The 1988 CIAU Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament (26th annual) was held at the Varsity Arena in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto Varsity Blues served as tournament host.
<small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>
<small>â¡ Western Ontario advanced due to having the most regular season points of the Division Final losers.</small><br> <small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>
<small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>
Due to the collapse of the QUAA's ice hockey division, only three conferences were playing senior college hockey. The selection committee set a new policy by making four regional spots available for tournament play: Atlantic, Ontario, Quebec and West. Because the OUAA possessed more teams than the other two conferences combined, and was the only one that possessed teams from Quebec, the OUAA champion and runner-up would split the Ontario and Quebec bids. Part of this arrangement was the elimination of the automatic bid for the host team. This was made possible by Toronto accepting the responsibilities of hosting the tournament for ten years.
The bracket was arranged so that the Atlantic entry played the Quebec entry while the Ontario entry played the Western entry in the semifinals. All rounds were single elimination.
<small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>