2019-20 ECAC Men's season

This is the 2019-20 ECAC Hockey Men's Season. This is the league's 59th season.

Membership changes

 * None

Temporary Relocation of Games

 * Due to delays in renovations at the Appleton Arena the Saint Lawrence University men's and women's teams will be playing their home games as the SUNY Canton Athletic and Recreation Center until a late November.

Format
All twelve teams qualify with the top 4 seeds getting a first round bye. The best-of-three first round matches up 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, 7 vs 10, and 8 vs 9. The first round winners are re-seeded for the best-of-three quarterfinals and the 1 seed plays the lowest seeded first round winner, 2 plays the second lowest seed first round winner, 3 plays the third lowest first round winner. and 4 plays the highest seeded first round winner. Teams are re-seeded for the semifinals with the highest seeded winner playing the lowest seeded winner and the second and third seeds meet in a single game at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York. The semifinal winners meet at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York for the conference championship and the conference's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Cancelling of conference tournament games
Due to the corona virus outbreak the Ivy League banned fans from the games being played at Cornell's Lynah Rink the weekend of March 13-15 involving the men's ECAC tournament and the women's NCAA tournament games. The Harvard Crimson would later forfeit its series against RPI. The Ivy League announced on March 11th that the league cancelled all spring sports. No official word if this would extend to ongoing events as the League had already cancelled its men's and women's basketball tournaments. Half of the ECAC men's hockey membership is made up Ivy League schools.

Cancellation of Tournament
The conference announced it would be cancelling its tournament on March 12th due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. After Yale withdrew the conference announced on March 11th that the tournament would be re-worked with Cornell Big Red and Clarkson Golden Knights earning byes to the semifinals and Princeton Tigers playing Quinnipiac Bobcats and Colgate Raiders playing RPI Engineers ind best-of-three quarterfinal series. The tournament would be cancelled the following day along with all other play under the sancetion of the NCAA. The Ivy League announced on March 11th that all athletic events for the remainder of the spring were cancelled. This would have had the Princeton Tigers and withdrawing from play but was never mentioned as the Ivy League, NCAA, and ECAC decisions were made within a few hours of one another.

First Round

 * Harvard Crimson defeated St. Lawrence Saints 2 games to none
 * Princeton Tigers defeated Dartmouth Big Green 2 games to none
 * Yale Bulldogs defeated Union Dutchmen 2 games to 1
 * Colgate Raiders defeated Brown Bears 2 games to none

Quarterfinals
Two series were forfeited by teams prior to the conference and NCAA announcements
 * RPI Engineers defeated Harvard Crimson 2 games to none (series forfeited)
 * Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated Yale Bulldogs 2 games to none (series forfeited)

The balance of the series were to be:
 * Cornell Big Red vs Princeton Tigers
 * Clarkson Golden Knights vs Colgate Raiders