The 2006 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. It began on March 24, 2006, and ended with the championship game on April 8. A total of 15 games were played.
With WisconsinâÂÂs 2-1 win over Boston College, the University of Wisconsin became the first school to win both the menâÂÂs and womenâÂÂs Division I hockey title in the same year, with Wisconsin defeating Minnesota 2-0 in the 2006 womenâÂÂs tournament.
The tournament is also largely remembered for a 4âÂÂ3 overtime win by Holy Cross over Minnesota, which is typically considered one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey tournament history.
The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single-elimination tournament featuring 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship. Regional placements are based primarily on the home location of the top seed in each bracket with an attempt made to put the top-ranked teams close to their home site.
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament was announced on March 19, 2006. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), Hockey East and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, the ECACHL had two teams receive a berth in the tournament, while Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America (CHA) both received a single bid for their tournament champions.
<small>Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.</small>
<small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Most Outstanding Player(s)