| Year: | 1956 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 4 |
| Frozenfourarena: | Broadmoor Ice Palace |
| Frozenfourcity: | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Champions: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Titlecount: | 6th |
| Champgamecount: | 6th |
| Champffcount: | 9th |
| Runnerup: | Michigan Tech Huskies |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | St. Lawrence Saints |
| Frozenfourcount: | 3rd |
| Semifinal2: | Boston College Eagles |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 5th |
| Coach: | Vic Heyliger |
| Coachcount: | 6th |
| Mop: | Lorne Howes |
| Mopteam: | Michigan |
The 1956 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1955–56 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 9th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and 17, 1956, and concluded with Michigan defeating Michigan Tech 7–5. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Vic Heyliger captured his 6th and final National title with the Wolverines, all done in the first 9 years of the tournament. As of 2016 he stands as the coach with the most championships overall and the most with one team (6).
Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The two best WIHL teams and a Tri-State League representative received bids into the tournament as did one independent school.
Clarkson, who had completed a 23–0 record in the regular season, were offered a bid by the selection committee. The Golden Knights, however, had 8 four-year seniors on the team (who would not have been allowed to play in the tournament) and declined the invitation, leaving the second place team from the Tri-State League to go in their stead.[1]
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston College | Independent | 14–5–0 | At-Large | 5th | 1954 | 1 | Michigan | WIHL | 18–2–1 | At-Large | 9th | 1955 |
| 2 | St. Lawrence | Tri-State League | 17–4–0 | At-Large | 3rd | 1955 | 2 | Michigan Tech | WIHL | 20–6–0 | At-Large | 1st | Never |
The eastern team judged as better was seeded as the top eastern team while the WIHL champion 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 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 | Ed Switzer | McDonald | align=center | 00:23 | align=center | 1–0 UM |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Dick Wilson | J. McManus | align=center | 02:42 | align=center | 1–1 | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Neil McDonald | Schiller | align=center | 09:22 | align=center | 2–1 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Don McIntosh | Rendall | align=center | 10:14 | align=center | 3–1 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Pete Aubry | unassisted | align=center | 11:04 | align=center | 3–2 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Bob Schiller | McDonald | align=center | 13:11 | align=center | 4–2 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Dick Wilson | unassisted | align=center | 19:45 | align=center | 4–3 UM | |
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | MTU | Tom Kennedy | Wilson | align=center | 24:47 | align=center | 4–4 |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Pete Aubry – PP | Wilson | align=center | 27:25 | align=center | 5–4 MTU | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Ed Switzer | Hanna | align=center | 27:58 | align=center | 5–5 | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Ed Switzer – GW PP | Dunnigan | align=center | 34:28 | align=center | 6–5 UM | |
| align=center style=";" | UM | Neil McDonald | unassisted | align=center | 34:49 | align=center | 7–5 UM | |
| 3rd | None | |||||||
| Shots by period | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | ||||||
| align=center style=";" | Michigan Tech | align=center | 22 | align=center | 10 | align=center | 10 | align=center | 42 | |
| align=center style=";" | Michigan | align=center | 14 | align=center | 14 | align=center | 11 | align=center | 39 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style=";" | MTU | align=center | 32 | align=center | 7 | align=center | |||
| align=center style=";" | UM | align=center | 37 | align=center | 5 | align=center | |||
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[4]