The 1987 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the 40th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 20 and 28, 1987, and concluded with North Dakota defeating Michigan State 5 to 3. The field was made up of 8 teams, including Tournament Champions and At Large bids. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues while all succeeding games were played at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The tournament featured three rounds of play. The two odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the two even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking. In the Quarterfinals the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds played two-game aggregate series to determine which school advanced to the Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Joe Louis Arena and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game.