The 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is the national championship tournament for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's Division I college ice hockey in the United States. Being held from March 26 to April 11, 2026, the tournament involves 16 teams in single-elimination play to determine the national champion for the top level of play.
For the first time since 1981, none of the four programs that compete in the annual Beanpot tournament (Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard) qualified for the NCAA tournament. Dartmouth made its first tournament appearance since 1980, ending the longest active drought between tournament appearances and tying Yale for the longest gap between bids (46 years) in NCAA Division I menâÂÂs ice hockey history. As of 2026, the longest active drought since their last bid belongs to Alaska Anchorage, who has not appeared in the tournament since 1992 (34 years).
Michigan earned a record-extending 29th Frozen Four appearance with their 4-3 win in the Albany Regional Final over Minnesota-Duluth. Also, Denver became the 6th program in NCAA Division I history to earn 20 Frozen Four appearances following their 6-2 win in the Loveland Regional Final over defending champions Western Michigan.
Following their 4-3 overtime loss to Wisconsin in the Worcester Regional Final (a game in which they led 3-1 with five minutes remaining), Michigan State became the first program in the 16-team tournament era (since 2003) to hold a 1-seed for 3 consecutive tournaments without reaching the Frozen Four.
The tournament was composed of four groups of four teams in regional brackets. The four regionals are named after the cities in which they take place. The following are the sites for the 2026 regionals:
Regional Semifinals and Finals
National semifinals and championship (Frozen Four and championship)
<small>Note: The Loveland Regional was awarded to the Budweiser Events Center which was subsequently renamed as the Blue Arena prior to the start of tournament play.</small>
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 22, 2026, on ESPNU at 3:00 pm ET.
The Big Ten and NCHC each received four bids, ECAC Hockey and Hockey East received three bids, while Atlantic Hockey America and the CCHA received one bid apiece.
<small>Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.</small>
<small>Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.</small><br> <small>* denotes overtime period</small>
<small>Note: all game times listed are eastern.</small>
ESPN has the official US television rights to all of the games during the tournament now for the 21st consecutive year. All the games will air on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN+.
Regionals
Frozen Four
Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and will broadcast both the semifinals and the championship.