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 East pool the two western conferences (CCHA and WCHA) would split only three open spots as opposed to the East'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 Saint Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations.
The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.