ECAC Hockey

ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relationship ended in 2004, however the ECAC acronym was retained in the name of the hockey conference.

History
The ECAC Hockey League was founded in 1962. In June 1983, concerns that the Ivy League schools were potentially leaving the conference and disagreements over schedule length versus academics caused Boston University, Boston College, Providence, Northeastern and New Hampshire to decide to leave the ECAC to form what would become Hockey East, which began play in 1984-1985 season. By that fall, Maine also departed the ECAC for the new conference. This left the ECAC with twelve teams (Army, Brown, Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, RPI, St. Lawrence, Vermont, and Yale). Army would stay in the conference until the end of the 1990-1991 season, at which point they became independent (they now play in Atlantic Hockey) and were replaced by Union College. Vermont left the ECAC for Hockey East at the end of the 2004-2005 season, and were replaced in the conference by Quinnipiac.



Membership
Six of the members of ECAC Hockey are also members of the Ivy League, and all of the Ivy universities with Division I ice hockey programs are also members of ECAC Hockey. Neither the University of Pennsylvania nor Columbia University have intercollegiate ice hockey programs. UPenn supported an intercollegiate varsity hockey program in the past and was an ECAC Hockey member from 1966 to 1978 before the team was disbanded. The Ivy school that has the best regular season record against other Ivy opponents is crowned the Ivy League ice hockey champion. Yale won the 2009 Ivy League ice hockey championship. The Ivy League schools require their teams to play seasons that are about three weeks shorter than those of the other schools in the league. Thus, they enter the league schedule with fewer non-conference warm-up games, though Harvard competes in the annual Beanpot Tournament and Cornell hosts a holiday tournament in Estero, Florida.

Men's ECAC championship games
From 1962 to 1992, the ECAC Championship Game was held in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Boston Arena from 1962 to 1966, and at Boston Garden from 1966 to 1992.

From 1993 to 2002, the ECAC Championship Game was held at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.

From2003 to 2010, the ECAC Championship Game has been held at the Times Union Center (formerly Pepsi Arena) in Albany, New York.

From 2011 to 2013, the Championship will move to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for three years.

From 2014 to at least 2016 the Championship will be held at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.

The winner of the game is awarded the Whitelaw Cup and receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Hockey Tournament.


 * 1962 St. Lawrence def. Clarkson 5-2
 * 1963 Harvard def. Boston College 4-3 (ot)
 * 1964 Providence def. St. Lawrence 3-1
 * 1965 Boston College def. Brown 6-2
 * 1966 Clarkson def. Cornell 6-2
 * 1967 Cornell def. Boston University 4-3
 * 1968 Cornell def. Boston College 6-3
 * 1969 Cornell def. Harvard 4-2
 * 1970 Cornell def. Clarkson 3-2
 * 1971 Harvard def. Clarkson 7-4
 * 1972 Boston University def. Cornell 4-1
 * 1973 Cornell def. Boston College 3-2
 * 1974 Boston University def. Harvard 4-2
 * 1975 Boston University def. Harvard 7-3
 * 1976 Boston University def. Brown 9-2
 * 1977 Boston University def. New Hampshire 8-6
 * 1978 Boston College def. Providence 4-2
 * 1979 New Hampshire def. Dartmouth 3-2
 * 1980 Cornell def. Dartmouth 5-1
 * 1981 Providence def. Cornell 8-4
 * 1982 Northeastern def. Harvard 5-2
 * 1983 Harvard def. Providence 4-1
 * 1984 Rensselaer def. Boston University 5-2
 * 1985 Rensselaer def. Harvard 3-1
 * 1986 Cornell def. Clarkson 3-2 (ot)
 * 1987 Harvard def. St. Lawrence 6-3
 * 1988 St. Lawrence def. Clarkson 3-0


 * 1989 St. Lawrence def. Vermont 4-1
 * 1990 Colgate def. Rensselaer 5-4
 * 1991 Clarkson def. St. Lawrence 5-4
 * 1992 St. Lawrence def. Cornell 4-2
 * 1993 Clarkson def. Brown 3-1
 * 1994 Harvard def. Rensselaer 3-0
 * 1995 Rensselaer def. Princeton 5-1
 * 1996 Cornell def. Harvard 2-1
 * 1997 Cornell def. Clarkson 2-1
 * 1998 Princeton def. Clarkson 5-4 (2ot)
 * 1999 Clarkson def. St. Lawrence 3-2
 * 2000 St. Lawrence def. Rensselaer 2-0
 * 2001 St. Lawrence def. Cornell 3-1
 * 2002 Harvard def. Cornell 4-3 (2ot)
 * 2003 Cornell def. Harvard 3-2 (ot)
 * 2004 Harvard def. Clarkson 4-2
 * 2005 Cornell def. Harvard 3-1
 * 2006 Harvard def. Cornell 6-2
 * 2007 Clarkson def. Quinnipiac 4-2
 * 2008 Princeton def. Harvard 4-1
 * 2009 Yale def. Cornell 5-0
 * 2010 Cornell def. Union 3-0
 * 2011 Yale def. Cornell 6-0
 * 2012 Union def. Harvard 3-1
 * 2013 Union def. Brown 3-1
 * 2014 Union def. Colgate 5-2
 * 2015 Harvard def. Colgate 4-2
 * 2016 Quinnipiac def. Harvard 4-1
 * 2017 Harvard def. Cornell 4-1
 * 2018 Princeton def Clarkson 2-1
 * 2019 Clarkson defeated Cornell 3-2 (ot)

Cleary Cup
The Cleary Cup, named for former Harvard player and coach Bill Cleary, is awarded to the regular-season champion (the team with the best in-conference record). At present, this team is given the top seed in the ECAC conference tournament (including the first-round bye given to the top four seeded teams), but is not given any special consideration in the NCAA tournament.


 * 1984–85 Rensselaer
 * 1985–86 Harvard
 * 1986–87 Harvard
 * 1987–88 Harvard and St. Lawrence
 * 1988–89 Harvard
 * 1989–90 Colgate
 * 1990–91 Clarkson
 * 1991–92 Harvard
 * 1992–93 Harvard
 * 1993–94 Harvard
 * 1994–95 Clarkson
 * 1995–96 Vermont
 * 1996–97 Clarkson
 * 1997–98 Yale
 * 1998–99 Clarkson
 * 1999–00 St. Lawrence
 * 2000–01 Clarkson
 * 2001–02 Cornell
 * 2002–03 Cornell
 * 2003–04 Colgate
 * 2004–05 Cornell
 * 2005–06 Colgate and Dartmouth
 * 2006–07 St. Lawrence
 * 2007–08 Clarkson
 * 2008–09 Yale
 * 2009–10 Yale
 * 2010–11 Union
 * 2011–12 Union
 * 2012–13 Quinnipiac
 * 2013–14 Union
 * 2014–15 Quinnipiac
 * 2015–16 Quinnipiac
 * 2016–17 Harvard and Union
 * 2017–18 Cornell
 * 2018-19 Quinnipiac and Cornell

Women's ECAC championship games

 * 1984 Providence def. New Hampshire (in Providence, Rhode Island)
 * 1985 Providence def. New Hampshire (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1986 New Hampshire def. Northeastern (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1987 New Hampshire def. Northeastern (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1988 Northeastern def. Providence (in Boston)
 * 1989 Northeastern def. Providence (in Providence, Rhode Island)
 * 1990 New Hampshire def. Providence (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1991 New Hampshire def. Northeastern (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1992 Providence def. New Hampshire (in Providence, Rhode Island)
 * 1993 Providence def. New Hampshire (in Boston)
 * 1994 Providence def. Northeastern (Providence)
 * 1995 Providence def. New Hampshire (Providence)
 * 1996 New Hampshire def. Providence (in Durham, New Hampshire)
 * 1997 Northeastern def. New Hampshire (Boston)
 * 1998 Brown def. New Hampshire (Boston)


 * 1999 Harvard def. New Hampshire (Providence)
 * 2000 Brown def. Dartmouth (Providence)
 * 2001 Dartmouth def. Harvard (in Hanover, New Hampshire)
 * 2002 Brown def. Dartmouth (Hanover)
 * 2003 Dartmouth def. Harvard (Providence)
 * 2004 Harvard def. St. Lawrence (in Schenectady, New York)
 * 2005 Harvard def. Dartmouth (Schenectady)
 * 2006 Harvard def. Brown (in Canton, New York)
 * 2007 Dartmouth def. St. Lawrence (Hanover)
 * 2008 Harvard def. St. Lawrence (Boston)
 * 2009 Dartmouth def. Rensselaer (Boston)
 * 2010 Cornell def. Clarkson (in Ithaca, New York)
 * 2011 Cornell def. Dartmouth (in Ithaca, New York)
 * 2012 St. Lawrence def. Cornell (in Ithaca, New York)
 * 2013 Cornell def. Harvard (in Ithaca, New York)
 * 2014 Cornell def. Clarkson (in Potsdam, NY)
 * 2015 Harvard def. Cornell (in Potsdam, NY)
 * 2016 Quinnipiac def. Clarkson (Hamden, Connecticut)
 * 2017 Clarkson def. Cornell (Potsdam)
 * 2018 Clarkson def. Colgate (Potsdam)
 * 2019 Clarkson def. Cornell (Lake Placid)
 * 2020 Princeton def. Cornell (Lake Placid)

NCAA Records
(as of the start of the 2015-16 season)
 * In 2000, St. Lawrence University won the longest game in NCAA tournament history. St. Lawrence defeated Boston University in quadruple overtime by a score of 3-2. Currently, this game is the fifth longest game in NCAA division I history.
 * On March 4, 2006, Union College played host to the then longest NCAA men's ice hockey game in NCAA history. In Game 2 of the first round of the 2006 ECACHL Tournament (best of three series) between Yale University and Union, Yale won 3-2 1:35 into the 5th overtime. Overall, the game took 141:35 to decide the winner.  This was the first D-I men's game to go into a fifth 20 minute overtime period
 * On March 10, 1996 the longest women's game in NCAA D-I history took place between New Hampshire and Providence for the ECAC championship  going 5 overtimes and 145 minutes 35 seconds. UNH won the game 3-2
 * On March 11, 2010 Union College was defeated by Quinnipiac 3-2. The game, which lasted 150 minutes and 22 seconds, set a new record for the longest hockey game in NCAA history replacing the 2006 Union-Yale game.  This would be the longest game in D-I history until a 2015 game between Notre Dame and Massachusetts broke the record by one minute 20 seconds.
 * The ECAC has been involved in 5 of the 8 longest games in NCAA Men's D-I history.
 * Cornell University recorded the only undefeated season in NCAA Division I Hockey history in 1970.
 * Colgate University is the last ECAC Hockey team to have reached the NCAA Men's Championship Game in 1990.

Conference Tie-breakers

 * 1) Comparison of game results between tied teams (head to head).
 * 2) Wins.
 * 3) Comparison of results of games against the top four teams.
 * 4) Comparison of results of games against the top eight teams.
 * 5) Goal differential in head-to-head competition.
 * 6) Goal differential in games against the top four teams.
 * 7) Goal differential in games against the top eight teams.