2003 ECAC Tournament

The 2003 ECAC Tournament took place between March 7, 2003 and March 22, 2003 for the Men's Division I league and between March 7, 2003 and March 16, 2003 for the Women's Division I league.

Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

Tournament
The regular season champions were the Cornell Big Red. Along with Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale, Cornell recieved a first round bye.

The seeds for the men's tournament were:


 * 1. Cornell
 * 2. Harvard
 * 3. Dartmouth
 * 4. Yale
 * 5. Brown
 * 6. Union
 * 7. Clarkson
 * 8. Colgate
 * 9. St. Lawrence
 * 10. Vermont
 * 11. Rensselaer
 * 12. Princeton

First Round
The first round was played during March 7-9 at the site of the higher seed. The teams played a best of 3 series.

Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals were played March 14-16 at the site of the higher seed.

ECAC Final Four
The ECAC Championships took place March 19 and 20 at Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York. The games were single-elimination. It was the first time in ECAC history that all of the semifinal teams were from the Ivy League.

Dartmouth and Brown, losers on the first day of the Final Four, faced each other in the consolation game on March 20.

Cornell and Harvard, bitter rivals, met in the ECAC Championship Game for the second straight year. Cornell gained some revenge for the previous year's double-overtime loss, defeating the Crimson 3-2, this time requiring only one overtime session. Mark McRae scored with the Big Red net empty with 33 seconds left in the game, and Sam Paolini scored the game winner just 1:23 into the extra period, his second goal of the game. Cornell goaltender David LeNeveu was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The Big Red were awarded the Whitelaw Cup and the ECAC's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

Both Cornell and Harvard would represent the ECAC in the NCAA Tournament.

Women's Tournament
The regular season champions were the Harvard Crimson.

The seeds for the women's tournament were:
 * 1. Harvard
 * 2. Dartmouth
 * 3. Princeton
 * 4. St. Lawrence
 * 5. Brown
 * 6. Yale
 * 7. Colgate
 * 8. Cornell

Vermont did not qualify for the ECAC Tournament.

Quarterfinals
The quarterfinal round was played during March 7-9 at the site of the higher seed. The teams played a best of 3 series.

ECAC Final Four
The semifinal round was held at Meehan Auditorium on the campus of Brown University in Providence, RI on March 15. The semifinal winners faced each other in the championship game on March 16.