Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The WCHAtournament co-champions received automatic bids into the tournament. The two at-large bids that were available to eastern teams were conferred to the winners of two separate playoff games between the four teams judged to be the best at the conclusion of the regular season. The games were played at the home venue of the higher seed. Neither of these games are considered to be part of the NCAA tournament but are included here for continuity.
The higher-ranked eastern team was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA champion with the better conference 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 Boston Arena. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.