| Year: | 1951 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 4 |
| Frozenfourarena: | Broadmoor Ice Palace |
| Frozenfourcity: | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Champions: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Champgamecount: | 2nd |
| Champffcount: | 4th |
| Runnerup: | Brown Bears |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | Boston University Terriers |
| Frozenfourcount: | 2nd |
| Semifinal2: | Colorado College Tigers |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 4th |
| Coach: | Vic Heyliger |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mop: | Donald Whiston |
| Mopteam: | Brown |
| Attendance: | 10,800 |
The 1951 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1950–51 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 4th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and 17, 1951, and concluded with Michigan defeating Brown 7-1. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
This was the last tournament to include only independent schools. (As of 2016)
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 | Brown | Independent | 17–5–0 | At-Large | 1st | Never | 1 | Michigan | Independent | 20–4–1 | At-Large | 4th | 1950 |
| 2 | Boston University | Independent | 15–4–0 | At-Large | 2nd | 1950 | 2 | Colorado College | Independent | 16–6–1 | At-Large | 4th | 1950 |
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 and the losers playing in a consolation game.
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
| Scoring summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score | |||
| 1st | align=center style=";" | UM | Eddie May | Naylor and Marmo | align=center | 03:49 | align=center | 1–0 UM |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Gil Burford – GW | MacLellan | align=center | 15:24 | align=center | 2–0 UM | |
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | UM | Neil Celley | unassisted | align=center | 26:41 | align=center | 3–0 UM |
| align=center style=";" | UM | John McKennell | unassisted | align=center | 30:56 | align=center | 4–0 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Al Bassey | Keyes and MacLellan | align=center | 34:19 | align=center | 5–0 UM | |
| 3rd | align=center style=";" | BRN | Tony Malo | Wheeler | align=center | 47:54 | align=center | 5–1 UM |
| align=center style=";" | UM | John McKennell | Burford and Keyes | align=center | 51:15 | align=center | 6–1 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Neil Celley | Burford | align=center | 59:38 | align=center | 7–1 UM | |
| Shots by period | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | ||||||
| align=center style=";" | Michigan | align=center | 17 | align=center | 21 | align=center | 14 | align=center | 52 | |
| align=center style=";" | Brown | align=center | 5 | align=center | 4 | align=center | 11 | align=center | 20 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style=";" | UM | align=center | 19 | align=center | 1 | align=center | |||
| align=center style=";" | BRN | align=center | 45 | align=center | 7 | align=center | |||
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[3]