1980 CIAU University Cup

The 1980 CIAU Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament was held at the Sherwood Ice Sports Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Regina Cougars served as tournament host.

Road to the Cup

[AUAA men's [ice hockey tournament#1980|AUAA playoffs]]

Note: * denotes overtime period

GPAC playoffs">GPAC men's ice hockey tournament">GPAC playoffs

Note: * denotes overtime period

OUAA playoffs">OUAA men's ice hockey tournament">OUAA playoffs

Note: * denotes overtime period

QUAA playoffs">QUAA men's ice hockey tournament">QUAA playoffs

Note: * denotes overtime period

Canada West playoffs">Canada West men's ice hockey tournament">Canada West playoffs

Note: * denotes overtime period

University Cup

The format was mostly unchanged from the year before. The only alteration was that the selection committee chose to admit defending national champion and Canada West runner-up Alberta instead of GPAC runner-up Brandon. This was done partially because the two conferences had played an interlocking schedule during the season. The six teams were sorted by a committee prior to the tournament and arranged so that the host and wild card teams would be in opposite brackets.
In the round-robin groups, the teams that finished with the best record would advance to the championship game. If there was a tie for the best record, the first tie-breaker was goal differential. If there was a tie in goal differential, the teams would play sudden death overtime for the advantage.

Team	Qualification	Record	Appearance	Last
[Alberta Golden Bears men's ice hockey\|]	Wild-card	20–11–0	13th	1979
[Calgary Dinos men's ice hockey\|]	West: Canada West Champion	20–11–0	3rd	1976
[Concordia Stingers men's ice hockey\|]	Quebec: QUAA Champion	19–6–2	5th	1979
[Guelph Gryphons men's ice hockey\|]	Ontario: OUAA Champion	18–8–3	3rd	1979
[Moncton Aigles Bleus men's ice hockey\|]	Atlantic: AUAA Champion	26–5–1	3rd	1978
[Regina Cougars men's ice hockey\|]	Plains: GPAC Champion / Host	15–9–0	3rd	1979

Bracket

Note: * denotes overtime period
Note: round-robin games were played on consecutive days March 13–15