Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. TheECACtournament champion and the twoWCHAtournament co-champions received automatic bids into the tournament. An at-large bid was offered to a second eastern team based upon both their ECAC tournament finish as well as their regular season record.
The ECAC champion was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA co-champion with the better regular season record was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. All games were played at the University of Denver Arena. All matches wereSingle-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game. Minnesota and Michigan Tech squared off in the championship game for the third straight year, with Michigan Tech having won in '75 and Minnesota in '74.
