The ECAC Hockey Tournament is the conference tournament for ECAC Hockey. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which has occurred every year the NCAA has allowed automatic berths into the tournament. The ECAC tournament champion has only once not received an invitation to the NCAA tournament, that coming in 1963 when Harvard won its first conference championship (the second year in existence for the ECAC).

The tournament was first held in 1962, the first year of conference play. It was held at Boston Arena in Boston from 1962–66. It then moved to the much larger Boston Garden From 1967–92 (capacity for ice hockey games was 14,000+ in the Garden as opposed to the ~4,000 at the Arena). Because of a schism that occurred in the ECAC that saw most Boston-area schools break away and form the Hockey East conference in 1984, the championship rounds moved to the Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, New York, for the next decade (1993–2002). From 2003–2010, along with a change to the tournament format, the semifinal and championship games were moved to the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York, which changed its name to the 'Times Union Center' in 2007. From 2011 through 2013 the final four games were held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and afterwards it was announced that the 2014 championship would return to Lake Placid and play at the since renamed Herb Brooks Arena.

History

In 1960, two play-in games were held for the top four eastern teams that were up for two spots in the NCAA tournament. About a year and a half later, ECAC Hockey was founded and included nearly 30 programs. Despite the cumbersome arrangement, the league held its first conference tournament in 1962 and has crowned a champion every year since with the exception of 2020 (as of 2025).

In response to a threat from the Ivy League schools to split from the conference over scheduling disagreements, the six teams that comprised the East Division left the conference to form Hockey East in 1984. ECAC Hockey still contained eleven teams after the break and was able to retain its automatic bid to the tournament, a necessity for the stability of a conference.

The tournament was first hosted at the Boston Arena and was moved to the Boston Garden in 1967. The tournament remained there from 1967 through 1992 and was succeeded by the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from 1993 to 2002 and again from 2014 to the present. The Times Union Center and the Boardwalk Hall have also hosted ECAC tournament championships.

Cornell has won the most ECAC Hockey championships with 14 and also has the most championship game appearances with 25. Former Cornell coach Mike Schafer has won the most championships with seven and also has coached in the most championship games with 14 appearances.

In 1989 the championship trophy was renamed in honor of retiring commissioner Robert Whitelaw.

Formats 1962 The ECAC Hockey Tournament format begins as a single-game elimination three-round format featuring the top eight teams in the standings.

1983 The quarterfinal round is changed to a two-game format where if the two teams are tied afterwards a 'mini-game' is held to determine who advances. Overtime is not played in the quarterfinals outside the 'mini-games'

1990 Two preliminary games are added to determine the final two qualifiers in the tournament played between the teams that finished seventh thru tenth in the standings.

1992 The quarterfinal round was changed to a single-elimination format.

1993 The quarterfinal round was converted into a modified best-of-three series where the first team to receive three points would advance (2 points for a win 1 point for a tie) with only the third game permitted to continue past a 5-minute overtime if the score was still tied.

1998 The preliminary round was scrapped and the quarterfinal round expanded into 5 modified best-of-three series. The two lowest-seeded teams to advance out of the quarterfinals would then play in a single 'Four vs. Five' game to determine the final semifinalist.

2000 The quarterfinal round was altered to include standard best-of-three series with no ties allowed.

2003 ECAC Hockey adds a fourth round to the tournament (called the 'First Round') and includes all 12 conference teams in the tournament. The First round pits the fifth thru twelfth teams in the standings in four best-of-three series with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. The top four teams in the standings automatically advance to the quarterfinal round and play the remaining four teams in reverse order of their finish in the standings in a second best-of-three round. The semifinal, third-place and championship games are all single-elimination.

2014 The third place game is eliminated.https://dailygazette.com/blog/parting-schotts/ecac-hockey-tournament-third-place-game-eliminated

2021 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only four competing institutions will compete in a single-elimination championship over the course of one championship weekend.

2023

After 20 years, the opening round of the tournament gets changed to single-elimination, replacing the best-of-three format prior; the quarterfinals remain best-of-three, however, along with the semifinals and final both being single games.

Champions 1962 5–2 Boston Boston Arena 1963 4–3 (OT) Boston Boston Arena 1964 3–1 Boston Boston Arena 1965 6–2 Boston Boston Arena 1966 6–2 Boston Boston Arena 1967 4–3 Boston Boston Garden 1968 6–3 Boston Boston Garden 1969 4–2 Boston Boston Garden 1970 3–2 Boston Boston Garden 1971 7–4 Boston Boston Garden 1972 4–1 Boston Boston Garden 1973 3–2 Boston Boston Garden 1974 4–2 Boston Boston Garden 1975 7–3 Boston Boston Garden 1976 9–2 Boston Boston Garden 1977 8–6 Boston Boston Garden 1978 4–2 Boston Boston Garden 1979 3–2 Boston Boston Garden 1980 5–1 Boston Boston Garden 1981 8–4 Boston Boston Garden 1982 5–2 Boston Boston Garden 1983 4–1 (OT) Boston Boston Garden 1984 5–2 Boston Boston Garden 1985 5–1 Boston Boston Garden 1986 3–2 (OT) Boston Boston Garden 1987 6–3 Boston Boston Garden 1988 3–0 Boston Boston Garden 1989 4–1 Boston Boston Garden 1990 5–4 Boston Boston Garden 1991 5–4 Boston Boston Garden 1992 4–2 Boston Boston Garden 1993 3–1 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1994 3–0 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1995 5–1 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1996 2–1 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1997 2–1 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1998 5–4 (OT) Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 1999 3–2 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 2000 2–0 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 2001 3–1 Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 2002 4–3 (2OT) Lake Placid, New York Olympic Arena 2003 3–2 (OT) Albany, New York Pepsi Arena 2004 4–2 Albany, New York Pepsi Arena 2005 3–1 Albany, New York Pepsi Arena 2006 6–2 Albany, New York Pepsi Arena 2007 4–2 Albany, New York Times Union Center 2008 4–1 Albany, New York Times Union Center 2009 5–0 Albany, New York Times Union Center 2010 3–0 Albany, New York Times Union Center 2011 6–0 Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk Hall 2012 3–2 Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk Hall 2013 3–1 Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk Hall 2014 5–2 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2015 4–2 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2016 4–1 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2017 4–1 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2018 2–1 (OT) Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2019 3–2 (OT) Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2020 Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic 2021 3–2 (OT) Hamden, Connecticut People's United Center 2022 3–2 (OT) Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2023 3–2 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2024 3–1 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena 2025 3–1 Lake Placid, New York Herb Brooks Arena

Championships by School 14 25 11 23 7 12 6 16 5 7 3 6 3 4 3 4 2 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 1 0 4 0 2 0 1

By coach 13 Mike Schafer 7–6 9 Ted Donato 4–5 8 Joe Marsh 5–3 6 Bill Cleary 2–4 6 Len Ceglarski 2–4 5 Ned Harkness 4–1 5 Jack Parker 4–1 5 Mark Morris 3–2 4 Dick Bertrand 2–2 4 Rand Pecknold 1–3 3 Rick Bennett 3–0 3 Mark Mazzoleni 2–1 3 Cooney Weiland 2–1 3 John Kelley 1–2 3 Lou Lamoriello 1–2 3 Don Vaughan 1–2 2 Mike Addesa 2–0 2 Keith Allain 2–0 2 Ronn Tomassoni 1–1 2 George Roll 1–1 2 George Menard 1–1 2 Jack Kelly 1–1 2 Dan Fridgen 1–1 2 Charlie Holt 1–1 2 Don Cahoon 1–1 2 Casey Jones 1–1 2 Brent Brekke 1–1 2 George Crowe 0–2 2 Buddy Powers 0–2 2 Cap Raeder 0–2 1 Ron Fogarty 1–0 1 Lou Reycroft 1–0 1 Thomas Eccleston 1–0 1 Terry Slater 1–0 1 Fern Flaman 1–0 1 Guy Gadowsky 1–0 1 Brendan Whittet 0–1 1 Bob Gaudet 0–1 1 Richard Toomey 0–1 1 James Fullerton 0–1 1 Nate Leaman 0–1 1 Mike Gilligan 0–1 1 Brian McCutcheon 0–1 1 Jean-François Houle 0–1

Performance by team The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament: Team not in ECAC Hockey Preliminary / First round (4 teams from 1990 to 1997, 10 teams from 1998 to 2002, 8 teams afterwards) Quarterfinals (2 teams from 1998 to 2002, no quarterfinals in 2021) Semifinals (2 teams 2021) Finals Champion

Note: the remainder of the 2020 tournament was cancelled prior to the start of the quarterfinal round.

School # QF SF F CH 55 51 41 25 14 55 47 35 23 11 52 36 20 12 7 62 50 35 16 6 17 17 15 7 5 52 35 14 6 3 38 16 7 4 3 27 16 5 4 3 17 17 7 5 2 48 37 15 4 2 16 16 5 4 2 39 27 6 2 2 19 18 10 4 1 14 14 5 2 1 4 4 1 1 1 43 25 10 3 0 32 22 11 2 0 21 15 5 1 0 3 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0

References

External links The Official Site of ECAC Hockey