1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 41st such tournament in NCAA history. 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.
This was the first tournament to include an independent school since 1960, more than a year before the ECAC was founded.
==Qualifying teams==
The NCAA permitted 12 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 8 teams. The NCAA permitted one Independent team to participate in the tournament and placed it in the western bracket with the intention to place an additional independent in the eastern regional in 1989. As a result, the two western conferences (WCHA and CCHA) would split only three open spots as opposed to the East's four open spots.
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 	Maine 	Hockey East	31–7–2 	At-large bid 	2nd 	1987 	1 	Minnesota 	WCHA 	32–8–0 	At-large bid 	15th 	1987
2 	St. Lawrence	ECAC Hockey	27–7–0 	Tournament champion	10th 	1987 	2 	Lake Superior State	CCHA 	30–6–6 	At-large bid 	2nd 	1985
3 	Northeastern	Hockey East	20–12–4	Tournament champion	2nd 	1982 	3 	Wisconsin 	WCHA 	27–12–2	Tournament champion	9th 	1983
4 	Harvard 	ECAC Hockey	21–9–0 	At-large bid 	13th 	1987 	4 	Bowling Green 	CCHA 	28–11–2	Tournament champion	7th 	1987
5 	Vermont 	ECAC Hockey	21–9–3 	At-large bid 	1st 	Never 	5 	Michigan State 	CCHA 	25–14–3	At-large bid 	10th 	1987
6 	Lowell 	Hockey East	20–15–2	At-large bid 	1st 	Never 	6 	Merrimack 	Independent	32–4–0 	At-large bid 	1st 	Never
==Format==
The tournament featured four rounds of play. The three odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the three even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking with the top two teams in each bracket receiving byes into the quarterfinals. In the first round the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds played two-game aggregate series to determine which school advanced to the Quarterfinals with the winners of the 4 vs. 5 series playing the first seed and the winner of the 3 vs. 6 series playing the second seed. In the Quarterfinals the matches were two-game aggregates 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. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.
==Tournament Bracket==
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
===First Round===
====(E3) Northeastern vs. (W6) Merrimack====
====(E4) Harvard vs. (W5) Michigan State====
====(W3) Wisconsin vs. (E6) Lowell====
====(W4) Bowling Green vs. (E5) Vermont====
===Quarterfinals===
====(E1) Maine vs. (W4) Bowling Green====
====(E2) St. Lawrence vs. (W3) Wisconsin====
====(W1) Minnesota vs. (W5) Michigan State====
====(W2) Lake Superior State vs. (W6) Merrimack====
==Frozen Four==
===National Semifinal===
====(E1) Maine vs. (W2) Lake Superior State====
====(W1) Minnesota vs. (E2) St. Lawrence====
===Third Place Game===
====(E1) Maine vs. (W1) Minnesota====
===National Championship===
====(W2) Lake Superior State vs. (E2) St. Lawrence====
==All-Tournament Team==
*G: Bruce Hoffort* (Lake Superior State)
*D: Kord Cernich (Lake Superior State)
*D: Brian McColgan (St. Lawrence)
*F: Dave Capuano (Maine)
*F: Mike de Carle (Lake Superior State)
*F: Pete Lappin (St. Lawrence)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)
==See also==
*1988 Frozen Four
==References==
Category:NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Category:1988 in hockey