# 1987 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1987 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 40th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 20 and 28, 1987, and concluded with North Dakota defeating Michigan State 5-3. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues while all succeeding games were played at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

## Qualifying teams

The NCAA permitted 8 teams to qualify for the tournament and divided its qualifiers into two regions (East and West). 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 4 teams, 1 from each conference.
| East | East | East | East | East | East | East | West | West | West | West | West | West | West |
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston College | Hockey East | 30–7–0 | Tournament champion | 15th | 1986 | 1 | North Dakota | WCHA | 36–8–0 | Tournament champion | 11th | 1984 |
| 2 | Harvard | ECAC Hockey | 26–4–0 | Tournament champion | 12th | 1986 | 2 | Michigan State | CCHA | 30–9–2 | Tournament champion | 9th | 1986 |
| 3 | Maine | Hockey East | 24–14–2 | At-large bid | 1st | Never | 3 | Bowling Green | CCHA | 33–8–2 | At-large bid | 6th | 1984 |
| 4 | St. Lawrence | ECAC Hockey | 24–9–0 | At-large bid | 9th | 1983 | 4 | Minnesota | WCHA | 32–12–1 | At-large bid | 14th | 1986 |

## Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play. The two odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the two even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking. In the Quarterfinals the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds played two-game aggregate series to determine which school advanced to the Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Joe Louis Arena and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game.

## Tournament bracket

| Quarterfinals March 20–21 | Quarterfinals March 20–21 | Quarterfinals March 20–21 | Quarterfinals March 20–21 | Quarterfinals March 20–21 | Semifinals March 26–27 | Semifinals March 26–27 | Semifinals March 26–27 | National championship March 28 | National championship March 28 | National championship March 28 |
| E1 | Boston College | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 6 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 6 | W4 | Minnesota | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | W2 | Michigan State | 5 | | | |
| W2 | Michigan State | 6 | 5 | 11 | W2 | Michigan State | 5 | | | |
| E3 | Maine | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | |
| E3 | Maine | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | W2 | Michigan State | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | W1 | North Dakota | 5 |
| W1 | North Dakota | 3 | 6 | 9 | | | | | | | W1 | North Dakota | 5 |
| E4 | St. Lawrence | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | |
| E4 | St. Lawrence | 1 | 3 | 4 | W1 | North Dakota | 5 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | | | E2 | Harvard | 2 |
| E2 | Harvard | 7 | 3 | 10 | E2 | Harvard | 2 | W4 | Minnesota | 6 |
| W3 | Bowling Green | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | E2 | Harvard | 3 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### Quarterfinals
#### (E1) Boston College vs. (W4) Minnesota

* Minnesota won series 6–4

#### (E2) Harvard vs. (W3) Bowling Green

* Harvard won series 10–1

#### (W1) North Dakota vs. (E4) St. Lawrence

* North Dakota won series 9–4

#### (W2) Michigan State vs. (E3) Maine

* Michigan State won series 11–5

### National Championship
#### (W1) North Dakota vs. (W2) Michigan State

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | UND | Ian Kidd – PP | Joyce | 15:07 | 1–0 UND |
| 1st | UND | Murray Baron | Bowen and Kidd | 16:44 | 2–0 UND |
| 1st | UND | Bob Joyce | Kidd and Hrkac | 17:02 | 3–0 UND |
| 2nd | MSU | Tom Tilly | McReynolds and Messier | 28:30 | 3–1 UND |
| 2nd | UND | Malcolm Parks – GW | Koberinski | 35:05 | 4–1 UND |
| 2nd | MSU | Kevin Miller | unassisted | 36:56 | 4–2 UND |
| 3rd | UND | Brent Bobyck | Parent | 47:54 | 5–2 UND |
| 3rd | MSU | Kip Miller | Miller | 58:34 | 5–3 UND |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Michigan State | 2 | 8 | 8 | 18 |
| North Dakota | 8 | 9 | 6 | 23 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| MSU | Bob Essensa | 18 | 5 | 60:00 |
| UND | Ed Belfour | 15 | 3 | 60:00 |

## All-Tournament team

* G: Ed Belfour (North Dakota)
* D: Ian Kidd (North Dakota)
* D: Chris Luongo (Michigan State)
* D: Don McSween (Michigan State)
* F: Tony Hrkac* (North Dakota)
* F: Bob Joyce (North Dakota)
* F: Corey Millen (Minnesota)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)