1986 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 39th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 21 and 29, 1986, and concluded with Michigan State defeating Harvard 6-5. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues while all succeeding games were played at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
==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 University	Hockey East	25–12–4	Tournament champion	15th 	1984 	1 	Denver 	WCHA 	33–10–1	Tournament champion	12th 	1973
2 	Harvard 	ECAC Hockey	22–7–1 	At-large bid 	11th 	1985 	2 	Michigan State 	CCHA 	30–9–2 	At-large bid 	8th 	1985
3 	Boston College 	Hockey East	26–11–3	At-large bid 	14th 	1985 	3 	Western Michigan	CCHA 	32–10–0	Tournament champion	1st 	Never
4 	Cornell 	ECAC Hockey	20–6–4 	Tournament champion	9th 	1981 	4 	Minnesota 	WCHA 	32–12–0	At-large bid 	13th 	1985
==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 Providence Civic Center 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==
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
===Quarterfinals===
====(E1) Boston University vs. (W4) Minnesota====
====(E2) Harvard vs. (W3) Western Michigan====
====(W1) Denver vs. (E4) Cornell====
====(W2) Michigan State vs. (E3) Boston College====
===Semifinal===
====(W2) Michigan State vs. (W4) Minnesota====
====(W1) Denver vs. (E2) Harvard====
===Third Place Game===
====(W1) Denver vs. (W4) Minnesota====
===National Championship===
====(W2) Michigan State vs. (E2) Harvard====
==All-Tournament Team==
*G: Norm Foster (Michigan State)
*D: Mark Benning (Harvard)
*D: Don McSween (Michigan State)
*F: Allen Bourbeau (Harvard)
*F: Mike Donnelly* (Michigan State)
*F: Jeff Parker (Michigan State)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)
==Quick facts==
* The total championship attendance was 57,826
* Lane MacDonald (4 G, 7 A) of Harvard and Mitch Messier (5 G, 6 A) of Michigan St each tallied 11 points in the tournament, most by any players
* The following records were set or tied:
** Most Assists, Individual, Game – 5, Kevin Miller, Michigan St, first round, game 1, tied
** Shots on Goal, Both Teams, Period – 40, Minnesota (23) vs Michigan St (17), semifinals, second period, 5 goals
==See also== 
*1986 Frozen Four
==References==
Category:1986 in hockey
Category:NCAA Division I Tournaments