3 in overtime.
Each of the tournament champions from the four Division I conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and WCHA) received automatic invitations into the tournament with At-large bids making up the remaining 8 teams.
The NCAA permitted one Independent team to participate in the tournament and because the previous year the independent qualifier was placed in the West pool the two eastern conferences (ECAC and Hockey East) would split only three open spots as opposed to the West's four open spots.
In the Quarterfinals the matches were best-of-three series once more with the victors advancing to the National Semifinals.
Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the St. Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations.