| Year: | 1976 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Division: | Division I |
| Teams: | 4 |
| Frozenfourarena: | University of Denver Arena |
| Frozenfourcity: | Denver, Colorado |
| Champions: | Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| Titlecount: | 2nd |
| Champgamecount: | 6th |
| Champffcount: | 7th |
| Runnerup: | Michigan Tech Huskies |
| Gamecount: | 7th |
| Runnerffcount: | 9th |
| Semifinal1: | Brown Bears |
| Frozenfourcount: | 3rd |
| Semifinal2: | Boston University Terriers |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 11th |
| Coach: | Herb Brooks |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mop: | Tom Vannelli |
| Mopteam: | Minnesota |
| Attendance: | 17,410 |
The 1976 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 29th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 25 and 27, 1976, and concluded with Minnesota defeating Michigan Tech 6–4. All games were played at the University of Denver Arena in Denver, Colorado.
Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The ECAC tournament champion and the two WCHA tournament 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.
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston University | ECAC Hockey | 25–3–0 | Tournament champion | 11th | 1975 | 1 | Michigan Tech | WCHA | 33–8–0 | Tournament co-champion | 9th | 1975 |
| 2 | Brown | ECAC Hockey | 22–6–0 | At-Large | 3rd | 1965 | 2 | Minnesota | WCHA | 26–14–2 | Tournament co-champion | 7th | 1975 |
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 were Single-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.
[2] Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
| Scoring summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score | |||
| 1st | align=center style=";" | MTU | Warren Young | Joelson, Dempsey | align=center | 7:55 | align=center | 1–0 MTU |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Warren Young | Joelson and Decker | align=center | 10:36 | align=center | 2–0 MTU | |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Jim Murray | Jessee | align=center | 11:31 | align=center | 3–0 MTU | |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Tom Vannelli – PP | Younghans and Phippen | align=center | 17:05 | align=center | 3–1 MTU | |
| 2nd | align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Joe Micheletti | Larson and Vannelli | align=center | 22:55 | align=center | 3–2 MTU |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Bill Baker | Vannelli and Phippen | align=center | 30:26 | align=center | 3–3 | |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Tom Gorence | Larson | align=center | 32:47 | align=center | 4–3 MIN | |
| align=center style=";" | MTU | Nels Goddard | Roberts and Zuke | align=center | 39:24 | align=center | 4–4 | |
| 3rd | align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Pat Phippen – GW | Vannelli and Larson | align=center | 48:37 | align=center | 5–4 MIN |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Warren Miller | Phippen and Vannelli | align=center | 59:30 | align=center | 6–4 MIN | |
| Shots by period | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | ||||||
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | Minnesota | align=center | 8 | align=center | 16 | align=center | 11 | align=center | 35 | |
| align=center style=";" | Michigan Tech | align=center | 12 | align=center | 3 | align=center | 9 | align=center | 24 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | align=center | 9 | align=center | 3 | align=center | |||
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | align=center | 11 | align=center | 1 | align=center | |||
| align=center style=";" | MTU | align=center | 29 | align=center | 6 | align=center | |||
None Selected