| Year: | 1948 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 4 |
| Frozenfourarena: | Broadmoor Ice Palace |
| Frozenfourcity: | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Champions: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Champgamecount: | 1st |
| Champffcount: | 1st |
| Runnerup: | Dartmouth Indians |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | Colorado College Tigers |
| Frozenfourcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal2: | Boston College Eagles |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 1st |
| Coach: | Vic Heyliger |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mop: | Joe Riley |
| Mopteam: | Dartmouth |
| Attendance: | 7,900 |
The 1948 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1947–48 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 1st such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and 20, 1948, and concluded with Michigan defeating Dartmouth 8-4. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
This inaugural tournament possesses two distinctions beyond being the first of its kind: it was the championship with the fewest games played (3) with all succeeding tournaments having a minimum of 4 games. Additionally, the overtime rules used were not sudden-death, allowing Michigan to score multiple times in the first overtime game in tournament history (the next overtime game would not happen until 1954).
Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The teams were selected by a committee based upon both their overall record and the strength of their opponents.
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Dartmouth | Independent | 20–2–0 | At-Large | 1st | Never | 1 | Michigan | Independent | 18–2–1 | At-Large | 1st | Never |
| 2 | Boston College | Independent | 14–4–0 | At-Large | 1st | Never | 2 | Colorado College | Independent | 19–7–0 | At-Large | 1st | Never |
The eastern and western teams judged as better were seeded as the top regional teams. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game.
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
| Scoring summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score | |||
| 1st | align=center style=";" | UM | Wally Gacek | Grant | align=center | 0:50 | align=center | 1–0 UM |
| align=center style=";" | DC | Bill Riley | Merriam | align=center | 4:25 | align=center | 1–1 | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Wally Gacek | Grant | align=center | 10:55 | align=center | 2–1 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | DC | Crawford Campbell – PP | unasisted | align=center | 17:25 | align=center | 2–2 | |
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | DC | Walt Crowley | B. Riley | align=center | 26:55 | align=center | 3–2 DC |
| align=center style=";" | DC | Arnold Oss | Malone | align=center | 31:05 | align=center | 4–2 DC | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Wally Grant | Gacek | align=center | 35:20 | align=center | 4–3 DC | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Gordon McMillan | Greer | align=center | 36:40 | align=center | 4–4 | |
| 3rd | align=center style=";" | UM | Wally Grant– GW | Gacek and Greer | align=center | 41:30 | align=center | 5–4 UM |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Gordon McMillan | Renfrew | align=center | 46:15 | align=center | 6–4 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Wally Gacek | Grant and Greer | align=center | 46:20 | align=center | 7–4 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Ted Greer | Gacek | align=center | 55:14 | align=center | 8–4 UM | |
| Shots by period | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | ||||||
| align=center style=";" | Michigan | align=center | 10 | align=center | 13 | align=center | 18 | align=center | 41 | |
| align=center style=";" | Dartmouth | align=center | 12 | align=center | 9 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 29 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style=";" | UM | align=center | 25 | align=center | 4 | align=center | |||
| align=center style=";" | DC | align=center | 33 | align=center | 8 | align=center | |||
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[2]